Banks' PPI deadline should not put people off protection - Defaqto

Defaqto has warned that the public should not be turned off protection products following the fall out of the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal.

It called for a line to be drawn under the affair to help restore consumer confidence in protection.

Yesterday the FSA revealed that £215m was paid to consumers in redress over the first six months of the year and today marks the deadline for banks to deal with PPI complaints put on hold during the judicial review.

Ben Heffer, analyst for life and protection at Defaqto, noted the importance of rebuilding trust and ensuring people adequately protected themselves.

"Today marks the first of a series of deadlines for these banks to resolve the PPI complaints they have received," he said.

"However, despite the well documented problems with the selling of PPI, it is important for people not to be turned off protection insurance as a whole - and, critically, a line needs to be drawn under PPI to restore consumer confidence in protection products.

"It is important for people to have appropriate protection in place for their needs and circumstances. People need to ask themselves how they and their dependents would cope financially if for example they lost their job or fell ill," he added.