Alliance & Leicester Receive Record Fine For Mis-Sold PPI
If the reports are accurate, money lender Alliance and Leicester have received a record breaking fine over Mis-Sold PPI. PPI, or Payment Protection Insurance is designed to cover the payments should the borrower be unable to do so, due to a loss of income, or sickness.
The lender has been fined in the region of £7 million pound for mis-selling the product over the last three years by the Financial Services Authority, who are the financial regulator in the UK.
The FSA claims that staff working for the lender were trained to pressurise the customers to agree to take out the policy, even though in some cases the policies were not appropriate, or even wanted. Alliance and Leicester have apologised for this and has declared it’s intentions to pay back the affected customers.
A comment from an A&L spokesman advised the press that they are “taking this matter very seriously” and that their process for selling this type of policy has been “tightened up to ensure customers get the right information and advice”.
Speaking about the case, an official from the FSA commented “The failings at A&L are the most serious we have found. This is reflected in the record PPI fine.”. With an official from Which? (the UK’s leading consumer group) adding that now the fine has been set, they want to see those who were mis-sold ppi policies to be reimbursed. Adding that the best way for this to happen is to ensure communication to consumers are clear and easily understandable.