You should not be worried this time about being broke. PPI claims have been successful among potentially hundreds of thousands of credit consumers. They were all able to adjust their financial standings and still could afford a bit of luxury here and there because they proved that their banks have wrongly signed them up to Payment Protection Insurance.

While the policy was designed to help them keep up with their repayments in times of accident, sickness, death, and unemployment, the ways it was sold to credit consumers were awful. And you could be one of those that fell victim to this scam that has taken place from several years ago.

Even though there were a lot of people aware that they were sold the policy alongside the credit agreement they took out, others were just totally clueless.

You will know that it was wrongly sold if it does appear in your account without your knowledge that you in fact agreed to buy it. This happens especially when upon completing an online application for a loan you overlooked a small tick box automatically marked indicating you agree to buy the insurance. Other cases of mis-selling would be being forced to buy PPI like it is compulsory or would increase your chances of getting approved, or getting a higher amount.

Moreover, PPI was likely mis-sold, too, if the terms and conditions, cover extent, limitations, and exclusions were not entirely discussed. Factors affecting your cover like age limit, employment status, residence status, pre-existing medical conditions and others should have been clearly stated during the sale process. Cooling-off periods should also have been made clear to you.

If you suspect that you were just forced to purchase the policy alongside taking out a credit agreement, or you were deceived into signing up, then start going over your account documents before making a claim. You can seek the help of a financial expert or a PPI claims adviser to make the claim or you can do it yourself.

To begin with, look through your statements, credit agreement forms, and the policy certificate itself to find out how much you paid for PPI and for how long you have had it.

When you’ve got it all together write to your bank about it. Include details of how you were wrongly sold the policy and how you wish them to look into the details of your account to have your payments and the interest reimbursed.

PPI claims generally take about 6 or 8 weeks to review. During that time, all you may need to do is wait for the bank to contact you o you can also get in touch with them to follow-up. Just make sure you’ve attached the needed proof as lack of supporting information may cause the delay.

If after the prescribed time you failed to hear from your bank or the decision they gave you was contrary to how evident the mis-selling was, don’t lose hope just yet. You can complain against them at the Financial Ombudsman Service where PPI claims are extensively reviewed after having gone through one at the bank.

The FOS attends to and resolves these financial disputes for free and expert advice are also given to consumers. When you lodge a complaint, remember to include the paperwork and maybe some additional information for their reference.

Although not conclusive, claims are generally decided on the consumers’ favour. So before you start holding your hands up in surrender, think of how much you could be owed this time by your bank. If you succeeded, you will be able to keep up with the financial difficulties you are worried about, and maybe even afford a holiday elsewhere.