Blog: Profiteering from the PPI mis-selling scandal

My outing to buy barbecuing essentials last weekend was rapidly cut short by a cold-call relating to PPI. But the caller wasn't trying to sell the product, he was after something else entirely...

When buying barbeque stuff, one doesn't really expect the PPI misselling scandal to be at the forefront of one's mind.

But while I hauled coals, burgers and sausages to our car, my wife suddenly received a call from an unknown London number.

She had been contacted by one of a number of companies that seem to be desperately seeking clients who may have been mis-sold PPI policies and who may wish to apply for compensation.

When we got home I quickly 'Googled' the number to find out who had been cold calling us, seemingly attempting to profiteer from the mis-selling scandal rather than out of any deep-felt empathy with the plight of victims.

It turned out we were called by a company calling themselves The Claims Guys who, despite their London telephone number, are actually based in Altrincham, Cheshire.

The fact legal firms are touting for business on the back of the mis-selling scandal comes as no surprise, but what did surprise me is they would cold call a potential client who has never had a PPI policy, has no mortgage and a modest credit card limit.

A bit more digging on the Internet reveals many annoyed people were called by The Claims Guys shortly after using insurance comparison websites.

Since we've recently renewed our car insurance (using a number of well-known comparison sites) this seemed the likely culprit.

I don't doubt more intermediaries are likely to face further legal action as a result of these calls, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The fact these firms are harvesting telephone numbers from comparison websites, desperately cold-calling people who probably never even had a PPI policy, might be an indicator that the slew of claims is coming to an end.

If claims companies need to stoop this low, then maybe there aren't that many customers clamouring for PPI redress as previously thought.

The claims floodgates may be open, but it seems there was only a trickle coming through.

Let me know your thoughts.

John Bakie is senior adviser correspondent at Professional Adviser magazine and IFAonline.