Land of Leather fined for flouting PPI rules

14 May 2008

A leading furniture retailer has been found guilty of beaching regulations over the sale of payment protection insurance (PPI) on personal loans.

Under government regulations the sales of such cover with loans, including car loans and tenant loans, must only be undertaken by fully trained staff.

However, in a visit to Land of Leather conducted by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) it was found that this was not the case and that this had potentially left 58,000 customers at risk of buying unsuitable cover.

As a result the company has been fined £210,000, with its chief executive Paul Briant ordered to pay £14,000 for his part in the breaches of regulations.

A spokeswoman at the FSA, said: "We're looking at loans and PPI as a whole. As part of its work, the FSA is looking at retailers with loans on retail goods.

"PPI is a major area, and it's an area with very large consumer detriment. We'll be doing a lot on it in the future as well."