The one-year countdown to the deadline for making PPI complaints starts this week.

The deadline for PPI (payment protection insurance) complaints is August 29 2019.

This means people need to refer their complaint to their provider or to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which resolves disputes between consumers and financial firms, on or before 11.59pm on that date – or lose their right to have their complaint assessed.

As many as 64 million PPI policies have been sold in the UK, some stretching as far back as the 1970s.

Policies were added on to products such as personal and business loans, credit cards, store cards, mortgages, catalogue credit and other types of credit, such as car finance and hire purchase agreements for household items.

PPI was meant to help people cover repayments if they found they could not due to a sudden change in personal circumstances, for example being made redundant, having an accident or being ill.

But PPI became controversial as it was widely mis-sold, with people feeling pressured into taking it out, finding it was unsuitable for their circumstances or even finding PPI had been added without them realising it.

As it could take some people some time to get their paperwork together, and some may need to claim before the final deadline, it may be wise to act now rather than waiting until the last minute.

If people have not got their old paperwork they could ask the firm.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has a page on its website that helps people track down the details of firms – fca.org.uk/ppi/how-to-complain/search-for-provider.

While people can use claims management firms to make a complaint, they will take a chunk of any PPI payout – and people can complain themselves for free.

There are many free tools and free sources of help available to take the hassle out of complaining.

MoneySavingExpert.com, Resolver.co.uk, Citizens Advice, Which?, the Money Advice Service, the FCA and the FOS are among those who provide free sources of help.