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How to make a PPI claim

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:28:25 +0000

PPI claims are big news these days and it can seem like anybody and everybody is entitled to compensation for PPI mis-selling.

However, this is not always the case and the only way to find out if you are entitled to PPI compensation is by speaking to a financial solicitor.

A claim for PPI compensation can usually be made if you have taken out a loan, credit card or mortgage in the last 10 years and were unknowingly or wrongly sold Payment Protection Insurance.

The insurance can be hugely beneficial to many borrowers if they lose their job or are unable to keep up repayments for a number of reasons, but unfortunately, in many cases it is added on without the borrower’s knowledge. In other situations, people have been told that they can benefit from PPI but in fact the policy does not apply to their circumstances.

Where do I start?

In situations where PPI has been unknowingly added to borrowings, or an adviser has mis-led the borrower and incorrectly advised they take out the insurance, it can be possible to claim.

In order to do so, paperwork and evidence of the situation must be provided. This includes the finance agreement and details of your repayments. These are vital in determining whether PPI was mis-sold and how much money you lost, or could have lost if the debt is outstanding, as a result.

All financial claims should be handled by a solicitor with experience in the field. Only they can ensure your claim is dealt with professionally and that you get the best possible outcome.

How much compensation could I get?

The level of PPI compensation awarded will depend on the situation and take into account how much you have paid out for the policy. You may also get interest, but tax is payable on that part.

Average settlements are around £2,500 and your solicitor will give you an idea of how much your claim is worth when the process begins.

Why should I make a PPI claim?

“If you have been paying out for insurance that you did not want or need, or maybe even did not know about, you are entitled to get that money back,” explains Matthew Briggs, CEO of www.claims.com.

“Making a claim is not about getting something for nothing but is to do with upholding your rights to financial justice and compensation and helping ensure the wider problem does not continue.”

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Huge numbers of house plots contaminated in UK

Alan — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 03:51:10 +0000

Estimates are that of all the UK properties, 3% of them are affected by contamination. This means that over 785,000 different properties could be contaminated. Land clean-up costs average £250,000 for contaminated lands per acre so the average plot in the UK would cost to clean up about £15,000.

The Environmental protection Act says that first one who bears responsibility for the clean up of the land is the one who caused it, when that person is not able to be identified, the current owner or occupier of the land is held responsible to clean up the contamination.

An array of options are available to those UK homeowners that have are concerned about if they purchased on land that is potentially contaminated. There are various insurance policies that can be purchased for residential property to help pay should there be the need to remove any prior contamination from the homeowners or property owners property. There value is a constant and is not related to the property’s value.

What the insurance policies will not cover is for blight and health consequences that may occur from residential property blight. Land contamination reports are available and property buyers can get them through a solicitor to see if land is affected in any way by contamination.

Even though the majority of contaminated property is the industrial region of the country in the north, less than 33% of all the contamination searches are done for property in the north. Contaminated land for those it affects is like a hand grenade and is often not seen by conveyances.

Many homebuyers have very little equity in their homes and cannot borrow against the equity to pay for the clean up costs. An additional £15,000 to pay when buying a new house is too much and can create financial hardship.

Homeowners need to remember why clean up is necessary. These contaminants in our lands can cause health problems for the people living there as well as being costly for doing the decontamination. If containments leaked into adjoining areas then the property owner could find themselves liable for that cost of cleanup as well.

People joining together to buy a house Many who cannot afford to buy a house for the...

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Centre for Policy Studies says the public should save more with banks

Alan — Thu, 19 May 2011 02:21:46 +0000

The Centre for Policy Studies is a conservative think tank that originated in 1974, founded by Margaret Thatcher and Sir Keith Joseph. The organization’s stated goals include promoting “coherent and practical public policy” amongst others, and they have just presented a fairly radical suggestion regarding taxpayers and bank bailouts.

Chairman Maurice, Lord Saatchi is also the former chairman of the Conservative party, and he says that taxpayers gave their money to the government to invest in banks, and they should start getting it back the minute those banks start to show a profit. The report from CPS theoretically offers a way out of government’s burden of debt; they suggest that every taxpayer (about 46 million of them) should be given shares in the banks.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group were specified in the CPS proposal; it said that 1450 RBS shares and 450 Lloyds shares should be distributed to each individual. When those shares are sold as the financial market continues to improve, the taxpayer would get his or her money back plus a percentage of any profit. The Treasury would collect capital gains tax on profit and also recoup the original bailout money.

