PPI remains most complained-about product as claims deadline looms

More than 36,000 new PPI cases were brought to the ombudsman between October and December 2016 because banks initially rejected customers' compensation claims – amounting to 51% of the 70,900 product and service complaints in the quarter.

About 44% of PPI cases were found in the customer's favour during the quarter.

Gripes about current accounts were a distant second place, with just over 4,000 complaints – about 6% of the total. Only 26% of current account complaints were upheld in favour of the customer.

The latest FOS figures show that PPI complaints continue to dominate the ombudsman's workload, even as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is set to announce a time-bar on PPI reclaiming by the end of March – with the final deadline for claims expected in 2019.

MoneySavingExpert.com has campaigned against the time-bar ever since it was first proposed, with MSE founder Martin Lewis branding the FCA's decision to back it "very disappointing".

If you've had a loan, credit card or mortgage in the last decade, check our Free PPI Reclaim guide now to see if you're owed money for mis-sold PPI.

What's the background to the PPI deadline?

In August 2016 the FCA said it believed a number of PPI proposals it had consulted on should be taken forward. These proposals include imposing a deadline for PPI claims and launching a consumer communications campaign to raise awareness of it.

The regulator said it would announce the deadline for PPI claims by December 2016, with the advertising campaign expected to start in June 2017 and the final cut-off for claims to be June 2019.

However, when December 2016 rolled around the FCA revealed it was pushing the deadline announcement back to the first quarter of 2017 – meaning it could come any time up until the end of March.

In a statement it said: "We have received a large amount of feedback and, given the importance of this matter, we are carefully considering the issues raised and will make a further announcement in Q1 2017."

This is likely to push final implementation of the proposals back by several months – so consumers may not see a PPI deadline enforced until the latter half of 2019, meaning there's more time to claim.