The statistics surrounding mis-sold PPI policies are alarming – yet around seven million payment protection insurance policies are taken out on loans, mortgages and credit cards every year in the UK.

The good news is that if you’re one of the people who have been mis-sold PPI, you can claim back the full amount, often reaching into the thousands. The bad news is that people just aren’t doing so – either because they can’t be bothered or they just don’t know that PPI reclaiming exists. Many won’t even know their policy was mis-sold, despite the statistics indicating that this is the more likely scenario.

According to a recent study, as many as 70% of PPI policies have been mis-sold, but worryingly only 4% of policyholders end up making a claim. That means that the companies who push these policies are raking in millions, while the average customer loses out.

PPI mis-selling covers a variety of practices. Misleading customers into believing PPI is compulsory is one of the more common techniques, while many loans includes a PPI policy that hasn’t been discussed – check that repayments match up to that competitive interest rate that was advertised. If not, the extra is likely to be payments for a PPI policy that has been snuck into the small print.

Practices like this are illegal and have led to huge fines for companies like HSBC, Egg and other high-profile lenders. Alliance and Leicester were fined a record £7m for mis-selling PPI policies back in October 2008, yet all across the country the practice still goes largely undetected. The estimated value of PPI policies to UK banks and loan companies stands at £6billion, and rising.

There are several practices that can qualify as PPI mis-selling, down to recommending the policies without issuing the proper documentation. If you think you have been mis-sold PPI, don’t hesitate to check the facts and lodge a claim.