But how is ‘mis-sold payment protection insurance’ defined and how do you know if your policy was mis-sold?

There are several specific examples of mis-selling, but of course the list is not exhaustive. As a general rule, whenever you purchase any financial product in the UK, whether it’s a loan, insurance policy, credit card or something else, there are strict guidelines that the seller must adhere to. First of all, you should be fully aware of what the product is and its terms and the seller has a responsibility to take every reasonable measure to ensure that you are not sold something that you will never realistically be able to claim on, in the case of insurance. As PPI is essentially insurance against loans, credit cards and mortgages (designed to protect a consumer in the case of unforeseen circumstances leaving them unable to make repayments), the rules certainly apply here.

Examples of mis-selling of PPI include cases in which people who would never actually be eligible to make a claim on the PPI have been sold the policies regardless. Most policies will not protect those who are, at the time of taking out their loan or other financial product, unemployed, retired or self-employed. Yet there have been a number of situations where people who fall into those categories have been sold the policies irrespective of this. This means they have been sold and have been paying the premiums on insurance policies that they would never actually be able to claim against.

Other examples of mis-selling are those in which a consumer is led to believe that the PPI is compulsory or will increase the chances of their application for the loan, mortgage or credit card being accepted (none of which are true).

Essentially, if you do not feel like you were made fully aware of the terms of PPI or that you would never have been able to claim against the policy, you could have been mis-sold the PPI and may be eligible to claim. If you’re not absolutely certain, seek professional advice.