In the last two years, reports have begun to come out stating that the people who have to claim unemployment has drastically risen from 8,772,000 in 2007 to 1,910,500 this year. With the recession in full swing, far too many people are realising that they are losing their jobs, directly impacting far too many people. If you lose your job, that entire experience is stressful and traumatic, and makes it very difficult to handle some of those situations, especially if you have no protection to fall back on. Quite a few people have differing opinions on whether or not insurance is a waste of money or a necessity so that you are not caught unawares. The fact is, though, that insurance would only be a waste if you never make a claim, but the fact is that people are more often trying to get insurance as job security seems to be going out the window.

Many people don't realise what PPI is or why it is important. PPI is Payment Protection Insurance, which is incredibly important when looking at our economy now, with job loss and illnesses that can have a devastating effect on a family. This way, PPI covers people's bills on credit cards, personal loans, utility bills and even the mortgage, so that if they have debt problems the insurance can cover it. When August brought news of a credit crunch, people began to hold tightly to what they had left, and the recession fell into full swing. Now almost two million people have lost their jobs and the number just keeps climbing higher, so having Payment Protection Insurance might make the difference between keeping your home and repossession.

New problems have arisen with PPI, though, as there is talk of the mis-selling of insurance. That has totalled almost twenty three million pounds in fines against the different financial providers who have been mis-selling their insurance products. Alliance and Leicester was the biggest culprit, now having been fined over seven million pounds for their PPI mis-selling. Part of the reason is that in the past, banks and financial institutions used PPI as a source of their income due to the providers getting commissions on the payment between twenty-five and seventy-five percent. That is certainly not part of the idea behind PPI, and so there are several banks now that have had to deal with consumers rightfully demanding their money back in claims. Due to this scandal, several institutions have now decided to stop offering their PPI policy when a borrower is accepted for a loan, given that now they need to wait fourteen days before they can even offer.

This has caused changes to how PPI is offered, including the fact that now there is a PPI specifically geared towards those who need to withdraw unemployment. While you must also take on sickness and accident cover, this also comes with an increased cost now. Also, if you're expecting a claim right away, you won't get a pay out until three months after you've started paying, but right now, it is another crunch that everyone else is making. With jobs so insecure right now, something like PPI will help you stay afloat if your job situation changes drastically.