Have You Been Mis-Sold PPI Through A Store Card?

Published: 19/09/2018

When most people think about PPI, and how it was mis-sold to tens of thousands of UK consumers, mortgages and loans come to mind.

Many people were indeed sold PPI while taking out these milestone financial products, when purchasing a home or taking out a loan for a renovation, for example. However, there are other, more subtle ways consumers were mis-sold PPI. Store cards are one of those.

What Is A Store Card?

You’re making a purchase at one of your favourite shops on the high street, likely a department store or big grocery chain. It’s likely that, at some point in your life as a keen shopper, you’ve been asked by the sales assistant if you would like to apply for a store card.

A store card, not to be confused with a loyalty or discount card, is more or less a branded credit card that you could use anywhere. You can shop until you drop in the chosen shop, on credit, before paying it off (or landing yourself in debt!) at the end of the month. In the past, store cards gave you great discounts on your favourite items (clothing, cosmetics, electronics, homewares, and so on) or even groceries, so were an appealing product to take out. Now this is less so, as they have become more regulated.

Store cards were popular in the ‘90s and early 2000s, but are not so popular today.

Some of the main shops that ran store cards during the ‘90s and 2000s included Debenhams, Asda, House of Fraser and BHS amongst others.

The thing about store cards is they often came with PPI (payment protection insurance) attached. Given these cards are often promoted by sales assistants and not trained professionals at financial institutions, it’s very likely, if you took one out, the terms and conditions were not properly explained to you. As such, you were likely mis-sold PPI.

Even if you took out a store card decades again, you may still be eligible to claim compensation for the PPI you unjustly paid for.

Claiming For PPI With Store Cards - A Complicated Process

It should be straightforward, right? A store gave you this card, so if you were mis-sold PPI, you should be able to just contact that store or the group that owns it and get your refund. Unfortunately, things aren’t always that easy.

You probably won’t get very far if you contact the store. While the store should be responsible, it’s almost guaranteed that it will direct you to the underlying company that provided the credit.

If you wish to lodge your PPI claim yourself, you should therefore contact that company. Of course, before you do this, you will need to decide how you were mis-sold the PPI, such as - you didn’t know about it or were told it was a compulsory purchase. If you don’t have the original documentation that came with the card, you’ll also need to ask the company for this, so there is evidence of you having it in the first place.

As you can imagine, this can be a stressful and time-consuming process because isn’t anything to do with telephones a terrible mess, these days?!

But Wait, There’s More…

Who’s to blame for your mis-sold PPI is not the only complication that can arise while lodging your claim for compensation.

If your claim dates back to before 2001, it’s only in the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to cover PPI complaints dealing with credit cards before this point, and not store cards. As such, if your claim is rejected by the lender (as often is the case… and unfairly so), there’s not much you can do about it.

If you’re in the position where neither the lender nor the Ombudsman will consider your claim then you could try the underwriter linked to the lender. It’s the underwriter’s job to check that you’re a suitable borrower, and depending on when your claim dates back to they could be obliged to look at it. However, if you really have the time and patience for all that, you definitely should win not just compensation but an award!

How To Maximise Your Chances Of Receiving The Compensation You Deserve

You can lodge a claim for PPI yourself, without the help of a solicitor of claims company. However, as mentioned above, the process is not always so straight-forward. It can time-consuming, stressful and ultimately end in rejection, even if you do in fact have a legitimate claim.

The benefit of instructing an experienced financial claims solicitors' firm to act on your behalf is, among many, that the burden is completely taken off your shoulders. At GWlegal, for example, our staff deal with PPI claims day-in-day-out and have claimed back tens of thousands of pounds on behalf of our clients. We know how the process works, who to speak to, and what to say to ensure your chances of success are maximised and your claim is dealt with as soon as possible. Even if your claim is unsuccessful, you won’t pay anything, as our service is ‘No win, no fee’, so there really is nothing to lose.

Even if you are not sure if you ever had PPI or can’t remember the details of the financial product you took out, we can help.

But please keep in mind that there is now less than a year to make your PPI claim, as a deadline has been set by the FCA. You MUST lodge your claim before 29 August 2019, the sooner than better, if you want to avoid undue delays. For more info please click here.

Who are GWlegal?

GWlegal are a financial claims solicitors based in Liverpool, specialising in PPI, pay day loan claims, packaged bank account claims and housing disrepair claims.

If you have a legal matter you wish to discuss don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can call us on 0345 373 3737 or email us at hello@gw.legal with your question.

Who are GWlegal? We’re a national firm with local values.

How Do I Make A PPI Claim?

Content correct at time of publication.