Lloyds Banking Group has seen complaints it made against two claims management companies upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Myclaimsexpert.co.uk featured text that stated “… Loan, Mortgage or Credit Card PPI Insurance Our average claim is well over £2,000 …”. Lloyds Banking Group challenged whether the claim “Our average claim is well over £2,000” was misleading and could be substantiated.
Meanwhile, two ads for FreePPICheck, were challenged on the same grounds.
A tweet from FreePPICheck’s Twitter account seen on 14 April 2016 stated “Mr & Mrs V Moore (Lloyds £23,150.11) …” and featured the advertiser’s web address, while a Facebook post for FreePPICheck seen on 5 April 2016 stated “Nigel Warne (Halifax £2,218.51)…” and featured the advertiser’s web address.
The ASA considered that myclaimsexpert.co.uk had not provided sufficient evidence to support the claim “Our average claim is well over £2,000”. and concluded that it had not been substantiated and was misleading.
The ad watchdog said it understood that Free PPI Check levied a fee of 25% of the refund paid by a provider plus VAT, which further reduced the eventual amount that would be received by a customer. It considered that was material information which would contribute to a consumer’s decision as to whether or not to pursue a claim through Free PPI Check. However, it was not clear from the ad that such a fee would apply.
While the ASA acknowledged that the amounts quoted were the total amounts refunded to the customers by the banks, it was not the amount eventually received by the customers. It considered the omission of the fee and the impact it had on the amount that was to be refunded created the impression that consumers would receive and benefit from the total amount quoted in the ads. Because that was not the case, it concluded they were misleading.