A further 14% of brokers disagreed, while 2% said they had no idea whether the FOS was right to state that CMCs were taking advantage of the mass mis-selling of PPI.
Lindsay Hopkins, managing director of brokerage Trafalgar Square Overseas, said: “I’m not surprised by the results. The banks only have themselves to blame for the rise in CMCs that have been able to exploit the situation.
“There have been some appalling practices from these companies, because they’re under-regulated, and PPI is going to lead to a massive expansion of that market.”
The FOS has found CMCs could pocket up to £2bn in fees from confronting banks on behalf of customers seeking redress for PPI mis-selling, which banks have agreed to pay.
Lee Farringdon, director of Amber Mortgage Solutions, said CMCs could seem “attractive and reassuring” to consumers, but insisted they did not need to go through third parties to make claims.
He said: “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.”
