Payment protection insurance is not a ‘one-man battle’ for the industry
PROFESSIONAL BROKING - 1ST MARCH 2007
I thank Richard Guthrie for his ‘observations’ on my business activity over the years, and had a wry smile at his reference to me waging a one-man battle on payment protection insurance. Where have you been Mr Guthrie? Look around you and you’ll realise I’m not the only person ‘battling’ against payment protection insurance. At the beginning of February, the OFT announced it was referring this sector to the Competition Commission. This would hardly be the result of a ‘one-man battle’.
Yes, I am sure there are varied opinions on a wider range of subjects but how many other general insurance products are so blatantly mis-sold and under such scrutiny? There is a distributions channel in-balance in this sector and it is to the detriment of the consumers. If this wasn’t the case, why was payment protection insurance investigated by the Citizens Advice Bureau, the Office of Fair Trading and ITV’s Tonight with Trevor McDonald programme.
I make no apologies for being a consumer champion, if anything, Richard Guthrie should thank me for raising the profile of brokers in the national media. I am advocating that we should not be ‘tarred with the same brush’ as the main payment protection insurance providers and we really do ‘treat customers fairly’. I am encouraging consumers to deal with brokers.
When payment protection insurance is sold correctly and consumers get a good deal, there will be no need for me to use the insurance trade media to urge brokers to seize their share of this market and put right the wrong-doings of others. If Mr Guthrie doesn’t want to see my letters appearing in this magazine, he shouldn’t write to complain about me in the first place – I will always be compelled to respond.
Simon Burgess
British Insurance
