Protection Policy-Holders Encouraged To Take No Win No Fee Action

HFC bank was fined £1.1 million by the FSA in January for failings in the way it sold cover. Law firm Clyde & Co is now planning to unite customers of the bank in a class action dispute on a no win, no fee basis.

Clyde & co say that the average person who was sold payment protection insurance (PPI) by the bank, paid £2000 in premiums. If the bank were forced to repay those premiums the compensation bill could cost over £300 million.

HFC is believed to have sold 163,000 policies without gathering sufficient information about the customers circumstances or taking into account whether a PPI was suitable.

Clyde & co hope to gather about 500 people to take part in action, which would be on a no win no fee basis.

A spokesperson from HFA denies knowledge of the claim and refuses to admit that PPIs were mis-sold saying that “so far we have not been contacted regarding any legal action and so we are unable to comment in any detail.

"The original fine by the FSA in January was for deficiencies in procedures in our branches from January 2005 to May 2007, but there were no findings of mis-selling and there was no evidence that consumers had been disadvantaged.

"However, we are working hand-in-hand with the FSA to ensure this is the case."

Consumer group Which? recommend that if you have been mis sold a PPI that you should pursue the matter individually rather than through class action:

“While we want to see more people claim back mis-sold PPI, it's hard to see the benefit of a class action as consumers can easily claim the money back themselves.

“Processing your own claim is simple. If you think you've been mis-sold PPI you should write to your lender to claim the money back.

“If you don't get a satisfactory response then you should take the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free,” said Doug Taylor personal finance campaigns manager at Which?

Carys is an author of several articles pertaining to No Win No Fee, Compensation Claims, Personal Injury Claims and other legal articles.