Life assurance question

The_Boss

Myself and the mrs are in a bit of a jam over a mortgage enquiry.

We were told by the mortgage broker that the life assurance would be around £15 a month. We signed something (likely the medical consent form) and it was sent off. No fee was quoted.

Two weeks later, it arrived and quoted a few of £61 a month for both of us to sign and send back! Now, other people we know got it for £20. We got two quotes for around £17!

Now legal and general have sent us stuff to sign and send back to them. They have done this 3 times and the mrs has cancelled the direct debit with them. In the meantime, the broker is threatening to cancel the mortgage (we have exchanged) if we dont pay, which we know he cannot do. He is clearly on a big fat fee from them and we dont want to pay 4 times as much as is necessary.

Originally it was a joint mortgage when we went through the initial application, but now it is solely in my girfriends name. So can we get out of this mess with L&G by not signing and sending back the forms or are we committed to it? The mortgage says you dont need life assurance and we feel we have legal precedents (undue influence, frustration etc) but would rather not go as far as court.

dunstonh

In the meantime, the broker is threatening to cancel the mortgage (we have exchanged) if we dont pay, which we know he cannot do. He is clearly on a big fat fee from them and we dont want to pay 4 times as much as is necessary.

If his terms of business stated that the commission would offset fees and if no commission was payable, that you would have to pay the fees, then he can chase you for the money. However, the mortgage is unlikely to get cancelled. That would just be silly.

The mortgage says you dont need life assurance and we feel we have legal precedents (undue influence, frustration etc) but would rather not go as far

It all depends what is quoted on the terms of business/initial disclosure document. The hybrid option of fees paid for out of the commission is what you are looking for.

L&G are one of the cheaper providers usually. Are you sure you are comparing like for like on your quotes? i.e. not life & CI versus life only? Or have you some medical condition that would cause such an increase? My guess is that you are not comparing like for like and the mortgage advisor has arranged life & CI cover and you are getting just life only quotes. If you only want life only, then tell the mortgage advisor that.

The_Boss

What is CI cover? I know he said that PPI was pointless as it would be difficult for them to payout on my job (best way of describing it is that I am kind of freelance with work allocated by a supervisor)

His terms didnt state anything about the assurance, he just said we should have it. We just have something from him saying his fees are £500. Its the fact that L&G might come after us that we are more bothered with. The broker thinks he can threaten us because we have exchanged and would lose our deposit if cancelled, which we know he cannot do.

dunstonh

CI cover is critical illness.

payless

Ask for a copy of the Terms ( aka about our services / IDD) that was ( should have been ) issued at outset

It will cover the basis of the fees agreed ( or confirm if any insurances in lieu of fees)

on their will also be deatils of who to complain to, if his comments don't match teh above

L&G can be competitive, BUT as mentioned above he might be quoting including CIC - if life cover was a requirement of his terms , then perhaps CIC was not?

DD- whilst L&G IFA rates are usually good, I am led to believe they have different rates for ceratin tied distribution routes

dunstonh

DD- whilst L&G IFA rates are usually good, I am led to believe they have different rates for ceratin tied distribution routes

Bit like Scot Widows then where the LTSB scot widows product is more expensive or has less features than the IFA scot widows product.