Cheap loan protection still having problems despite the intervention of the FSA
- 2ND NOVEMBER 2007
Despite the Financial Services Authority’sinvestigation which stems back from 2005, the payment protection insurance (PPI) sector is still having problems when it comes to the poor selling techniques being used. When the investigation began several high street firms were handed fines and told to improve their selling techniques; however the Financial Services Authority recently admitted that it still has to investigate over 4,000 cases of mis-selling of payment protection this year. One of the problems with the product is the high cost of the cover with some high street providers charging premiums that boost up the cost of the loan considerably. If you want cheap loan protection insurance then you have to shop with an independent specialist for the cover.
A specialist such as ethical British Insurance offer cheap loan protection premiums which can save you up to 80% on loan payment protection along with free, honest advice on a policy. Another problem besides the cost of the cover is the lack of information, there are exclusions in a policy and the product has to be suitable for your circumstances if it is to work the way it’s designed to do. If you are retired, self-employed, only work part time or suffer from a pre-existing medical condition then a policy probably isn’t in your best interest, yet some firms have sold policies to people in these predicaments which means they cannot possibly claim against them.
Cheap loan protection insurance can give you a safety net on which to fall back. Cover can pay out from between the 31st day and the 90th after you become out of work depending on the provider and then carry on paying out for between 12 and 24 months. The income you get is tax free and means that you don’t have to struggle or worry about where to find the money to carry on paying your loan or credit card repayments if you should be out of work through sickness, accident or unemployment caused by no fault of your own.
While some progress has been made after the Financial Services Authority outlined the requirements for selling payment protection insurance products it seems that many are still failing so it is essential that you stick with an ethical payment protection specialist such as British Insurance for cheap loan protection and the advice needed to ensure that a policy is suitable to your circumstances. There are still too many firms that are still not coming up to scratch with their selling techniques and policies are still being mis-sold and the Financial Services Authority have said that they will continue to be tough on those found to not have the consumers best interest at heart by not providing them with the information needed.
Along with the sector being under the watchful eye of the Financial Services Authority the sector is also in the hands of the Competition Commission, they are an independent body who regulate major regulated industries and who conducting an in-depth inquiry into the sector which is expected to reach conclusion in February 2009. Until then if you want the safety net that cheap loan protection can give it is essential that you buy your income protection from a specialist provider such as British Insurance.
