Mortgage Protection Insurance - Assurant

Dick_here

dbuk44 wrote: »

Ok.

Found that the following offers rates pr £100 consummate to Assurant pre-rate increases.

http://www.bestinsurance.co.uk

The insurer of British Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance trades as Norwich Union and is Aviva Insurance Limited (a member of the Aviva group.)

Many thanks ! They're actually slightly cheaper than my Assurant policy ! Let's hope that it isn't a loss-leader offer which they (as they can) very soon massively increase the premiums of, as Assurant have done to me.

TEDDYRUKSPIN

Bestinsurance is payment shield and they are ok. Would trust them. Unfortunately, assurant is a cheap company and have reverted all their premiums up a notch.

Other companies can follow suit. Please be aware that each policy has a waiting period and in this case 90 days. I understand the policy statement states anyone with with mortgage repayment protector with another company will be waived. How would they know?

Ok. I can't find any company with a non-reviewable premium for unemployment. Does anyone know?

I can only find a non-reviewable premium for sickness and accident from HSBC.

Dick_here

!!!!!!_here wrote: »

No, not at all. I'm writing to them asking to have it reviewed, if not I'm cancelling.

Just to update you all. I haven't had even the courtesy of a reply, but my direct debit to them has disappeared from my banking online list. How charming.

toady

I've got income protection insurance with them, took it out a year ago. The policy I had covered me for 50% of my salary if unemployed or sick. As a single mum, with amortgage to pay, I thought I was being sensible by taking out such a policy, although at the time it was with British, Assurant took over later. I found the policy through a best buy comparison on this site.

In March I was diagnosed with glandular fever. They took weeks to organise the claim, they have never sent back my original documents,(as it states they would in the policy document- that's sevral months worth of payslips disappeared) and in one letter I received from them, they included a letter meant for a GP requesting a psychiatric report on a lady in London, which had obviously been put in the wrong envelope.

They repeatedly asked in writing for copies of the same documents- which I had already sent.

When eventually they did get round to replying,they said that as I had received half pay for a while, they would only pay me a half of the agreed benefit- ie, effectively a week's wages every month. Nowhere in the original policy document did it say this would be the case. Then yesterday I received a letter saying my premium would increase.

I have sent a complaint to the Operations Director about their handling of the whole claim, and have requested a review of the case. I could have self insured and been better off. if I don't get any satisfaction there I shall write to the Ombudsman as Assurant deserves the hassle.

A friend said to me that she has never come across anyone who has claimed Income Proitection who has actually got what they felt they had paid for. I am back on a phased return to work now but will be looking around. I'm far from impressed.

Do not touch them with the proverbial bargepole.

toady

was promised at start of week a cheque would be in the post. been trying to call today but ALL the contact numbers that I have are unobtainable.

any ideas? I really need the money.

MattE

I had a mortgage payment protection policy with Payment shield for many years. I cancelled it earleir this year after they introduced a £1.50 per month service charge to inprove transparancy (they claimed they held the premium flat!).

I moved to British Insurance in May of this year paying £10.15 per month. At the end of July I received a letter saying they were increasing the premium to £18.90. I've just checked on their website and the same cover for a new customer is £15.75. There is no statement in my policy to say the monthly premium is variable - on the contary it says "your premium is determined at the outset and will not automatically increase asa you get older" (I have just moved through one of their age bands).

Martin - I think you should at the very least remove this firm from your best buy and maybe even take a closer look at their practices.

judy2357

colinebannon wrote: »

Hi
I thought I would check this forum again because I found the assurant policy tho' moneysaving expert. I paid £9 - 10/ month for 3 months cover only for redundancy and this has gone up to £16.85. This is more than I wanted to pay and I was wondering if moneysavingexpert could look into it for us, maybe recommend a better deal? Seems crazy that a lot of these companies have a 60 day wait period after you join before they will pay out, so you might prefer to stay with them :mad: .

I took out cover with the Halifax in April and was made redundant on the 30th July and was still not covered as there was a 120 day wait period which meant cover would have started from around 10th Aug approx. I would mention that the Halifax calculates the amount of days from the day you were told of the redundancy which in my case was 3 weeks before on the 11th July. Hope this helps

letitcomedown

MattE wrote: »

I There is no statement in my policy to say the monthly premium is variable - on the contary it says "your premium is determined at the outset and will not automatically increase asa you get older" (I have just moved through one of their age bands).

I have the same phrase in my key facts( I kept a copy), and no other terms explicitly allowing any change of premium, nor any mention of a reviewable premium on the website. . I have complained on this basis, actually I complained on this basis by phone, and they received saying you are complaining because "You are disatisfied with the increase in your premium!" - no mention of my complaint being that the premium was supposed to be fixed.

I suspect that implies they are aware they are on shaky ground. Anyhow I have written back by recorded delivery to correct their misunderstanding...

Quite happy to take this all the way to the FOS and feeling fairly confident of winning, unless an expert can let me know otherwise.

MattE

I think there is a link between Assurant/BritishInsurance.com and bestinsurance.co.uk. On my keyfacts statement with Bristishinsurance at the bottom it says bestinsurance.co.uk! Also there websites are very similar.

letitcomedown - keep us posted of how your complaint goes - mine is going in the post to them today.

dunstonh

letitcomedown wrote: »

I have the same phrase in my key facts( I kept a copy), and no other terms explicitly allowing any change of premium, nor any mention of a reviewable premium on the website. . I have complained on this basis, actually I complained on this basis by phone, and they received saying you are complaining because "You are disatisfied with the increase in your premium!" - no mention of my complaint being that the premium was supposed to be fixed.

I suspect that implies they are aware they are on shaky ground. Anyhow I have written back by recorded delivery to correct their misunderstanding...

Quite happy to take this all the way to the FOS and feeling fairly confident of winning, unless an expert can let me know otherwise.

I wouldnt feel confident about winning. Nowhere does it say the premium is guaranteed. Indeed, it clearly says in the t&c:

15.5. We may change the terms and conditions of the policy and the Premium. We will give You 30 days written notice of any change. The notice should be attached to the policy.