In June, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) extended the deadline for Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and RBS to resolve Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) complaints. Part of the agreement put in place by the FSA stipulated that PPI complaints still with these firms but put on hold during the judicial review would need to be dealt with by the 31st August 2011.
Commenting in the context of today's deadline, Ben Heffer, Insight Analyst for Life and Protection at independent financial research company Defaqto, said:
"Today marks the first of a series of deadlines for these banks to resolve the PPI complaints they have received. However, despite the well documented problems with the selling of PPI, it is important for people not to be turned off protection insurance as a whole - and, critically, a line needs to be drawn under PPI to restore consumer confidence in protection products.
"It is important for people to have appropriate protection in place for their needs and circumstances. People need to ask themselves how they and their dependents would cope financially if for example they lost their job or fell ill.
"There are many protection products on the market, including life assurance, income protection and critical illness cover, each serving a different purpose - and, ultimately, people need to consider what type and level of cover they need for their circumstances to give them financial security and peace of mind.
"Crucially, when comparing protection products people need to focus on the features and benefits that different policies offer, rather than price, to ensure they arrange cover that matches their requirements."
Defaqto's Star Ratings for critical illness products, income protection insurance and mortgage payment protection insurance aim to help people understand the overall level of features and benefits that different protection policies offer.
Taking a wide range of elements into account, Defaqto has given each product on the market a rating from 1 to 5 depending on how comprehensive they are. The key is for people to identify the right level of insurance for their needs, whether this happens to be a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 Star Rated product.
People can access Defaqto's Star Ratings for protection products at:
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