CPS argues that such a scheme is viable with today’s technology, and would save the government around 750 million pounds in investment banking fees that would be incurred if the shares were sold as a public offering. The idea is that taxpayers who basically paid for the banks’ survival should reap the benefits when RBS and Lloyds start making a profit again, though some economists are sceptical. The UKFI is reportedly waiting for developments in hopes that bank shares will become more attractive to investors.

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Schools should teach personal finance

Alan — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:56:02 +0000

To better understand financial products and not get “taken” by banks and financial advisers many people feel it is best to include personal finance education to school curriculums. However, for a few reasons, it looks as though it will not be mandatory.

Financial Services Authority says that today the majority of consumers do not know basic financial definitions. Compound interest is unknown to most, making it difficult to determine if a loan rate or credit card rate is good or not. They do not know that their banks rates are no longer competitive. Risk and reward investment are unknown and are shocked when their fund labeled cautious, drops more than 40% in value.

Last night in London at dinner with Pensions Minister Steve Webb, we asked if he felt it was advisable to include personal finance lessons in school as a subject. Mr. Webb says that there are many new subjects to consider with personal finance being just one.

Training new teachers would be difficult and since current teachers may not know enough about the subject.

Even though personal finance is one of many, it should be important since consumer lack of knowledge has help create the huge debt the country has now.

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New credit card rules on the way

Alan — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 08:02:34 +0000

Starting 2011, major changes to credit cards process will come into effect. The new regulations are the result of Labour initiated investigation that started in 2009 to look into the fairness in the ways by which credit card companies treat their customers. Borrowers, estimated by millions, will gain a substantial advantage from such changes. However, experts warned borrowers to be vigilant, as some greedy lenders may resort to introducing higher rates and new fees to circumnavigate the impact of the new regulations.

The changes will see the introduction of a legal minimum monthly payment on credit card debt for the first time. According to the new regulations the minimum payments will cover interest, fees, and at least one percent of the outstanding capital. It aims to enable borrowers to clear their debts.

The most significant change, however, will affect the process by which credit card companies use the payments against the outstanding debt. On the same card, borrowers can have two different interest rates on different sums – i.e. some a zero % on balance transfer for a promotional period and a regular rate on purchases.

In the past credit card companies used the payments to clear the lowest interest debt first. This, of course guarantees them maximum profitability as the highest interest rate is sustained for a longer duration – a process commonly known as ‘negative order of payments’. Under the new regulations, lenders are obliged to use the payments to clear the highest rate debt first.

Some lenders, such as Nationwide Building society, have always used ‘positive order of payments’. Virgin, MBNA, Barclaycard, and Halifax all have switched earlier this year. Other, such as RBS/ NatWest, will switch starting from the beginning of the New Year, followed by Lloyds TSB switching from the middle of January. Others, however, are reluctant to implement the policies, blaming the technology for the delay.

Cardholders will also be able to refuse rises in their rate and will now be getting 60 days notice period as opposed to 30 days.

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Mortgage lending just keeps tumbling down

Alan — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:20:51 +0000

Mortgage lending is going down the tubes with the economy, according to figures for the month of September. Many so-called mortgage experts were shocked to find that mortgage lending in September was even lower than in August, which is traditionally the weakest 30 days of the year.

Even more experts stood with their mouth’s agape as it was revealed that the numbers for September were down from the numbers of last September and actually represented the lowest figures in ten years.

The uncertainty of the economy and job futures in both the public and private sectors is holding interest in mortgages down, say some experts. Others say that banks are simply withholding money by making it more and more difficult for buyers to qualify. Whatever the case, mortgage brokers are beseeching the government to do something.

Brokers and Brokers’ Organisations are saying that the government simply cannot cut back on processes to aid borrowers in its comprehensive spending review. If this is allowed to get worse by cutting plans to help homeowners, who knows what it might bode for 2011.

These numbers follow even more dire indicators that the UK may be invariably sliding to double-dip recession. So far, a concentrated effort by all concerned has kept repossessions and mortgage arrears down despite very trying economic times, but Mortgage Brokers are worried that cuts in these types of support mechanisms could bring the house of cards tumbling down.

They point out the dramatic affect such a collapse would bring not only to the lending sector but to house pricing as well. Were this crumple allowed in the lending market, the repercussions would be felt throughout the entire economy, they warn.

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Banking costs highest ever

Alan — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 04:16:23 +0000

Banks and building societies are charging their customers more and more, according to findings from the Bank of England. Customers, on average, are being charged at a rate of 19.1 per cent.

