Home shopping sales targeted

The Competition Commission has ordered a clampdown on the sale of payment protection insurance (PPI) by home-shopping outlets and catalogues.  

The regulator is concerned that people who buy furniture, clothes and electrical items on credit – such as "buy now, pay later" or "pay nothing for a year" deals – are being sold inappropriate and expensive insurance.

The commission said there was little competition between providers on price and other factors, limited ability for customers to search for alternatives or switch products and a considerable point-of-sale advantage for the providers.

PPI policies are plans that claim to cover people with debts in the event of accident, unemployment or sickness. They have long come under fire for being mis-sold by pushy shop assistants and bank advisers and have been subject to investigations by the Office of Fair Trading and the Financial Services Authority.

This week Alliance & Leicester was fined £7m for what the FSA called the "most serious mis-selling" of PPI. The bank did not make it clear that the insurance was optional and trained its staff to put pressure on customers when they queried the inclusion of PPI in their quotations, the FSA said. In January HFC Bank, a lender owned by HSBC, was fined a record £1.09m by the Financial Services Authority for failing to treat customers fairly when selling PPI.