There is no doubt you will have read and heard plenty about people seeking refunds on their mis-sold PPI policies, but have you asked yourself whether you can make a PPI claim and claw back some lost expenditure? The chances are that you have a PPI policy outstanding – or maybe one that has recently elapsed – and it worth investigating these as the recent investigation by the Financial Services Authority discovered that mis-selling of such policies was far from a rare occurrence.

Indeed, such was the widespread nature of mis-sold policies that the FSA was bound to levy heavy fines on some of the worst culprits, and many of these were well known household names. Furthermore, a massive reorganisation of the regulations that cover the selling and provision of PPI policies was undertaken, leading to certain measures that are designed to protect the consumer from future misconduct.

You may well have a PPI policy – or more than one – if you have recently taken out a loan, a mortgage or entered into a credit agreement which means a PPI claim may also be available to you. Payment protection insurance, to give it the full title, is a type of insurance that you buy with the intention of providing a source from which to meet outstanding monthly repayments in the event of the policy coming into play. The circumstances in which individual policies become active can vary, but in general a PPI policy will pay out for a given period should the policy holder find they are no longer able to work, either through redundancy or as a result of accident or illness.

Many people, however, have been able to make a PPI claim because some of the rules of selling were breached by lenders; the most common incidence has been that where a lender granted a loan to a borrower, yet inferred that for the transaction to be completed the consumer would have to take on a particular PPI policy to cover any unfortunate circumstances. This is an example of mis-selling, for it has always been the consumers right to scour the market for a better deal, yet many lenders failed to make this clear.

Others have seen fit to pursue PPI claims as they found they were sold policies that were of no use – commonly those with an existing illness were led to believe the policy would still be actionable – and many other instances of mis-selling have been found, too.

The industry has now tightened its regulations as has been said, but this does not mean that you can no longer make a PPI claim for a previous policy. There is plenty of information on the internet about making a claim, and there are also many professionals who specialise in the field – if you feel you have a case, it is your right to pursue it.