Ombudsman receives record rise in PPI complaints

Consumers are concerned about the sales practices behind their payment protection insurance policies

Growing awareness of possible problems with their financial transactions pushed British consumers into making many more complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service: the total number during the 12 months to 31 March 2008 jumped by 27% from the previous year to 794,648. One in six of these turned into cases involving adjudication. 59% of complaints were about banks, 14% about life companies and investment product providers, 11% about general insurers, 4% on building societies and 3% on general insurance intermediaries.