Record fine for claims management company

The Claims Management Regulator has imposed a record fine on a claims management company that deals in PPI claims.

Rock Law Ltd, based in Swansea, has used high pressure tactics to get hundreds of customers to make PPI claims, leading to the regulator’s decision to issue a £567,423 fine under its new powers.

The CMR said that the company had coerced clients into signing contracts without giving them enough time to understand the terms and conditions before taking unauthorised payments.

The record fine is the second to be issued in as many months by the regulator, and comes after the Government changed the law in December 2014 introducing financial penalties for firms found breaching the regulator’s rules of conduct.

Firms can now expect fines of up to 20% of their annual turnover, as well as having their trading licence suspended or removed.

Kevin Rousell, the head of the CMR, said that Rock Law was taking unauthorised payments, which meant vulnerable people were at risk of being exploited.

“The size of this record fine demonstrates how seriously we take protecting the public from this exploitation,” he said.

“I hope firms that persist with poor practice take notice – If you break the rules you will have to pay.”

Mark Dugdale