Payment protection insurance is an extremely good idea in theory. However, in practice, many people are let down by their payment protection insurance, leaving them in debt without a lifeline. Why does this happen and how you can ensure that your insurance will be there when you need it most?

Payment protection insurance is a relatively simple concept. Essentially, this form of insurance is designed to cover the cost of loan repayments if you fall victim to a loss of income. You can lose income for a variety of reasons and, if this comes to pass, you could end up with a loan you can no longer afford to repay. You might require payment protection insurance to cover you for reasons including:

Redundancy
Accidents which render work impossible
Sickness which affects your ability to work
Death
Other causes of unemployment

Generally PPI cover will last for 12 months after an accident, sickness, death or redundancy. Yet many people find that their insurance claim is rejected when they need it the most, even after having paid for it for years.

This happens because payment protection cover is frequently mis-sold. This means that customers are given PPI without having much of an idea about what it really is. This, in turn, means that the PPI people buy is all-too-often unsuitable for the individual client and is therefore impossible to claim back in the event of a loss of income.

As with most other forms of insurance, payment protection cover cannot be sold as a one-size-fits-all solution to the risk of losing out on income whilst repaying a loan. Each case is different and requires a decent level of understanding of exactly what is needed and what will be provided in the event of a loss of income.

Luckily, things are getting better. There are now more stringent guidelines in place which should stop payment protection from being sold in the wrong ways to unsuitable candidates. Meanwhile, if you think you have been mis-sold PPI, you can now claim your money back if you were sold it inappropriately. This news may be a case of too little too late for the 90% of customers who bought protection insurance without the appropriate information required. In many cases this 90% felt that they had even been given deliberately misleading information by their PPI seller.

Although the system is improving, you do still need to be cautious when buying PPI. Make sure you have all the facts you need about payment protection insurance before investing in a policy and ensure that the cover you buy is appropriate and suited to you and your specific situation. Gathering as much information as you can before reaching a decision is the best way to do this.

One place where you can find excellent, informative advice about payment protection insurance is First Call Payment Protection Ltd. Here you will find all the information you need to get the right cover which will be there should you ever need it.