Less restrictive rules proposed for home shopper insurance
The Competition Commission has today published for proposals to increase competition in the home catalogue retail payment protection insurance (PPI) market.
Retail PPI is a small part of the overall PPI market covering insurance taken out on repayments for shopping through home catalogues.
The commission says retail PPI is highly profitable for distributors and there is 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
Its proposals match those published last week for the rest of the PPI market, with two exceptions:
there is also an obligation to offer PPI separately from merchandise cover, which is typically also offered to catalogue shoppers; and
there is no ban on single-premium policies, as all retail PPI policies are covered by monthly premiums.
The Commission wants responses to its proposals by 12 December 2008.
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