A chance for all bankrupts to change your life - Your help needed!

Doucam

I am going to write to my MP about this and the head of the AA.

Pre-BR our contents insurance was the grand sum of £110 per year, dh phoned and told them we had gone br - the result was that after asking why we had gone br our previous insurers won't insure us, but AXA will for the £270!!!!

A £160 hike for a years insurance, purely because we have gone br, we have never made a claim on our insurance so this is so unfair.

They have agreed to let us continue paying by instalments (big of them!) but even though we had paid £15 against the previous policy two weeks ago, insisted on a further 10% before taking out the policy! Plus, hubby had to agree that if they were unable to get any instalments from the bank then they could take the whole lot out, what they seem to have overlooked there is that if they can't get £24 out then they are not going to be able to get over £100 are they?!!

Anyway, we then receive a letter from the AA, stating that they have cancelled the previous policy, correct, and transferred the £120 credit from it onto the next one!!

So they have MADE us pay £40 this month, £25 more than I budgetted for, when they already knew they had that £120?

It has made my blood boil it really has, so I will be doing that standard letter to them and expect a flipping good answer, as I will not let it rest.

£160 a year is a lot of money, for no good reason.

I will update if and when I get a response. Thanks for bumping this thread!!

Doucam

I've just added this paragraph to the draft letter by cityslicker, just need to persuade hubby to sign it now as it's in his name

out_of_cash

GO FOR IT doucam ,there is so much crap being slung at individuals who have been unfortuately made bankrupt its just an excuse for the city boys/banks to hammer the little guy into the ground to claw back more losses,well its going to take more than that for the huge economic !!!! up we are all in .

blind-as-a-bat_2

This reply is only applicable to the bankrupt banks that now shun bankrupts regarding insurance.

One of the replies from an MP was it is up to the insurer who they do business with……….


Seems a bit one sided to me.

Just a thought

Doucam

The thing is if they all charge all the people that went bankrupt £100 more for their insurance, then in the 4th qtr of 2009 alone they have made £3,557,400.00 more!!

The figures for the 3rd quarter were similar as well, so last year the insurers probably took around what 7-8m more?

One assumes their shareholders will be happy this year anyway.

now

maxmycardagain wrote: »

Three years ago, if you had told me i was gonna go bankrupt id have laughed, i was servicing my debts and running my little business ....

Then, with the colusion of the Companies act and the protection of being a Ltd company, a "customer" wiped me out in a very short time by collapsing thier debt owed to me, so not only am i bankrupt, but i am also very, very bitter that my fate was decided some robbing t**t who a month later opened a florist shop for his sons GF and has just bought a country pub/hotel....

I do not hold myself liable/blameworthy ( i WAS, but wasnt...)

The wife stopped me driving the 160 miles to throttle the b*****d

maybe one day, you never know.

I 2 was the victim of being left high and dry by a larger company not paying our little business.........made to go BR by others

now

CitySlicker wrote: »

Edit - This thread was originally called Just About Time To Say Goodbye, but it's turned into a thread all about how we can change the law to stop bankrupts being penalised for the rest of your life. Whether contemplating bankruptcy, or if you're in the stages of early bankruptcy, right along to having been discharged for years, the issues this thread covers later from about post 15 will affect you. Thanks.

I'm not a hugely frequent poster on this part of the forums, but some of you may have seen my posts or have given me advice to help me out. For those who didn't know, I have been working with someone to get them out of the red and through the end of bankruptcy.

It's now been long enough for the bankruptcy to have been discharged, and also to fall off the Insolvency Service website, so the online details of bankruptcy only now exist in a saved folder on my desktop (apart from the gazettes).

Credit files have been updated and we're just waiting for the final application to check it is okay (Equifax and Experian fine, just waiting for CallCredit as I'm determined to make sure this is as accurate as the other two despite it being the 'baby brother' of the other two).

So what have I learned throughout all this?

Bankruptcy is not an easy option. In my experience, it was almost like someone finally owning up to a huge problem. It causes arguments and sleepless nights not just for the bankrupt, but for those around them too. It's certainly not something someone does out of frivolity, it really is a last resort, and in this case was caused by factors totally out of the person's control.

Old habits die hard. Chucking everything in the trolley at a supermarket is something that is habitual. Yet following bankruptcy, for the first time there is a tiny amount of money that is now available - something that may have been used to make minimum payments for example previously - and the first time this happens it can induce the 'I'm rich!' feeling. Come the end of the month and there's barely enough spare change for bread, it's heartbreaking to watch but also having to be cruel to be kind in not bailing them out. Because they didn't get a bail-out on this occasion, they never repeated it and learnt the hard way.

The law needs to change. Each time I renew my home insurance, at least half of all insurers ask if anyone living at the house has ever been bankrupt. The AA increased my renewal premium by £250 simply because of this. I have never been a high risk, I always pay up front each year for cover, I have never made a claim, and it is my policy. It is fundamentally wrong for insurers to ask this question. I came across one person whose son became bankrupt and didn't tell the parents, a claim was made, the insurers uncovered the bankruptcy and the claim was voided. This practice has to be outlawed. Plus when six years is up, the details should drop off the gazettes so it is as if the bankruptcy never existed. Stop humiliating bankrupts for life.

