Burgesses is a trusted and respected name in payment protection insurance (PPI) and has established its credentials over many years. With over 30 years in the industry, the firm is headed up by Sara-Ann Burgess, who has made it her mission to push for fairness, value and efficiency in the payment protection insurance market.
Burgesses seeks to inform consumers of the issues in the payment protection insurance market and make sure they have everything they need to make the right decision when it comes to buying payment protection insurance.
At its best, payment protection insurance is a product that can prevent people’s lives being turned upside down by the already difficult issues of accident, sickness and unemployment. When such things strike, it is often without warning and few of us are as prepared as we should be to deal with financial burden such changes thrust upon us.
Good payment protection insurance creates a secure safety net for policyholders and means that should they suffer from accident, sickness or unemployment, they will still have the means to meet their financial commitments.
Unfortunately too many high street providers have seen payment protection insurance as a way of generating huge profits, rather than as a way of helping their customers. In the past some of the biggest financial institutions in the country have taken advantage of their position and sold expensive and often inappropriate policies to customers at the same time as providing their mortgage, loan, or credit card.
This is unacceptable and at last the issue was brought to the public’s attention by Citizens Advice, when it submitted a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading about the number of policies that were being sold to people who were not actually eligible to make a claim.
An investigation by the Office of Fair Trading confirmed this as a major problem in the industry and also highlighted the fact there was little effective competition in the market and that the profits being made were excessive.
In turn an investigation by the Competition Commission has also expressed its concerns over the way the market operates and the dominance the larger providers have.
Burgesses has been a continual voice in the market pushing for these investigations, and calling for the industry to take collective action to improve what it offers customers.
That voice is at last being heard and as some of the old excesses and poor sales practices are consigned to the bin and as a growing number of independent providers come into the market, there is greater pressure being put on those already there to improve what they have to offer.
Burgesses wants to make sure the right people get the right product at the right price. It continues to champion the case of the consumer and push for the industry to be as good as it can be.
If payment protection insurance is properly explained and offered in flexible, good value policies to people who are eligible to claim, then it can be the difference between getting through accident, sickness or unemployment unscathed, or being financially ruined.
This is why Burgesses has fought so hard to push improvements in the market and will continue to do so.