Santander extends PPI claims deadline
Santander has extended its deadline for submitting PPI claims amid complaints that its website was not working and people were being kept on hold on the phone for hours.
The deadline for complaining to financial firms was 11.59pm on Thursday but the bank was still accepting claims on Friday morning.
Santander’s website said the move was “due to the high volume of customers contacting us about PPI”.
It added: “The deadline for submitting PPI complaints and claims is August 29 2019.
“However, due to the high volume of customers contacting us about PPI, you can continue to make a PPI complaint or to submit PPI inquiries using the details below.”
Santander confirmed it is still accepting PPI claims but has not said when the new deadline will be.
People took to social media as the deadline loomed on Thursday to report problems when filling out or submitting the Santander’s online PPI form and to complain about long waiting times when calling its phoneline.
@MoneySavingExp Santander website is down for making a PPI claim and I was on hold on there phones for 45 min. Is there anything else i can do?
— Paula Ward (@PaulaMitchell76) August 29, 2019
@PaulaMitchell76 tweeted: “@MoneySavingExp Santander website is down for making a PPI claim and I was on hold on there phones for 45 min. Is there anything else i can do?”
@jwkirkham added: “@santanderukhelp Interestingly the Santander PPI form on the Web is temporarily unavailable. There’s reference to a phone number where I’ve been held for almost an hour. The recorded message ludicrously suggests going to the website.”
@santanderukhelpInterestingly the Santander PPI form on the Web is temporarily unavailable. There’s reference to a phone number where I’ve been held for almost an hour. The recorded message ludicrously suggests going to the website.
— John Kirkham (@jwkirkham) August 29, 2019
An estimated 64 million PPI (payment protection insurance) policies were sold in the UK – many in the 1990s and early 2000s.
PPI was routinely added to products such as store cards, credit cards or mortgages.
It was intended to protect people if they could not keep up with their payments, due to illness or unemployment for example.
But it was widely-mis-sold.
The PPI deadline has now passed. If you have any questions regarding your PPI complaint, we're on Twitter Mon-Fri, 9am – 6pm. Or, you can call our team Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm and Sat 9am-1pm on 0800 101 88 00. You can also visit our website: https://t.co/mZuM12JDDv
— The FCA PPI Complaints Deadline (@ppifca) August 30, 2019
People were pressured into buying it, did not know they had it, or it was unsuitable.
It is the most complained-about financial product that the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has ever seen, receiving more than two million complaints.
Following a court case known as Plevin, people can also complain on the basis that a high level of commission was earned from the sale of the policy – but they were not told about it.
People can complain about commission even if they have had a previous complaint about mis-selling of PPI rejected.
The FCA’s website includes a list of providers that have sold PPI at www.fca.org.uk/ppi/how-to-complain/search-for-provider.
