Immediate action needed for payment protection insurance mis-selling
POST MAGAZINE - 13TH SEPTEMBER 2007
The recent £182,000 Financial Services Authority fine of Hadenglen Home Finance and its chief executive, Richard Hayes, for re-mortgage and payment protection insurance selling failures, is another example of customer exploitation in this sector.
Despite investigations by the Competition Commission, several payment protection insurance providers continue to over-inflate premiums, use jargon to confuse purchasers and adopt ‘bully-boy’ tactics to achieve sales. Although the Office of Fair Trading referred this sector to the commission in February 2007, the deadline for implementation for any ‘remedial measures’ is not until February 2009. I applaud the efforts of the FSA in helping to weed out unscrupulous providers but I wonder if it feels like the Lone Ranger without Tonto. We need intervention from the commission now – not in 18 months’ time when even more vulnerable consumers will fall victim to dubious sales practices.
Simon Burgess
Managing director
British Insurance
