Help/Advice Needed

I_am_Me_2

Hi,

This is a bit of a long one but I would aprreciate any Help and or Advice anyone can offer...

A few weeks ago I had a call from my bank asking me to go in as they thought they might be able to help me save/reduce money on my current life insurance policy with them...I thought that this was just a 'Cold Call' etc but agreed to go in for a Chat but as I can only do Saturdays I went in yesterday...

As the Insurance policy I have with them is linked to my Mortgage and comes out of our Joint account I thought it a bit strange that my Husband wasn't contacted about this as the Mortgage is in joint names also... but again put this down to them 'Looking' at my balance and trying to get me to put my money here , there etc...

So yesterday I went along to the appointment along with my Husband...

My Personal Manager/Banker went through the usual is there anything we can do for you, what if you become unemployed, have you enough pension cover etc...then he got to the real point of the Meeting!

He asked if I check my Bank statements, to which I replied yes, I check them often for unusal activity etc...at this point I though and asked him if I had been a victim of Card Cloning/ID Theft as that was all i could think he was getting at...he replied 'No' it actaully a bit worse than that! OMG I though what could be worse???

He went on to say that this meeting was all about us going in 3 years ago in May 2006 to revise our Life Insurance needs cos at this point I had given up smoking and had been classed as a none smoker for 18 months and we wanted to reduce our Premiums due to the change...We got a new quote for our Insurance needs (which is purely linked to the mortgage as we have other provisions elsewhere) signed all the paper work and came away, quite happy witht he fact that not only had I managed to quit smoking 18 months before hand but now we were seeing the benefits of that in more ways!!!

Now the problem was that when this new insurance had been quoted and set up, the old one that we were paying had NOT been canceled by the bank and he even sat there and said in these exact words 'it's completely our fault we made a Balls Up!'so in effect we were paying 2 Insurance Premiums and were Double Covered...So I asked at this point if we would be getting all that money back, to which he said 'No' becasue you had the cover and if anything would have happened to either or both of us then the insurance company would have paid out Double ( twice)...he went to say that as it was entirely 'Their' fault he didn't want us loosing out over this and that we obviuosly had not been looked after very well so he had been in contact with head office and had been authorised to offer us as a 'Good Will' gesture an additional £20,000 payout on top of our insurance (in other words our Mortgage Paid and £20K in our hands) without raising our premiums...

We at this point said can we please have all this in writting and sent through the post as it was a lot to take in and we have now made an appointment to go bank to another meeting in 3 weeks to discuss this further...but in the mean time I would like to know what our rights are here and what we can do about this...

I am not entirely happy with it all cos it has turned out that we have paid an additional £2879.80 out over the last 3 years that we shouldn't have.

The only way we will ever see the £20K is dependent upon one of us dying (neither of us plan on doing this )...but we have paid out an extra £2,800....

Now I know that perhaps we should have realised this as there was 2 DD going out of our account, but in our defence there was 2 of us and so 2 DD's we didn't question and also we trusted the Bank to cancel the insurance when they set up the other one! (which has always happened in the past) so this was purely a Mistake on there part (to which they have admitted)

Also, I have always been led to believe, and this is the main question I would like advice on...are you allowed to have 2 Insurances for the same thing?...because I am thinking that if, God Forbid, anything would have happened to one or both of us NO WAY would they have paid 'Double'...if I insured my Car twice and wrote it off I would only get 1 payment surely...the same as in the past we have gone on holiday with 3 lots of Travel Insurance Cover due to having it from the Bank, Contents Insurance and our Amex card...but if we would have needed to make a claim we would have only been able to claim from one of them

Any advice or thoughts on this would be most welcomed at the moment as I am still in a bit of shock really at what has happened...

I am thinking I have been Miss sold or Miss Advised here, but there is also the element of incompetance on the banks part for not canceling the insurance...but maybe we have to take some blame for not realising too.... I really am confused a bit...

Obvioulsy we would like to get the money back...but I feel that this is going to be a long hard battle...one which I am prepared to fight if I have a case...

If you have got this far, thank you for reading and I look forward hearing your views...

xx

opinions4u

are you allowed to have 2 Insurances for the same thing?

With life insurance, yes.

I am thinking I have been Miss sold or Miss Advised here, but there is also the element of incompetance on the banks part for not canceling the insurance...but maybe we have to take some blame for not realising too

It's an administration error, not poor advice.

Obvioulsy we would like to get the money back

Ask nicely. It may take time, but ultimately I think you will succeed. If nice doesn't work, ensure you follow the bank's complaints' procedures and then involve the Ombudsman if necessary.

My only note of caution - do you not check your bank statements? You've had 36 opportunities to spot this and missed the lot!

I_am_Me_2

opinions4u wrote: »

With life insurance, yes.

Thanks Opinions 4u :beer:

But would this be the same as it was 2 identical insurenaces witht he same company...sorry if I am being a bit thick here,,,:rotfl:

willo65

I would maybe try to get the extra premiums back but if you don't get anywhere be thankful they spotted it because in theory this could have went on for the rest of your life costing you much more than what you have paid to date.

opinions4u

I_am_Me wrote: »

But would this be the same as it was 2 identical insurenaces witht he same company...sorry if I am being a bit thick here

If the premiums on both (identical) policies are up to date and you popped your clogs, then both policies would pay up. Clearly if you've any plans to leave this mortal world you should do so before you clear things up with the bank!!

The difference with life cover is that a human life doesn't have a defined financial value, so the amount of insurance is not quantifiable.

With a home insurance policy if your 32" Samsung telly gets pinched and the current 32" Samsung model is £349 in Currys then then you shouldn't receive benefit for more than that as the loss can be clearly quantified.

I_am_Me_2

Ah... I see what you mean now, Opinoins4u...thank you...

I really don't have any intention's of leaving this life for a while so I think it may have to be put down to error on both parts...

I will try and see what happens..if you don't ask and all that.

xx

Andystriker

If this happened to me

I would do nothing until I got this in writing from the Bank Manager confirming that it was their fault. I would chase them until I got this letter.

Then I would reject their offer and write and ask them nicely for a full refund of the payments made that were not needed. When they write back and tell you they won't pay, I would go through their complaints procedure and eventually the ombudsman.

elisamoose

were there two policies with a payment on each or one policy with two payments?

kelloggs36

I would ask for a refund - afterall it will cost the bank less money overall than the £20k they are offering for when either one of you die. Get the letter, demand a refund and take it to the ombudsman if you get no joy.

I_am_Me_2

elisamoose wrote: »

were there two policies with a payment on each or one policy with two payments?

2 Policys with 2 Payments...

The one policy was at the higher rate and had me down as a smoker etc.... this is the one that they should have canceled when the other Policy was taken out with my change of Circumstances...

xx

I_am_Me_2

Update on Thread...

We did write a complaint letter to the Bank, we were very polite and accepted that whilst we failed to notice the DD they had also failed in their duties to cancel the Policy and DD as they had said they would.

We have just had a letter this morning saying they accept our complaint and are paying us back ALL the Premiums and Interest!

So that's a good result for us and we are very pleased with the outcome :beer:

xx