£441m paid out in December alone

Customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) got £1.9bn in compensation last year according to FSA figures.

Complainants got £441m in December alone, the most costly month yet for PPI payouts.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said that this figure was less than a quarter of the total amount PPI mis-sellers expected to repay.

Lloyd added that Which? had found evidence of “dubious practice” by claims management firms that gave wrong information on how to make a claim.

He said the claims process should be simplified, and added: “Otherwise this leaves an open goal for claims management companies that charge people a hefty fee for putting in a claim which is easily done yourself for free.”