The Bank of England has said that these are the highest rates that have been seen since records were first taken back in 1995. Some financial experts say that many lenders have been restructuring the accounts that are currently in place, as well as cutting many of the best deals that they offer as they do this. Several providers were reported to have increased their rates over the past month.

According to Michelle Slade of Moneyfacts.co.uk, “Overdrafts customers are an easy target” for many banks and other financial institutions. And with many people making use of an overdraft every month, many customers may be being charged much more than in the past.

Findings from Moneyfacts.co.uk also show that over 25 per cent of bank accounts that are currently in use have had increases in their overdraft rate, even though the bank rate has not changed.

Rates for credit cards are remaining at a high level, with lenders charging about 17 per cent interest. Still, not all rates have risen. Mortgage rates have seen a recent decrease, and some tracker deals for anyone with a 25 per cent deposit have fallen to as low as 3.55 per cent.

Some deals also got cheaper, with five-year fixed rate deals dropping about 0.25 per cent to 5.1 per cent. These loans have been reducing in cost for nine months in a row now. Unfortunately for some people, however, those with a deposit account may notice a decrease in returns for their accounts.

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PayPal looks into becoming competition for traditional credit cards

Alan — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 01:01:58 +0000

The secure credit card oligopoly is now facing competition from alternative forms of payment at many online digital transactions at retail stores, the largest and most recent competitor coming in the form of PayPal.

PayPal has now taken an even farther step out of the digital world and is looking at ways to bring its dominance into the real world. At the moment, the popular internet banking system is considering how to make it possible to allow consumers to link their PayPal account with their mobile phones so that they can swipe the mobile at a sale terminal. The money would be deducted directly from the PayPal account with no plastic required.

President of PayPal, Scott Thompson stated that the initiative was the organization’s top priority.

Mobile phone manufacturers are also thrilled at the idea of getting in on point of sale transactions since it would be assumed they get a cut as well, with the technology already in place in many other countries across the world.

PayPal does offer consumers a Mastercard debit card to access their funds while shopping in real life stores, but down the road they hope to cut out the middleman and simply offer their own POS sales increasing their personal profit.

In October the financial giant is expected to release more details at its annual conference. The moment PayPal has over 220 million users and annual revenues that average up to about three billion US dollars.

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Home repossessions start to slow

Alan — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 05:40:45 +0000

The mortgage industry has reduced its original high prediction of repossessions as the amount of people that are facing arrears or foreclosure has continued to diminish.

Between the months of April and June about 9,400 properties were taken back by lenders, which is a decrease from 9,800 during the quarter before according to statistics from the CML (Council of Mortgage Lenders).

Also on the decline is the number of people behind in their mortgages with about 2.5% of all loans in arrears, which was an overall drop from March by about 5%.

The CML had previously stated that this year there would be about 53,000 repossessions but now the figure has been reduced down to 39,000. It also changed its forecast in terms of mortgages in arrears predicting that only 175,000 mortgages, or 2.5%, would be in arrears compared to 205,000.

However, despite this promising news the industry body still cautioned that it was not yet time to lift the ‘safety net’ because interest rates and unemployment may still start to rise again which will change the picture once again in the mortgage market.

Due to the fact that there has been a spike in the amount of people employed and lower interest rates homeowners were somewhat protected from the fallout of the economic crisis.

However, as the government prepares to pull away its support for mortgage payments and the future of any additional debt advice is still unknown there are still many reasons to execute caution for borrowers.

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Instant approval loans helpful if used properly

Alan — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:34:03 +0000

Instant approval loans are a viable option and solution to short term money problems that may arise whenever a monthly income is temporarily suspended or when a sudden cash emergency pops up. The funds are meant to offer short term coverage in the case of unforeseen expenses, utility bills, car bills, or other sudden financial crisis.

Depending on your credit and typical earning rate, the amount that can be loaned in this format is generally between £80 to £1,500. Therefore, the advances are only meant to cover small cash emergencies although they are usually approved in just a few hours, often allowing a person access to the funds on the same day they are requested.

Before taking out such a loan however, it is important to understand that the repayment term can vary from one to thirty days which should be clearly understood upfront as the interest rates attached to these loans can be high. The finance rates in general are usually high since credit scores are not always considered and interest rates can also be high especially if repayment is delayed.

In order to be applicable for such a loan, the applicant must be a UK resident and citizen that is legally of adult age. They also must have a bank account that has been open for at least three months and be able to prove steady employment with a regular income. Many times the loans can be granted online allowing instant access to funds as soon as they are requested.

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