Banks and insurance companies provide various insurance products, from car, pet, home, life, travel etc. Whilst most types of insurance policies are essential and provide a lifeline for those when they most need it, one insurance product has proven to have little value yet has cost many in excess of £3,000 – yes, we’re talking about ppi claims.
Loans, debts, mortgages. These things are so important that they actually make the economic and financial world revolve in its axis. There are simply too many things in the world that people need in their lives that they cannot afford to pay for everything in one go. To someone who commutes for more than an hour, having a car can cut the travel time in half. A man and woman who have recently joined their hands in marriage cannot create a family separately, thus they need a house where they can build their home. However, there will come a time when you may not be able to pay any of the debts that you have pending. This is where payment protection insurance comes in.
What is Payment Protection?
Payment Protection Insurance is a special type of insurance that was designed to help those who have unsettled debts that cannot be paid on time. Payment protection is given by banks and other loaning companies just in case the one who loaned the money gets involved in an accident, becomes sick, dies, or any other situations that may cause him/her to not pay the debt. It usually covers the loan for a definite time discussed when the deal was processed. Typically, the period given is long enough for the person who is in a certain predicament to start work and get on with paying their debts.
Can it help?
Payment protection has received a lot of criticisms about its implementation, but for some people, it does help. In long-term loans, there may come a time that the person who loaned money will be unable to pay the debt. In these cases, payment protection can seem helpful. Unfortunately, these incidents rarely occur. Out of the thousands that take loans and avail of payment protection, only a select few gets to use their payment protection insurance policies. Some even do not get approved immediately, thus becoming more of a hassle than a benefit that people can enjoy. Hence, the payment protection controversy.
Controversy
There are more rejected claims than approved ones. This is because majority of those who are being sold payment protection either are mis sold ppi or have insufficient knowledge on payment protection, and immediately avails of these things without actually knowing what they are getting. The most common modus operandi goes like this: as they are selling the loan, most agents take advantage and show them the payment protection insurance, without mentioning anything. The customer will then think that it is mandatory for them to get payment protection. Loaning companies gain a lot of profit from these payment protection, making them cash cows for their companies.
Consumer Compensation
However, this should not be the case. Currently, there are a lot of those loan companies that are being obliged to give back the money that they swindled out of every person by way of PPI compensation. These compensations varied from one company to another. Also, the amount that they give back also vary, and the best way to get the best amount is by availing of third party help, like a legal firm to really maximize the amount that they will get. Besides, there are a lot of companies that are willing to help you out with peoples payment protection problems.
Ideally, payment protection insurance is a good concept, since unfortunate and unexpected events in life do come up one in a while and if the stars do not align for you, then you should have contingency plans, especially when paying off debts. Payment protection is a good contingency plan. However, it became the loaning company’s fault that they rarely approve of claims, making it a bigger issue that it should have been. Good thing that now, there are laws regarding these things that protect the people from being swindled again.