Fresh PPI crackdown branded 'unfair'

New rules demanding firms reopen previously-rejected PPI complaints are unjust because they require firms to retrospectively apply today’s standards to yesterday’s business, two influential trade bodies argue.

The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) and the Association of Finance Brokers (AFB) say firms are being asked to address all complaints in the same manner regardless of when the sale was made.

The FSA yesterday ordered firms reopen about 185,000 previously-rejected PPI complaints and reassess them.

It hopes the move will tackle what it calls the "key issue" that too many complaints are rejected by firms and then overturned by the financial ombudsman (FOS).

It says firms representing more than 40% of face-to-face sales in the single premium unsecured personal loan PPI market have agreed to review their sales and redress those consumers identified as missold.

But the AMI and AFB say the new rules are unfair. "We are being asked to address all complaints in the same way irrespective of when the sale was made, with the period covering two major regulatory changes," director Robert Sinclair says.

"We have always argued against the retrospective application of today's standards to the work of yesterday, and will continue to campaign on this basis."

Sinclair says the bodies are disappointed they now have a "truncated" one month consultation and "abbreviated" implementation timescales that "appear to breach the Government's Code of Practice on Guidance on Regulation".

"These changes will be very difficult for thousands of intermediary firms to consider and evaluate in the time available," he says. "This is made worse as it dovetails with proposed Competition Commission changes"