FOS: Claims management firms 'exploited' PPI scandal

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Claims management firms (CMCs) have 'exploited' payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service's (FOS) legal director.

In its latest newsletter, the FOS said 45% of complaints received last year were from CMCs. Caroline Wayman, principal ombudsman and legal director at the FOS, said CMCs could seem "attractive and reassuring" but insisted consumers did not need to go through third parties to make claims. "The 'PPI problem' stems from very large numbers of PPI policies being sold inappropriately by financial businesses - so CMCs didn't create the problem. "But they've certainly exploited it - and this has had a major impact on PPI complaints." She said some CMCs fail "pretty dismally" in their jo...

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