30 May 2007
The promised crackdown on the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) policies is painfully slow, according to representatives of the Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS).
Despite pledges from the Office of Fair Trading back in February to penalise those who are mis-selling these policies, such cases are still frequent and the success rate of claiming against the sellers is woefully low.
If anything, the situation could be said to be getting worse, with the CAS reporting that an alarmingly increasing amount of consumers were experiencing "aggressive" sales techniques, pressurising them into taking out a policy when they usually don't require one.
Speaking to the Herald, CAS' Chief Executive Kaliani Lyle said that some of the public they engaged with were still being given the impression it was compulsory to take out some sort of insurance policy. Worse still, some clients even found that they were paying for policies they had actually refused.
"Our client case-evidence also shows that PPI is often sold to clients who cannot possibly claim on the policies they have taken out - such as people employed in agency work or who are self-employed," she continued.
"Other clients have found that they are not covered because of their age. Information about exclusions is often hidden in small print and not made clear to consumers when they first consider taking out PPI."
Simon Burgess of British Insurance, added that he was "astounded" that the regulatory body had set a deadline of February 2009 for the introduction of remedial measures, adding that he believed the Competition Commission isn't moving quick enough to prevent consumers being ripped off and suffering financially.
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