Life insurance surrendered but not to me upate

sarah7610

Hi,

I don't know if anyone remembers my last thread but it was about my life insurance policy which CIS told me had been surrendered in 2005 but it didn't come to me even though I am the policy holder and it's my life assured.

Well, I wrote to them again asking who the policy was surrendered to, what address they used and which bank the cheque was cashed at etc.

I got a short reply today which didn't answer any of my questions but did say this:

I can advise that your policy has now been reinstated as the cheque which was issued in June 2005 was cancelled.
Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Is it possible that they surrendered my policy to someone else and have now realised they messed up? It's just that 4 years is along time to suddenly reinstate a policy which was obviously surrendered by someone, they don't just surrender themselves. The fact that they haven't answered any of my questions makes me think that something unlawful has gone on here.

I have now got to write to them again to get the paperwork for this policy as I have no idea what happens next. I don't know how long the policy had left, have I got to pay what should have been paid over the last 4 years? What?

Confused Sarah x

geewhiz

Unfortunately I don't think anyone here can answer your questions, it's all down to CIS to explain their actions.

The important part here is who is paying the 4 years premiums that you've not paid, can you not phone them that way they can't ignore some of your questions ?

sarah7610

They won't answer my questions on the phone because I don't have all the details of the policy ie. how long it was over and how much the monthly premiums were, this is why I have to wrte yet another letter and ask them for al the paperwork........then they said they will answer all my questions. Unfortunately, every letter takes them 2 weeks to reply which is a bit frustrating to say the least.

dunstonh

If they have identified a fraud then putting your investment right but not telling you specific details beyond that may be all they can do. Technically, the fraud was against them but using your investment. If it is being investigated and the police are involved they wont be keen to release too many details as by definition, its still being investigated.

As you say, policies dont just get surrendered by themselves. Someone has to do it and there will be an audit trail.

McKneff

Just curious, they said they have cancelled the cheque and reinstated the policy. I get the impression that it has been an error, they have checked that the cheque has not actually been cashed (otherwise why would cancel a cheque sent 4 years ago ) Just a thought

sarah7610

They only checked because they had to. I wrote and told them that it was not me who surrendered the policy. I asked them who surrendered it and where the cheque was sent to. Obviously they had to look into it as it is my policy.
I don't know if the cheque was actually "cancelled" by CIS or it simply went out of date as cheques have to be cashed within 3 months of the date.

McKneff

I think i would go with what dunstonh says for the moment.
It seems awful suss to me. I know what you mean about the time scale with CIS. It always takes weeks or months to reply to queries etc.
They have got too big over the years.

Maybe i have missed something in here but didnt you notice you were not paying for the last 4 years?

sarah7610

I didn't pay the premiums, my Dad did. I forgot all about the policy after losing my mum and dad within 7 months of each other. It was only a few months ago I recieved a letter regarding something else that reminded me of the policy. When I contacted my step-mother she just said that I had all the papers for that and she knew nothing about it, which I know is a lie. I wasn't sure if she had tried to cash the policy in. Also, when my Dad died my step-mother made sure I got nothing, not even a photo. She even phoned me after his funeral to say that Dad didn't have life insurance and I have since found out that he did. (my dad was an insurance agent for CIS for years).

Hope that puts you a bit more in the picture.

Thanks

Sarah

haggle_2

screw up alert. Looks like they're coving tracks and hoping you'll go away.