Mis-sold PPI tops list of customer complaints in first half of 2017, shows FCA data

The total number of PPI complaints increased by 24% from 899,000 in 2016, to 1.11 million this year

Over £27.4bn has been paid out to customers since the FCA first introduced rules for complaining about PPI back in 2011 (Reuters)

A third of the 3.32 million official complaints made to financial companies in the first half of 2017 related to PPI, figures released on Monday showed.

Data compiled by the Financial Conduct Authority revealed that, overall, the number of complaints had risen by just over 9 per cent from the 3.04 million recorded during the first half of 2016.

Some 43 per cent of all complaints in the first half of 2017 were related to “advising, selling and arranging”, down from 59 per cent in the first half of last year. “General administration and customer service” complaints accounted for 27 per cent in the first half of last year, and inched higher to account for 38 per cent of all complaint this year.

The total number of Payment Protection Insurance – or PPI – complaints increased by 24 per cent from 899,000 in 2016, to 1.11 million this year.

In late August, the FCA launched a striking campaign designed to create awareness of the August 2019 deadline to make a complaint about PPI featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

At time, FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey said that the campaign aimed to “cut through the noise on PPI”.

Over £27.4bn has been paid out to customers since the FCA first introduced rules for complaining about PPI back in 2011. PPI policies were sold alongside loans, credit cards, store cards and mortgages mostly between the 1990s and 2010.

The FCA data on Monday showed that total redress to customer hit £1.99bn in the first half of 2017, a total of 82 per cent was linked to mis-sold PPI.