More than half of PPI claimants still waiting for a decision

Thousands are still waiting for their banks to make a decision on their PPI claims, six months after the claim deadline.

This is despite the industry regulator giving banks and credit providers an eight-week deadline to respond to claims after the date they were submitted.

We asked 6,039 people who used our PPI claim tool in the final two months before last year's deadline on 29 August.

Some 60% of claimants said they haven't heard back from their bank about whether they will get a payout.

And 50% of those still waiting said they haven't even had an acknowledgement from their bank to say whether it's received their claim.

Santander customers facing longest delays

According to our survey, Santander customers are most likely to still be waiting for a decision, with 67% telling us their claim has been delayed.

Santander said: 'We would like to thank customers for their patience while we work through the PPI cases that were received ahead of the deadline. We are making good progress on working through the huge number of cases that were submitted on time.

'The volume of PPI complaints submitted in the run up to, and on the FCA's deadline day exceeded all expectation across the industry and we continue to work with the FCA to manage this.'

Customers of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) - owners of NatWest and Ulster Bank - also experienced long delays, with 60% of its customers telling us they haven't yet received a decision.

And 71% of those who submitted a claim to Ulster Bank, part of RBS, still haven't been told whether they're owed a payout.

RBS told us to visit its website for an explanation about the delays. Its PPI claims page says: 'We received significant volumes of PPI complaints in the period around the 29 August 2019 PPI deadline, and we are currently unable to provide a response to customers as quickly as we would like.

'Please accept our apologies for any delays you may experience whilst we deal with your PPI complaint.'

Barclays customers were found to be the most likely to have had their claim processed so far, 71% of those who have made a PPI claim to the bank have been given a decision.

The bank said it's doing 'all it can' to process remaining claims as quickly as possible.

Delays to continue for months

Industry regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), told us it acknowledged the influx of claims around the deadline.

It expects delayed decisions and said that most claimants should have a decision by the summer.

But staff processing PPI claims for some of the big banks have told us their contracts have been extended until October 2020, suggesting that some will be waiting much longer.

The survey did find that one in six people who claimed have successfully received their money back. The average payout received so far is £4,296.

If you're still waiting to hear back about your claim

Unfortunately, if you're still waiting to hear back, you'll just have to sit tight for now.

If you're in a vulnerable financial position, you can contact your bank and ask for your claim to be prioritised.

The FCA is monitoring the banks' progress and we'll be keeping an eye on the situation over the coming months.

You can make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) about the delay. However, we understand it's taking a long time for it to process PPI queries due to the number of complaints.

Read our guide to escalate or appeal your PPI claimto find out more.