Lifestyle Protection by the Post Office

casadarisa.com

Had a letter from the PO regarding our Lifestyle Protection. It is now cutting the amount it will pay out to me if I have to claim from £2500 to £1500 per month and is also upping the monthly premium from £94 to just over £100 per month. I feel totally ripped off by the Post Office and feel they are playing on peoples emotions at a time when everyone is living on a knife's edge in fear of losing their jobs/incomes.
I almost feel bullied into taking it on the chin and paying the extra but I'm not happy about it at all, especially as I work for them too !!
Where's the loyalty gone these days :mad:

wigglebeena

And the terms and conditions allow it to do this? So if it felt like it, it could reduce the payout to £1 a month and up the premium to £1000?

What a swizz. If you close it will you get anything back that you have paid in? Can you transfer it anywhere else?

di3004

casadarisa.com wrote: »

Had a letter from the PO regarding our Lifestyle Protection. It is now cutting the amount it will pay out to me if I have to claim from £2500 to £1500 per month and is also upping the monthly premium from £94 to just over £100 per month. I feel totally ripped off by the Post Office and feel they are playing on peoples emotions at a time when everyone is living on a knife's edge in fear of losing their jobs/incomes.
I almost feel bullied into taking it on the chin and paying the extra but I'm not happy about it at all, especially as I work for them too !!
Where's the loyalty gone these days :mad:

Hi there

If your not happy about this, you can complain.
If you require any help, give us a yell, good luck.;)

dunstonh

I feel totally ripped off by the Post Office

Why?

You bought a budget product which was known to have variable premiums and during the growth years was known to be cheap. The risks have now increased and the premiums have gone up to reflect that.

feel they are playing on peoples emotions at a time when everyone is living on a knife's edge in fear of losing their jobs/incomes.

Nothing to do with the fact that claims are going up and they have to pay more out?

Where's the loyalty gone these days

There is no loyalty nowadays. None from consumer or provider. it works both ways.

If your not happy about this, you can complain.

It will be rejected. The product is allowed to do what its done and its logical that its done it as well.

During the last recession the cost of payment protection was much much higher. Typically around £6.50 per hundred pounds of cover. During the growth years the premiums dropped and you could get £1 per hundred. Now we are in recession premiums are rising again.

If premiums hadnt dropped in the good years you could have a case but as they dropped signficantly then its only fair they increase in the bad.

trixymalixy

I am raging about this as well. It's not the fact that the premiums have gone up, it's not even that they have increased the waiting/deferred period.

It's the fact that they have significantly decreased the level of cover we took out that I'm !!!!ed off about.

And how do you change providers? You have to take a chance with another qualification period which we can't afford to do so they've totally got us over a barrel.

I feel ripped off because they have waited until we have reached the qualification period before changing the policy to suit them. i don't see how this complies with the Unfair Terms and conditions legislation.

Increasing premiums fair enough it is a variable policy, but decreasing the level of cover is a step too far as far as I am concerned.

dunstonh

PPI has no guarantee of premium or sum insured and the insurer is also allowed to withdraw cover as well. PHI is the only one that has a guarantee of premium and level of cover and cannot be cancelled by the insurer.

i don't see how this complies with the Unfair Terms and conditions legislation.

Because its an open ended plan with no renewal point, reviews are allowed as the underwriter (and re-assurer) has to address the risks on an ongoing basis. If the terms were cast in stone like other plans the premiums would have been higher from the start and its noticeable that its mainly the cheapest ones that have gone up in price and had to reduce their maximum sum insured. If it had been an annually reviewable plan then they would have to wait until the renewal point. As its open ended on an open ended pay as you go basis they can amend terms as they go along as long as they give you enough notice to allow you to stop the cover if you dont like the new terms.

A lot of companies not known for PPI historically set up and started selling it way too cheap and it was just waiting to happen. The more traditional providers havent had to alter their terms and some havent put their prices up or have only had to increase a little. Sometimes the focus has to be on quality and not just cheap rubbish.

trixymalixy

It wasn't that cheap! The reason we took it out was that it was one of the few companies offering cover over £1500, we could have got cover for £1500 much cheaper elsewhere.

dunstonh

The reason we took it out was that it was one of the few companies offering cover over £1500, we could have got cover for £1500 much cheaper elsewhere.

PO's cover per £100 was cheap.

trixymalixy

Obviously you think we were naive for taking out a policy that was lauded in the financial press as a great deal and "a breath of fresh air for the PPI industry" then.

I fully expected a hike in premiums, but they have fundamentaly altered the original policy we took out. Surely you can see why we're a bit fed up.

Yes we could cancel, but the nature of these policies means that we would be leaving ourselves unprotected unless you can find a policy that allows transfer of the qualification period. Also you can usually only transfer the amount you are covered for without going through a qualification period and were we to take out a policy to top up to the original amount then it would be worthless as they have a clause which states that their cover will be reduced if we take out another policy to their new maximum benefit. This effectively makes it impossible for us to cancel it in the current climate.

As far as I am concerned that makes us financially worse off by cancelling and therefore unfair.

dunstonh

Obviously you think we were naive for taking out a policy that was lauded in the financial press as a great deal and "a breath of fresh air for the PPI industry" then.

Yes. Going on the financial press for a guide to quality is never a good idea. Look at the Virgin Stakeholder pension. Its award winning. Yet it is amongst the worst stakeholder pensions you can get. So, how did it get awards from the financial press? Being an advertiser in their papers maybe?

I fully expected a hike in premiums, but they have fundamentaly altered the original policy we took out. Surely you can see why we're a bit fed up.

It was certainly flawed and I can understand your frustration. However, no-one expected the level of events that occured and its understandable that they have to protect their solvency.

As far as I am concerned that makes us financially worse off by cancelling and therefore unfair.

Such is life sometimes.

trixymalixy

So who do we trust then?

Certainly not financial advisers in my experience.