PPI Complaints
Major lenders across the UK have reported a surge in the number of PPI complaints in the first half of 2011. NatWest complaints are reportedly up 24% to 147,109 with RBS complaints up 27% to 68,414. Meanwhile Barclays has seen a huge surge in complaints up to 73,000 with Lloyds topping the table with 202,384 complaints.
This increase in PPI complaints has certainly been influenced in part by the huge media attention brought to the issue of mis-selling by the recent High Court Review. The settlement of the Review, in the favour of the FSA, also means that more victims of mis-selling than ever may now be eligible to make a claim. Barclays along with several other lenders have predicted that the rise in PPI complaints will continue throughout 2011.
One lender who bucked this trend was Santander who reported a 31% decrease in the number of complaints. This decrease is likely to have been influenced, at least in part, by the fact Santander did not support the British Banking Association's High Court action and, therefore, did not place any complaints on-hold while the review was pending. Consequently, Santander did not have to deal with a backlog of PPI complaints after the High Court concluded its review in April.
The first half of 2011 also saw an upsurge in the amount of compensation paid to victims of mis-selling with £215 million paid out by the 16 top PPI sellers. Again, these figures were heavily influenced by the Judicial Review with £102 million being paid out in May and June alone after the completion of the review. It is likely that compensation payouts for the second half of 2011 may yet top this after several of the UK’s largest banks allocated millions of pounds to deal with the issue.