| COMPETITION COMMISSION releases final order on PPI |
15 April 2011 |
After a prolonged investigation into the sale of PPI the Competition Commission released its final order at the end of March.
There are a number requirements arising from the order but the 2 main points are:
- 1. that PPI cannot be arranged by the credit arranger within the 7-day period following the completion of a ‘Credit Sale’ i.e. arrangement of a loan or mortgage.
- 2. that an annual review / reminder must be sent to each customer with PPI no later that the first anniversary after April 6th 2012.
Asu.ltd do not arrange credit and so the first point does not apply but we will ensure that we fulfil all other requirements in a timely fashion.
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| Lloyds Banking Group scraps PPI |
27 July 2010 |
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Lloyds Banking Group has announced that it will no longer sell Payment Protection Insurance policies to LloydsTSB, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Cheltenham & Gloucester and Black Horse customers.
The policies are no longer being sold to new customers alongside personal loans, mortgages & credit cards. Customers will instead be given a generic pamphlet about PPI from the British Bankers’ Association.
Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert comments: “The product itself isn’t bad, it can provide useful protection to people if they’re sick or lose their jobs as it covers their repayments, but people should go to competitive standalone insurers rather than banks”
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| CC to push for point-of-sale PPI ban |
09 June 2010 |
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Competition Commission to push for ‘point of sale’ ban on PPI sales
The Competition Commission (CC) was challenged by Barclays and other banks when they (the CC) indicated that the sale of PPI would no longer be available at the same time as the arrangement of a loan. They suggested a period of 7 days before PPI could be offered by the organisation arranging the loan. This was to give time for the customer to look around for better value stand-alone cover. Barclays said that this would disadvantage customers by causing inconvenience to customers (not mentioning how much it would cost them and similar organisations in commission!). The CC has concluded that the disadvantage caused by the inconvenience would be outweighed by the advantage of being able to look around for better and/or cheaper cover. They will issue a final decision in July.
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| Redundancies to double in Q1 2010 |
16 February 2010 |
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Consultants KPMG and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development report that there is no overall return to growth expected in the jobs market for some time and that redundancies are expected to double in this quarter compared to the final quarter of 2009.
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| PPI Claims to rise in 2010/1011 |
12 February 2010 |
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Insurance Age, the insurance industry magazine, reports that the Financial Services Authority Compensation Scheme expects Payment Protection insurance claims to rise significantly in 2010 and into 2011
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| 46,000 homes re-possessed in 2009 |
11 February 2010 |
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The number of home re-possessions in 2009 was 46,000, slightly lower than predicted but still the highest number since 1996. Mortgages in arrears ended 2009 188,300
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