FCA starts countdown to PPI complaints deadline with advertising campaign featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger

In an advert launched today, an animatronic model of Arnie’s head is seen urging people to make a decision about making a PPI complaint before the deadline on 29 August 2019[1].

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has introduced the deadline in order to prompt people into deciding whether to check if they had PPI and whether they want to make a complaint. 

The campaign has been designed by the FCA, who introduced the deadline which will bring to an end over a decade of complaints about PPI. The campaign will appear on TV, online and on outdoor advertising across the UK over the next two years.   

Andrew Bailey, Chief Executive of the FCA said:

'Our campaign aims to cut through the noise on PPI. We want to encourage people to decide whether to find out if they had PPI and whether to complain or not. Our message, and Arnie's, is ‘do it now’ and I urge people to make a decision before the deadline on 29 August 2019.'

Over £27.4bn has been paid out to customers since the FCA introduced rules for complaining about PPI in 2011. PPI policies were sold alongside loans, credit cards, store cards and mortgages mostly between the 1990s and 2010.

The campaign is being paid for by the eighteen firms including banks, building societies and credit card providers who had the most PPI complaints. Firms have also agreed to a number of steps to ensure that the complaints process is as easy as possible for their customers. These include:

• providing an option for people to submit their complaint online
• ensuring that complaint forms are as easy to understand as possible and don’t put customers off complaining
• providing support to vulnerable customers who may need extra help to submit complaints
• providing useful and free-to-use PPI checking processes.

Today also marks the start of a new basis for complaining about PPI, meaning customers could be entitled to compensation – even if they were not mis-sold. If a customer has complained about PPI previously, and had the complaint rejected, they may be entitled to compensation if the provider earned a high level of commission from selling PPI.

The FCA has established a new dedicated phone line[2] designed to assist customers with their PPI queries. The FCA has also updated its webpages[3] to give more help to customers in making a decision.

Notes to editors

1. Videos: View the 60 second PPI deadline advert and the 30 second PPI deadline advert.
2. Download the PPI deadline poster: 
   Portrait - JPG[5] or PDF[6]
   Landscape - JPG[7] or PDF[8]
3. Although 29 August 2019 is the general deadline for PPI complaints, some people may have less time to complain about mis-selling if they have already received a letter from a firm about the way PPI was sold or have made an insurance claim on the PPI policy that was rejected by the insurer. Anyone who is not sure how long they have to complain should contact their provider for more information
4. PPI webpages: www.fca.org.uk/ppi[9]   FCA’s PPI helpline: 0800 101 8800
5. On 1 April 2013, the FCA became responsible for the conduct supervision of all regulated financial firms and the prudential supervision of those not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
6. The FCA has an overarching strategic objective of ensuring the relevant markets function well. To support this it has three operational objectives: to secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers; to protect and enhance the integrity of the UK financial system; and to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers.
7. The campaign is being paid for by the 18 firms who reported more than 100,000 complaints over the period 1 August 2009 to 1 August 2015. Together they represent over 90% of all PPI complaints reported in that period.