Fears grow that customers have being paid BILLIONS in store card claims for last 40 years

BILLIONS more could be paid out in PPI claims after store cards were engulfed in the scandal yesterday.

Shoppers taking out the cards as long as 40 years ago are feared to have been unknowingly signed up for payment protection insurance.

Compensation experts last night predicted an avalanche of fresh claims from customers at the likes of Debenhams and Laura Ashley who never knew they had forked out for PPI.

Up until now the rip-off has centred on banking products such as credit cards — with lenders setting aside more than £30billion to settle claims for the missold insurance.
But High Street stores were at it too, according to campaigner James Daley.

At one point 300,000 shop staff were able to sell the insurance on behalf of GE Capital Bank — which provided credit for Debenhams’ card.
In 2005 alone, 850,000 policies including PPI were sold on its behalf. Shop customers may have fallen prey by not ticking an opt-out box or when cashiers rushed through store card sign-ups at the till.

Mr Daley, founder of consumer site Fairer Finance, said: “It’s possible there are people out there with claims for thousands because interest rates on store cards were high — often 30 per cent and above.
“Potentially there could be people with sizeable claims.”