Citizens Advice response to PPI High Court Ruling

Citizens Advice Director of Public Policy Teresa Perchard said:

“Widespread mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) has been causing harm to consumers for many years and was the subject of our super complaint to the Office of Fair Trading back in 2005* which triggered the original investigation. Evidence from our CAB network has consistently shown that too often consumers had been mis-sold PPI policies that were far too expensive and completely unsuitable for their needs, often contributing to debt problems.

“Today’s ruling really is very significant and should mark the beginning of the end of the PPI scandal. The FSA have made it clear that they expect firms to give proper redress to consumers who have been treated unfairly and the court has upheld the regulator's power to do so. The banks have been dragging their feet over dealing properly with PPI complaints for too long and we hope that this will now change.

“People who believe they have been mis-sold a PPI policy should continue to complain to the firm as before. Firms may still tell people that their complaints have been put on hold, pending any appeal. But people who are told this can take their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman.”

*In September 2005 Citizens Advice made a ‘super complaint’ to the Office of Fair Trading, calling on them to launch an investigation into the payment protection insurance (PPI) business, which at that time had an estimated 20 million policies in force and produced annual revenue in excess of £5 billion. Protection racket – CAB evidence on the cost and effectiveness of payment protection insurance, the report on which the super complaint was based, is available on the Citizens Advice website:

Notes to editors:

  1. The Citizens Advice service comprises a network of local bureaux, all of which are independent charities, the Citizens Advice consumer service and national charity Citizens Advice. Together we help people resolve their money, legal and other problems by providing information and advice and by influencing policymakers. For more see the Citizens Advice website .

  2. The advice provided by the Citizens Advice service is free, independent, confidential, and impartial, and available to everyone regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age or nationality.

  3. To find your local bureau in England and Wales, visit citizensadvice.org.uk . You can also get advice online at adviceguide.org.uk

  4. You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 03454 04 05 06 or 03454 04 05 05 for Welsh language speakers

  5. Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales advised 2.3 million clients on 5.4 million problems from October 2013 to September 2014. For full 2013/2014  service statistics see our quarterly publication Advice trends

  6. Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 21,000 trained volunteers, working at over 3,000 service outlets across England and Wales.