Armed Forces Personnel - tell the MOD about its effect on your finances.

Former_MSE_Archna

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is investigating the disadvantages faced by Servicemen and Women and their families when accessing financial products and services.

It would like examples from serving personnel or their immediate families of disadvantages that they have faced specifically as a result of being in the Armed Forces.

You should not give your name, or any other detail that might identify you, however please provide sufficient detail to enable them to understand the issue and the context in which it occurred.

Examples are listed below but please feel free to let us know about anything else too.

• Personnel take out kit insurance cover that proves to be worthless due to operational exclusions.
• Personnel take out motor insurance that excludes use on airfields, docks, or military bases. Refusal to cover Armed Forces personnel.
• Personnel take out travel insurance that will not pay out if trip cancelled due to Service reasons.
• Selling of life/accident/critical illness cover without making clear that cover excludes operational tours.
• Making it difficult for Armed Forces personnel to let out their family home on posting to a new location.
• Making it difficult for overseas-based personnel to get finance, including mortgages for house purchase in the UK.
• Disadvantageous credit rating/unsuccessful credit check, whether though service overseas, frequent postings, living in shared accommodation or being include on the Service Voters Electoral Roll.
• Students who are Service dependants resident with parents based overseas unable to get financial support to attend university (Student Loans Company criteria)
• Service dependants denied access to training and education courses in the UK (Learning and Skills Council funding residency requirements)
• Overseas-based personnel unable to open bank accounts/ISAs etc or use online banking, as BFPO addresses not recognised by bank computer systems.
• Financial institutions refuse to post documents/cards to BFPO addresses.

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coldstreamalways

Car insurance is higher as they class barracks as business addresses.... Grrr, they are guarded by men with rifles !!!!!!, why is it more to insure using that as my home address?

rafdad

When I was serving in the Shetland Islands my wife was also posted to the unit. When we moved into our married quarter we tried various companies to get contents insurance. At least two companies would not insure us as the house would be empty during the times we were "on ops". The Shetland Island of Unst where we were serving was 9 miles by 3 miles and we both worked normal day shifts. Would these companies have refused insurance to a married couple that both went to work for civilian companies during the day?:mad:

herewegoagain2010

I'm a forces wife and we were posted overseas 2 and a half years ago. With a young family, we thought we'd need to get our financial affairs in order, so I applied to Axa for some life insurance, as my husband had his own policies. The standard policy quoted for me was about £10 a month at the time. I called them and explained that my hubby was in the services and we lived overseas, but still used the BFPO mail system. I explained that I still had the right to vote and that we would return back to the UK, so the move was only a short term posting. Axa informed me that they wouldn't insure me, due to the fact I lived overseas. They made no allowance for the fact that I was a married dependant of a serving member. However, they'd be quite happy to insure my husband and I on a joint policy at £45 a month. It didn't make sense, as my hubby lived at the same address as me overseas! We would have been quite happy cancelling his other policies, as long as the new cover was the same. We checked into the terms and conditions on their new policy. We found that my husband would void a lot of the policy due to his working life. It seemed pointless cancelling his other policies to replace with this inferior one. I called and complained and it took them months to investigate. Finally, they offered me a policy for double the standard rate. In the meantime, I'd already found another insurance company who were more than happy to insure a forces wife overseas for the normal rate.

halo376

I've just managed to get a mortgage to buy my first house, but talk about jumping through hoops!! I've been serving for nearly 8 years, the last 5 spent at the same base, and despite that banks cannot see my finacial history at the base address. It's an absolute nightmare trying to get credit for anything.

It would be useful if you get registered on the electral role as part of your arrivals to any unit. At least then the banks can see your location if not history.

It does amaze me that servicemen and women tend to be paid quite well, it is the same every month, and we're not likely to become unemployed without a good amount of notice, also if we get ourselves in the finacial poo we could be facing displinary action, and yet we are denied so much. Generally speaking we are a pretty good bet for loans, etc. but the banks aren't having any of it.

