PPI disputes halve but still dominate complaints

Billions of pounds have been paid in compensation for PPI mis-selling

Disputes over the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) have nearly halved in a year, but the scandal is expected to rumble on.

The Financial Ombudsman Service, which rules on unresolved cases, said it had received 204,943 complaints about PPI in the 12 months to the end of March.

This was down 49% on the previous year, but the total still dwarfs complaints about other financial products.

The ombudsman service said PPI cases could still take years to work through.

PPI was designed to cover loan repayments in the event of redundancy or ill-health, but was widely mis-sold.

A huge programme of compensation was set up, which has now paid out more than £24bn.

The ombudsman arbitrates in disputes over a range of financial products. It found in consumers' favour in 55% of cases over the year.

Although PPI complaints are falling, other products have seen a rise in complaints including packaged bank accounts, credit broking, and interest rate hedging products.