The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has now published its awaited consultation on proposed changes to the complaints handling rules for payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints. In a statement on 2 October 2015, the FCA announced that it would consult on introducing a two year deadline for the submission of PPI mis-selling complaints by consumers. The October statement also mentioned that the proposals would include new rules for the handling of PPI mis-selling complaints that related to sales of consumer credit (following the Supreme Court decision in Plevin v Paragon Finance Ltd [2014] UKSC 61).
CP15/39 sets out the proposals for a complaint deadline and the draft rules for handling ‘Plevin’ style complaints.
The proposals in CP15/39 include:
- a two year time frame within which all remaining PPI complaints should be submitted against authorised firms;
- a consumer marketing campaign that publicises to consumers their right to submit complaints before the deadline;
- a new fee to fund the consumer marketing campaign to be funded by the 18 firms that receive around 90 per cent of PPI complaints; and
- the introduction of an additional second step in the procedure in the DISP Handbook for ‘Plevin’ style complaints and the introduction of a definition of commission solely in the context of PPI complaints. The second step also introduces a rebuttable presumption that failure to disclose commission of more than 50 per cent gave rise to an unfair relationship under section 140A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
Responses to this consultation paper should be submitted to the FCA by 26 February 2015.
View: FCA publishes CP15/39 on proposed changes to complaints handling rules