I did find out the other day that my kit insurance doesn't cover my kit whilst moving from one base to another, this is incredibly infuriating as most serving personnel are going to move at least every 3 years if not less than that.

Improvements would be welcomed by this service woman!! 8 years is enough time of dealing with the rubbish that banks come back with whilst declining you any financial service.


Halo376:p

RAFDorset

AVIVA would not give me any life cover because I am serving in HM Forces, and got quite upset when we told them that we wouldn't be taking up the quote for my wife! When posted to Cornwall, the nearest available NHS Dentist was 80 miles away in Devon, so we had to pay for private treatment for my wife and daughter. Car insurance is always more expensive as a Serviceman. Also, my wife was on a better salary than myself, but when we moved to our new unit, the best salary she could earn for the same job was about 40 percent of her previous salary. Glad to be leaving next year, fed up with the discrimination that has always been there but became prevalent in the last 13 years.

Andy_L

coldstreamalways wrote: »

Car insurance is higher as they class barracks as business addresses.... Grrr, they are guarded by men with rifles !!!!!!, why is it more to insure using that as my home address?

Probably because they have had more claims from that post code due to the higher density of occupants. Although it was cheaper for me to use the barracks address than my home address so I suspect it depends where you live

nbinblack

I believe that if the MOD were carrying out research of this or any type then personnel would be informed through official military channels, and it would most probably be accessible on the Defance intranet, military email system or the types of survey that are sent through the post but notified through military channels rather than a civilian website.

Please correct me if I am wrong and provide a POC to confirm details with. In the meantime I advise people to consider the above when providing responses.

slbhill

My TA other half mobilised through Chilwell & was told that because for the 9 months or so I was the only person living in our house, the council should give me the single person reduction in council tax. The council refused (surprise).

Information from Chilwell also very inconsistent. Some people were told that we could pay somebody to do jobs around the home which the mobilised soldier would usually do, and claim back the cost. I only found out about this afterwards which was costly given my mobilised soldier is a car mechanic!

Chilwell should really produce a sheet of "what you can/can't do" for families/partners etc. - also because the squaddies are being deluged in information and forget to pass some of it on to the ones left at home who need to know.

PS - Families officer doing anything useful? :rotfl:

inforeq

slbhill wrote: »

My TA other half mobilised through Chilwell & was told that because for the 9 months or so I was the only person living in our house, the council should give me the single person reduction in council tax. The council refused (surprise).

Information from Chilwell also very inconsistent. Some people were told that we could pay somebody to do jobs around the home which the mobilised soldier would usually do, and claim back the cost. I only found out about this afterwards which was costly given my mobilised soldier is a car mechanic!

Chilwell should really produce a sheet of "what you can/can't do" for families/partners etc. - also because the squaddies are being deluged in information and forget to pass some of it on to the ones left at home who need to know.

PS - Families officer doing anything useful? :rotfl:

With regard to your council tax - my partner is a serving soldier who returned from a deployment last year, he was advised by his chief clerk to formally request a 25% reduction in the tax from the local authority, if they refuse, which will come in the form of a letter then the army can refund the amount. We went through this performance and received a long winded expalantion from our Civic Centre that they were not paying, the letter was duly taken (at the end of his tour) to the pay office and was actioned through them. I am sure there is lots of info on the intranet about claiming the council tax refund and theres lots on google too.

Tazlilly

My ex-husband served in Para Reg until '93. We were together for 15 years and during that time I struggled to make him understand anything to do with budgeting, saving or money in general. And I know others like him.

As far as he could see, anything in the bank was clear for spending, because he was so used to having costs deducted from his salary at source. Essentially he is/was institutionalised.

We divorced eventually because the strain of continually trying to control his spending, and the risk of losing everything became to great. He bought a house, and within 2 years had to declare bankruptcy