Prepaid Funeral Plans

dignity · 20 October 2016 at 3:48PM

@RatCatcher You can request a copy of the trust fund annual report from both Age UK and Dignity - in which the Statement of Net Assets show the amount held in respect of future funeral obligations. The trust has been able to meet it's liabilities every year since it was set up in 1986 and continues to be able to meet it's liabilities. They are the only providers to consistently publish an annual report each year for the trust fund.

geminilady · 20 October 2016 at 5:20PM

Sueke wrote: »

My dad paid £3685 last November for a plan from golden charter, he died suddenly less than 6 months later. When we received the final bill from the funeral director it showed that golden charter's allowance towards the cost had been less than £3050. We then had to pay a further £95 to cover disbursement costs, this is an allowance given by golden charter towards paying for crematorium and doctor's fee's that golden charter won't guarantee as part of the funeral plan. The allowance had not been sufficient less than six months after the start of the plan.
I appreciate that when you take up any financial product that there are costs involved but I felt this was excessive. Personally I shall put money aside for my own funeral - it might not accrue much interest but at least it's all still there!

What you need to understand is what cost £3000 plus now could cost a lot more by the time you die so what you put aside probarly will not cover it.The thing with a good plan is the amount you pay now is guaranteed to cover the funeral and also the disbursement costs IF it states so in the plan.

Sueke · 23 October 2016 at 11:08AM

Geminilady, the plan stated there was an allowance towards disbursement costs but we expected it to cover them as the plan had only been in place five months. Also the plan only paid out just over £3000. When I asked Golden Charter about the other £600 that my dad had paid I was told there were " costs to taking these plans." I realise that putting money aside might mean that it may not be enough - but then as it turned out neither was the money paid for the funeral plan!

Tappers · 24 October 2016 at 8:51AM

Depending on how and where you buy a Golden Charter plan depends very much on how much of what you pay actually goes to the chosen funeral director and how much you're paying in admin fees.
Base admin fee in £250 but funeral directors can be offered many hundreds of pounds less than you pay, in many cases over £1,000 less than you pay.
Funeral Plan Comparison sites and self proclaimed 'experts' often receive £500 commission from plan providers for selling their plans.
So, as ever, buyer beware and ask questions.

Tappers · 24 October 2016 at 8:53AM

The FPA don't pledge to cover a shortfall should a plan provider go bump. The FPA members agree to look at the possibilities of providing support, nothing more.

Tappers · 24 October 2016 at 9:35AM

This is a minefield but one thing to watch.

Beware of a plan provider that insists that they receive the outstanding balance due on the plan if the plan holder passes before all payments have been made.

One of the current national plan providers insists on this and it's only so they can take their full admin fees, in one case £850 in total.

Needless to say the family involved were distraught.

dignity · 24 October 2016 at 11:19AM

Tappers wrote: »

This is a minefield but one thing to watch.

Beware of a plan provider that insists that they receive the outstanding balance due on the plan if the plan holder passes before all payments have been made.

One of the current national plan providers insists on this and it's only so they can take their full admin fees, in one case £850 in total.

Needless to say the family involved were distraught.

Tappers - please be careful what you are advising others, as it is not always correct. Customers should see the plan as the price of a product - which if paying by instalments has not yet been fully paid for if someone does pass away before all instalments are completed. The request to make up the payment is the right thing to do to fully pay for the service. It is by completing this payment that the price and service guarantees that were confirmed when the plan was originally taken out will be honoured. The alternative would be to cancel the plan - get a refund (minus a cancellation fee), lose the price guarantee and end up paying the full price of the funeral at the time is was required.

Tappers · 24 October 2016 at 12:25PM

MarkDignity - The right thing to do is indeed for the family to pay up the difference in value of the plan at the time the plan holder passes, and the amount due, and for the FD to carry out the plan but that balance should, morally and ethically, be paid in balance to the funeral director.

What is wrong, morally and ethically, is when a family pay up the full value of the plan, for example £2,000 to bring the plan to fully paid status for the funeral director to be offered £850 less than the plan value the following day.

Does that seem right or fair?

Sueke · 24 October 2016 at 8:24PM

Tappers - I agree with you there needs to be a lot more transparency. From what I can see funeral plans are big business and people hand over thousands of pounds at a time. People should be aware that their money is not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme nor is there any government regulation/ legislation. All you get is a sales pitch that tells you that the company ring fences a certain amount of money to meet its obligations. Should any company " overstretch" itself and have a bad day on the stock exchange ( "that's never happened before has it!") then your money goes with them and there's not a lot you can do about it.

Yorkshireman99 · 18 February 2017 at 1:28PM

Joes_nana wrote: »

Gordon Tulley / Customer Services
07836 202158
Respect Direct Funerals
Office: 01427 612992 / Fax: 01427 614885
Registered Address: Morton Hall, 2 Front Street Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
For more information please visit: directfuneral.co.uk
Check out our Green Burial Sites: respectgb.co.uk
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Another spammer looking for business.

Prepaid Funeral Plans

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