Millions plagued by ‘completely unacceptable’ PPI cold calls

Claims management companies are still contacting millions of people about making claims for PPI mis-selling. Here's how you can avoid getting cold called.

32million British adults have been contacted by claims management companies about making a claim for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), according to Citizens Advice.

Of those 98% had not given permission to be contacted and more than half said it had happened at least ten times in the past year.

Nuisance calls

The telephone is the most popular way to send out these messages, with 98% of people receiving a phone call. 39% had an automated message sent to their landline, while 35% received a text.

The calls are rarely at convenient times. One in seven said they were contacted during a family meal, while 14% had to take time out of work to answer the calls.

Gillian Guy, chief executive for Citizens Advice, said: " It is completely unacceptable that precious family time, important work meetings and rare opportunities to relax are being ruined by PPI cold calls."

The research comes from a poll of 5,682 people taken between June and July 2013.

Between April 2012 and March 2013 Citizens Advice received 30,000 complaints about companies cold calling. Half of these were to do with financial services including PPI and companies offering loans.

How to stop cold calls

Cold calls, text messages and letters can be extremely frustrating and potentially dangerous for for vulnerable adults.

The first thing you should do to stop them is sign up to the Telephone Preference System (TSP). This takes around 28 days and once on the list no one should contact you if you haven't agreed to it.

However, many companies will take your details from surveys, questionnaires or registration forms. There is often a caveat in the small print on these forms which states that you agree to your information being passed on, so always double check this before giving away any details.

If a cold call is from a human being, rather than an automated message, the best thing to do is tell the caller not to contact you again, to remove you from any lists they own and to put down the phone.

You can then report a company which continues to call you to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) through its online form or on 030 3123 1113.

Text messages should be forwarded onto your mobile provider and then deleted, while any suspicious emails or letters can be sent onto Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

More information can be found in our article - Cold calls: how to stop unwanted phone calls.

How to claim for PPI on your own

Claiming for PPI is free and easy - you don’t need to go through a claims management company to do it. Companies have capitalised on the fact people aren’t willing to do it themselves, or aren’t aware this is possible, and offer to claim back this money for a price.

You can claim for any kind of mis-sold products, be it PPI, credit card insurance or packaged bank accounts.

The best way to do this is going straight to your bank, or whichever company sold you the insurance, on your own and complaining. It then has eight weeks to reply. If by this time it either hasn't replied, or hasn't replied with a reasonable response, you can take your complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

The FOS has an online questionaire which you'll need to fill in detailing exactly what has happened. It will then look at your case and determine whether you're eligible for compensation.

You can find out more in our article How to claim your PPI compensation.

More on PPI:

How to claim your PPI compensation

The most successful PPI complaints

The real result of PPI mis-selling

Banks ask for PPI claim deadline