MPs have accused Barclays of “incompetence” over its handling of PPI complaints. The criticism comes from the recent discovery that some staff were using the wrong rules for compensation awards.
Barclays currently has five sites that are used for handling claims for compensation over mis-sold PPI. Following a technological fault, one site missed out on a major update to the manual staff were required to follow in dealing with these claims. Potentially hundreds of customers were affected by this error, some of whom may have missed out on compensation they were rightly due.
Those who chanced to have their PPI claims dealt with by the firm’s Leeds office received payouts automatically. Those who dealt with the other four offices, on the other hand, had to endure a much more laborious process in order to achieve compensation.
Barclays insists that no customers missed out on compensation, but many other parties remain unsure. Besides customers, there are also doubts about this claim from the Financial Conduct Authority as well as the MPs that have been levelling criticism at the bank.
Barclays called the mistake a “minor glitch,” but John Mann MP called it “a major issue.” Mann, who is part of the Treasury Select Committee, said that Barclays must now re-examine the cases of those affected and take the necessary steps to “ensure that all their customers are compensated to the maximum amount.” Mann also said he would be bringing the issue to the attention of the Financial Conduct Authority.
Barclays have been a major offender in the PPI mis-selling scandal. They continue to generate a large number of complaints, having sold PPI wrongly to hundreds of people for their Barclaycards when they had no use for it. This has resulted in the bank having to make hundreds of payouts. The value of these compensation payments varies significantly, but averages at around £2,500. The total fund set aside by Barclays for compensation is around £3.95 billion.
The mistake came to light in mid-2013. According to some sources, Barclays were quick to try and move on from the issue while paying it as little attention as possible, but when the problems became known outside the bank’s staff a number of people were concerned that they should make more of an effort to redress any problems it had caused for customers.
