Get your own back on your bank: #1

Not everyone who works for a bank is a thief and a liar. That would be a generalisation. There is, we've heard, a decent bloke in a branch back-office somewhere in the Aberystwyth region. But as this week progresses and we hear which of the banks have made record profits again, it is clear that this cash isn't coming from the banks' efforts to free Third World children from poverty. Or Britain's for that matter.

The great scandal of the last year is the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI), a plan that is supposed to cover your monthly repayments if you lose your job. Bank staff are paid fat commissions for every policy they sell, but because most people in their right mind wouldn't want one, the staff member just adds it any way. They get their commission, the customer gets stuffed and these white collar crooks waltz off into the sunset with nothing more than a few terse questions to face on Judgment Day.

There are around 20m of these policies in circulation and it is estimated that 1m of them have been mis-sold. So sneaky are the lenders that you may have to phone them up to ask if you have one.

The simple fact is that in many cases this insurance is wholly unsuitable for the people who have it and if you came to claim you couldn't. Double stuffed. If you have been conned now is the time to get your money back.

This lunchtime, you need to...

Read this guide:

Reclaiming payment protection insurance

And follow the instructions. In short there are just steps:
1. Check you've got it.
2. See if it's appropriate. If not...
3. Fill in the template letter and get your money back.

It's not work.

Background reading

- Banks make 900% profit from selling PPI
- Bank fined £1m for loans insurance rip-off
- Your reclaiming success stories

- Quick PPI Q&A
- Discuss the PPI scam
- Egg added PPI without my say-so