A SMARTPHONE app will allow victims of payment protection mis-selling to get compensation without paying big fees to claims firms.
The DIY app will allow customers to claim back money themselves from mis-sold loans and credit card insurance.
Julie Lee, a claims industry insider, has developed the iPhone app to make the entire claiming process simple and last only 10 minutes.
The app, “DIY PPI,” will cost £3.99 for iPhone and iPad users and will walk claimants step-by-step through the process to get their compensation.
Julie said: “I’ve experienced many calls from people who have straightforward claims and don’t need to use the services of a claims management company[cmc], so I thought that an app for the iPhone/ iPad would be a great way for them to do it themselves.
“The average successful loan claim is about £3995 and most of the CMCs will take between 25-30% plus VAT – so they’d be earning up to £1438 just for filling in some forms.
“To me this seems almost as big a scandal as the original PPI mis-selling and it’s also taking place on an industrial scale. Everyone from consumer magazine Which? to the Financial Ombudsman is advising the public to avoid these CMCs.
“However, as you might expect the forms look complex and difficult and that puts a lot of people off, or pushes them into the arms of the CMCs.”
She added: “I checked what apps were already available, but there was nothing apart from a very basic ‘calculator’ to help people work out how much they might be due. That’s all very well, but what customers really need is no-nonsense help and advice to walk them through the process and help them realise the reasons why they may have been mis-sold.”
The Financial Ombudsman has identified Glasgow as the UK’s top PPI hotspot with the average successful claim being £4000.
The claims have caused HSBC and Lloyds in the past week to increase their funds dramatically with expected payouts to reach at least £10 billion.
Julie decided to show consumers there is an easy way to claim without the use of an expensive third party.
Julie added: “I really hope our app can do something to stop the profiteering and help customers avoid losing large chunks of their pay outs to unnecessary middle men.”
The app uses a simple series of YES or NO questions to find out if the person was mis-sold PPI. The app even provides suggestions to tell users where exactly to put their response on the form.
When the form is completed the user will post to the lender and wait for a response. This final process may take up to 8 weeks.
DIY PPI app is now available to download from the Apple app store for £3.99.
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/diy-ppi/id542405952?mt=8
