The Competition Commission has announced that it is still a long way from coming to any decision in its investigations into the payment protection insurance market (PPI), something which most people wouldn't have taken much notice of but in fact could be important to their future financial situation.

The first question on most people's lips when they hear about the ongoing investigation is not 'so how's it going', but rather 'so what's PPI?', or in some cases, simply 'so what?'

Well to begin with, PPI is the insurance cover provided on loans, mortgages and credit cards to ensure that the person will not have to pay off their debt in the event of loss of earnings stemming from accident, sickness, unemployment or death. In these days of rising levels of consumer debt, it is perhaps more important than ever that people take out this type of insurance, but there have been a growing chorus of complaints to suggest that many insurance products of this type are in fact not advantageous to the consumer.

The Competition Commission has become involved after numerous complaints from consumer groups, including the likes of Which?, arguing that the majority of PPI products offered by lenders are overly expensive and do not provide many useful benefits to consumers. Worse still, many people who take out these policies have in the past done so because they were under the impression that it was part and parcel of the terms of their mortgage application, loan approval or credit card acceptance. In fact, this is not the case and people are allowed to shop around for different PPI products when they have got their hands on the loan or other product that they require.

But the lending and insurance industries have been working hard to clean up their practices and in the process boost the image of PPI, meaning that better practices are already in place.

However, whether these practices are good enough for the Competition Commission is not clear as yet. In its latest update on its progress of its investigation, the watchdog called for further views from relevant and interested parties on the PPI industry. In other words, the commission is still unsure of whether it has seen the whole picture and therefore is looking for more information.

This is important for consumers because, as the population continues to get itself into more and more debt, the longer we wait for a verdict on PPI the more we could be paying out, as the industry could still be overcharging us.

The sooner the Competition Commission gets to the bottom of the matter and makes a decision on the current PPI practices the better for everyone.