Only one week remains for people to make a complaint about PPI to their provider, after the deadline date they will no longer be able to claim a refund. The deadline for making a claim is 11.59pm next Thursday.

Figures from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) suggest there has been a recent increase in the number of customers making claims.

The authority is now preparing for a last-minute rush of enquiries and claims. Almost one-fifth (18%) of 2,000 consumers surveyed for the FCA said it will make a last-minute decision on whether to complain about PPI. Just over half (53%) of these “last- minuters” are confident they will complain ahead of the deadline. Naturally, the FCA is urging people to act now.

In Britain, around 64 million PPI policies were sold, many of these in the 1990s and early 2000s. The FCA’S figures have revealed that companies have paid back £36 billion since January 2011 to customers who complained, including £340.4 million in June 2019.

Founder of Moneysavingexpert.com, Martin Lewis, said: “While PPI reclaiming is easy to do, and can be done for free, it is easier if you’ve got the documents and it can take a while to search through your old files – first to find out who your lenders were, and then to find out if you had PPI in the first place. If you don’t know, help is still available, but all of these things take time.”

Over 5.1 million users have now accessed the FCA’S PPI website, which can help with claiming, while 84,733 calls have been made to its dedicated contact centre.