PPI complaints up almost a quarter

According to figures released today by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), just over 1.11 million people complained about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) in the first half of 2017, compared to 899,000 in the second half of 2016.

The PPI reclaim deadline of 29 August 2019 was announced on 2 March, and it's expected complaint figures could rise again for the second half of 2017, as the FCA launched a major advertising campaign about the reclaim deadline in August.

If you've been mis-sold PPI, the clock is now ticking. With the regulator spending millions to advertise the 29 Aug 2019 reclaim deadline it'll likely jam up the system, so act now. See our Reclaim PPI for Free guide for full help.

PPI remains the most complained about product

PPI continues to be the most complained about product, making up about a third of the total 3.32 million complaints which were recorded by firms in the first half of 2017.

Of the £1.99 billion which was paid out in redress in the first half of 2017, £1.63 billion of these payments - over 80% - were for PPI complaints.

The data could be affected by new rules on complaint reporting

Overall, there was an 8% rise in the number of complaints recorded by firms since the second half of 2016, but the FCA said this could be in part due to a new complaint reporting procedure.

Previously, complaints closed before the end of the next business day were not included in the data, but now they are.

Get your mis-sold PPI complaints in early

While the deadline for complaining about mis-sold PPI has been set for August 2019, more and more people are starting to complain, as the data published today shows.

This means a backlog of claims is likely to develop, so if you think you were mis-sold it's worth getting your claim in as soon as possible to beat the queues.

For information about claiming, see our PPI reclaim guide.