Are hypnotists being used to sell MPPI?

I had to write about a news story I found concerning a baseball game, a hypnotist, and an insurance salesman. The Caymanian Compass - who proclaims that they are “The Cayman island’s leading newspaper” – reported recently on a baseball game in which a hypnotist was brought in to do a group hypnosis session on the CIC Chuggers before a game.

The newspaper says that team owner Kim “The Boss” Awe arranged for hypnotist Dagmar “Trance” von Richthofen, to see the Chuggers during a team meeting following their worst loss of the year two weeks ago.

It appeared to work, the Chuggers won with a 30–3 "pounding" of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

However Awe - a local insurance mogul – faced rumours that he had asked the hypnotist to also give the team a little extra coaching. Says the newspaper, Awe asked for: “A post–hypnotic suggestion to make them want to purchase mortgage protection insurance whenever they heard the phrase ‘bone–headed plays’”.

Team spokesman Fergus “Slats” Osgood later denied the rumours.

With 94% of the PPI market in the UK owned by High Street banks and lenders – who make around £4bn every year in commissions - it does make me wonder whether hypnosis is a sales tactic that they too apply to their to their unwitting consumers.

Certainly, consumers seem to blindly go in and buy over-priced sometimes unsuitable products from these blue chip companies, without shopping around first. Recent research from independent protection provider BritishInsurance.com showed that on a £100,000 25-year repayment mortgage with a monthly payment of £500, their MPPI would cost £237 per annum.

Comparing this to the top ten lenders, the average cost is £356 a year or £462 per annum from the most expensive lender, Cheltenham & Gloucester.

Burgess - who does not need to resort to hypnosis to sell PPI - says: “This means a homeowner can make an average saving of £119 per annum or a possible saving of £225 a year for those consumers who have their MPPI with C & G”.

So next time you are buying a mortgage, if the salesperson whispers ‘bone–headed plays’ don’t, whatever you do, sign on the dotted line!