Bankrupts are dirt in the eyes of collection agencies and banks. They treat bankrupts with no respect, they refuse to acknowledge recorded letters, telephone calls are worthless and requests go unactioned. Naming and shaming Lloyds TSB, they only finally cleared up three separate errors after we found every single email address we could online, guessing the chief exec's details, and posting copies of the email in every single local branch that if they didn't sort out the error they would be victims of a media covered sit-in.

Santander has not been easy to deal with in my experience. They freeze not only accounts of the bankrupt, but also any accounts they have ever been trustee for (including child's accounts). Personal experience of a branch has told me a bankrupt should never go in alone, they should always have a solvent person with them who may be a potential/existing customer, this adds good leverage. They even attempted to apply overdrawn charges despite the main account being slightly in credit on the date of bankruptcy when the account was handed over to the OR. Santander also now own GE Money which includes many high street cards such as Dorothy Perkins and Next. Is global domination next for them?

Finally, this board is brilliant. The advice and help that everyone chips in with is superb. More and more over the coming months people will be posting their discharge details, and eventually this forum will hopefully become a place people can see life after discharge, as well as the initial mire that may have brought them here in the first place. What I hope people do, and particularly with Martin's help (I do hope someone brings these comments to his attention), is remember the huge lobbying power we all have. We are all here because of an unideal situation, we all have experiences how this situation affects us unfairly, so we should all get together and stop the unfairness. The insurers and mortgage companies always being able to ask if you ever, ever was bankrupt must be outlawed and a time limit being put on this. Bankrupts are not life-long criminals, take their names off the gazettes too.

Good luck to everyone in the early stages of bankruptcy, this is the start of you rebuilding a sound, secure financial future.

Thank you for this, I agree why should you have to pay more for insurance? we are not all criminals, I expect 75% of us are forced down this route through no fault of our own. How do we start a campaign to have the insurance comoanies treat us with respect? I could understand it if you have lots of claims BUT I for one have never claimed in over 14 years:mad:

Doucam

now, we have never made a claim on our insurance yet the AA felt the need to up our premium by around £160!

I did an online quote with Direct Line and it came out at £100 less with accidental cover, and they didn't ask if we had been or would be or even considered being BR!!

They just ask about criminal offences, so I am going to get hubby to call AA and cancel their ridiculous policy and go with Direct Line.

I do have the letter to send to the head of the AA, and hubby as agreed to sign it finally so we will see if we get anything from them. Not holding out much hope though!

As for a campaign, it is a good idea but not sure we would get anywhere tbh, but if anyone starts one I will put my name to the petition, and help where I can,

4$£&*(£$&*(!

I have received a letter from the Information Commissioner's Office via my MEP that may give us a really strong case. Please take time to read it.

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You have asked whether an insurance company would be entitled to ask an individual for financial information beyond six years, when it is normal practice for Credit Reference Agencies to hold financial information for six years only.

When renewing his home insurance policy, your constituent discovered that one of the insurance company's routine questions relates to whether the policy holder, or anyone in their household, has ever been declared as bankrupt. Your constituent's partner was declared bankrupt some years prior and as a result of this, your constituent's insurance premiums were raised.

The third data principle of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the DPA) says that personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.

Whilst we would consider it fair and reasonable for an insurance company to ask for details of a recent bankruptcy in order to assess the risk of insuring the person and how this would affect the premium, it is less clear why they would need to know about a declaration of bankruptcy made some time ago. This is because this data will inevitably become less relevant over time.

However, it is for each insurance company to determine what they consider to be risk in the context of each particular policy, and what information they may require to determine such risk. The insurance company should be able to justify why the information they are collecting as relevant and not excessive.

I would therefore advise your constituent to raise this matter with his insurance company in the first instance, and ask them why information relating to his partner's old bankruptcy is relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose of assessing insurance risk.

If after raising this matter with them, your constituent is unhappy with their response, he may then wish to complain directly to us. We will then make contact with the insurance company in question, on the grounds that they may be collecting excessive data.

I hope this information is useful.

Andrew Laing
Assistant Commissioner - Head of Casework

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To me it is now clear what we all need to do. If your insurance company has asked about a bankruptcy, we all now need to put a request in to ask why the information is relevant and justify why it is not excessive. We get the response, then we file in a complaint with the ICO.

From my view this is a very significant case of support in our favour from the ICO and we would be foolish not to act on it. Please post details of any action you have taken here.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

This could be used as a template email, doctor it to suit your needs specifically; then forward to any insurer who asks if you, or anyone in your household, has ever been declared bankrupt.

You do not have to be a customer, but individual companies need to be challenged. This really will be down to people power so the more of you who help out the better a chance we have of changing things.

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I note when obtaining a quote you ask a question if any member of the home to be covered has ever been bankrupt.

I was declared bankrupt and was subsequently discharged some time ago. I need to know why you are asking this question.

Following discussions with the Information Commissioner's Office, they advise I obtain a response why information relating to an old bankruptcy is 'relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose of assessing insurance risk' to use their terminology.

Specifically the ICO has directed me to the third data principle of the Data Protection Act 1998, which says that personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.

The ICO have requested a reply to be provided so they can decide if your collection of such data is excessive or not. If you are unwilling or unable to provide such a response please advise me, otherwise please provide a full response within 14 days. If I do not receive a response within this time I will interpret this as being unwilling to provide a response and advise the Commissioner accordingly so they can process the matter directly with you.