Investigations Of Mis-Selling Life Cover And Payment Protection Policies Is Underway
Summary
The ways in which the business is dealing with the mis-selling of life insurance. The difficultiesrelating to payment protection policies are emphasized.
The mis-selling of Life Insurance cover by a significant number of mortgage lenders has to be attended todealt with|tackled} by the Government. Steps have been taken by the Department of Trade and Industry, who have almost finished their enquiriesinto the tie in of home and contents insurance with mortgages. A press releaseforbidding the practice is Mr Southcarries on that while lenders may not demand that customers take out life insurance , they can be convinced that they have no choice through the lender being evasive with the truth.
60% of life cover is sold by mortgageproviders, although it can be purchased through independent advisers or direct providers.
Then again a Department of Trade and Industry spokesman has said that their investigation carries on into a massive range of insurance tie-ins. A lender who met Geoff Hoon has said that life cover has been looked at in passing , whereas more importance has been placed on home and contents.
The trouble with consumers being pressured into buying uncompetitive life insurance and home and contents insurance plans is just as essential for both commodities.
The concerns are especially acute with payment protection insurance. About 1/2 of all customers who have been influenced into taking out a PPI may have been given the wrong type of insurance. Plus the majority of those who bought one of these questionable policies expect much more than they would actually receive should they not be able to pay their bills.
A wide-reaching analysis has found that around 26% of people are under the illusion that they will get a monthly income from their Payment Protection Insurance policy, not understanding that the insurance would only cover their debts.
Another 20% said they believed the insurance would cover them if they could no longer meet their repayment obligations for any reason, and eight per cent said they believed tha| their medical costs would be paid for if they fell ill.
Several people thought the insurance would continue indefinitely to cover their ongoing debts, others thought their policy would cover breakdowns and living expenses.
Yearly sales of Payment Protection Insurance policies are said to generate premiums of around five billion four hundred thousand pounds for the finance industry. However a stunning 3 9 billion pounds of this is said to be sheer profit. Investigations suggest that several banks can charge up to 500 per cent more than others for a comparable product.
The OFT is studing the sale of PPI preceding objections from Citizens Advice and the National Consumer Council. It recently empasized disquiet that banks are tempting customers by advertising deceptively cheap loans and then hammering them with large additional costs by selling expensive PPIas part of the deal.
As a consequence, a loan which appears to provide good value can end up being far more costly.