This is the latest move in the body’s ongoing campaign to rebuild consumer confidence in the claims management sector following the notorious payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal.
Which?, in conjunction with MoneySavingExpert.com and the British Bankers’ Association, has written a letter to Justice Secretary Ken Clarke calling for tougher regulation of claims management companies.
The letter stated that there has been “significant rule breaking in the sector” and that the government had a “critical role to play in ensuring third party complaint handlers are properly regulated and bad practice is stamped out.”
It also said that regulation and supervision of the claims management sector has not kept up with the sector’s growth.
“Urgent action must be taken to encourage better supervision, self regulation, tigher regulation and enforcement action against CMC’s by the MOJ,” it read.
Recent research from MoneySavingExpert.com and Which? found that a quarter of people did not know that CMCs take a fee and only half knew using a CMC would be no more successful than making the claim themselves.
The letter recognised that the MoJ had already taken some action in the area, and just last week it committed to improving its supervision of CMCs after a meeting with Labour peer Lord Kennedy.
Which? and MoneySavingExpert.com launched their campaign against PPI misselling on 19 April and held a summit on April 23.
