PPI Refunds in Ireland – at least €50 Million to be paid back

Here in Ireland it became obvious to the regulator in recent years that there had been fairly widepspread mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance . (As there was in the UK)
Back in July 2013 the Central Bank instructed the firms involved to carry out a review of their PPI sales since 2007..  Read more about that here.

Back in March 2013 we wrote about the slow progress of the PPI Investigation.
On the 3rd of October 2013 the Central Bank issued another  update on the  investigation into the sales of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).

Initially we were told that 10 firms were involved – but now MBNA has been added to the list to make it  11 .   The Central Bank says that the review process is only about 50% complete – and about 175000 of the 350000- cases still need to be looked at.

Only 20% of the PPI sales investigated  have been found to breach the Consumer Protection Code and will qualify for a refund. So – of the 175000 investigated so far  – that would mean just 35000 people getting a refund.

The Central Bank say that ” approximately €25 million has been identified for refund to those consumers whose files have already been reviewed.  ”
It is not clear if that means  the total to be refunded for those cases is €25 million or if it means that €25m is just the amount they have managed to work out so far.
(A total of €25 million split between 35000 is an average refund of  €714 )

If the rate of mis-selling turns out to be 20% for all the cases – then there will be a payout of at least €50 Million in PPI refunds

Some firms have already started making refunds of PPI premiums – and any payment made should also have interest added on.

The Central Bank have said that they will continue to monitor the firms to ensure that their reviews have been completed by the end of 2013.

The Central Bank say that all consumers with policies that fall within the scope of the review  should be contacted by their firm by the end of 2013.

We say that if you think you were missold PPI – then don’t wait for the review because it could be too late – especially if your PPI policy was sold to you in late 2007 or early 2008 . See our page on Claiming a PPI Refund .

The 11 firms are Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Bank of Scotland, Danske Bank, EBS, GE Money, KBC , MBNA, PTSB, RaboDirect, and Ulster Bank.