The amount of consumer-related financial disputes reached a record in the year to March, according to the Financial Ombudsman.
The body, which acts as an appeals service for customers who feel a claim has been turned down unfairly, settled 518,778 disputes, more than double last year's figure. In 58% of cases it found in the consumer's favour. Three quarters of the complaints relate to Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). The number of PPI complaints rose 6% to 399,939 but the ombudsman said the amount of cases coming in per week had dropped to 6,000 - compared to 12,000 per week a few months ago. PPI is a policy designed to help repay loans and credit card debt in the event of illness, redundancy or death. It was mis-sold to millions of people and compensation paid out by the banks has already exceeded £14bn.....Read more here