Payment protection insurance (PPI) made up almost half of all complaints for regulated firms in the UK in the first half as consumers scrambled to meet a deadline for compensation.

PPI was once again the most complained about product in the half, according to the latest data published by regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Banks have already paid out more than £33 billion pounds ($62.22 billion) in PPI compensation. The FCA had set an August 29 deadline for PPI complaints about the product, which was usually sold with loans, credit cards or mortgages, covering borrowers who were redundant or who couldn’t work due to an accident, illness, disability or death.

The FCA says PPI was often mis-sold and conducted a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of its deadline among consumers. As many as 64 million PPI policies were sold in the UK, mostly between 1990 and 2010, and some as far back as the 1970s.

The volume of PPI complaints jumped 34% to 2.12 million in the half, from 1.58 million in the previous six months. That pushed overall first-half complaints up to 4.29 million, from 3.91 million in the second half of 2018.

Excluding PPI, there was a 6% drop in the number of complaints.

“When PPI is taken out, the figures today are the lowest volume of complaints firms have received since new reporting rules came into effect in 2016,” the FCA said.

Motor and transport insurance made up 6% of all complaints.