Advise

oscarward

Can anyone advise please

The building society we had our mortgage with also arranged 2 insurance policies, buildings & contents and mortgage protection.

We recently paid off our mortgage on the 1st Sept and at the time of paying off I enquired about continuing the policies particularly the mortgage protecion as work may be a little iffy. I was told that the protection policy would be cancelled as there was no mortgage to cover which sounded logical to me.

I was advised to cancel the direct debits as well as sometimes payments would go out when things had ended. But somehow the wrong DD was cancelled, by me .

I received a letter 7 days later saying the banks had confirmed the DD was cancelled and enclosed an new DD instruction form also the line

'If your mortgage is in the process of being repaid please ignore this letter'

which I took to mean it was the protection policy and the redemption department hadn't sent the paperwork to the insurance department yet. All it quoted was a policy number.

I received a letter about 15 days later thanking me for paying off my mortgage and reminding me to cancel all DDs which reinforced my view about the comms glitch.

Fast forward to 18th of october a letter was sent saying unless I paid £17 in 14 days the policy would be cancelled. I was in spain at the time..........

As it quoted the same policy number I assumed major internal comms glitch and put it on my To Do list to contact them.

Then I received a letter today saying that the policy has been cancelled with effect from 30th September. I rang to ask why they were writing to me and was told my house insyrance was no longer valid. Which means I have been without insurance for a month.


I've spoken to the society and a manager rang me back and told me they can't reinstate the policy as it is no longer a policy they offer, they are perfectly willing to offer me a new policy which I had a quote for.

That's not my problem , however I expressed my concern about future car insurance renewals as I will have to declare the cancellation.

So what to do?

dunstonh

I received a letter about 15 days later thanking me for paying off my mortgage and reminding me to cancel all DDs which reinforced my view about the comms glitch.

Thats to cover their backsides in case you dont cancel and try to get a refund later accusing them of not telling you.

The insurance arm wont know what the mortgage arm are doing. They may share logos but they wont necessarily share data. Especially where third parties are used with the insurance. Hence why they keep reminding you to do it.

, however I expressed my concern about future car insurance renewals as I will have to declare the cancellation.

No. its not a cancellation they are interested in. Effectively its a cancellation due to non payment which has in effect led to you cancelling it. Not them.

oscarward

many thanks Dunstonh

I've spoken to the BS asking where the information will be recorded, if it's effectivley I have cancelled then I don't have to declare it?

mikey72

From what you had said, I don't agree.
You have stopped paying your premium mid term, your insurer has cancelled your policy, not you, you have just defaulted on payment, for whatever reason, so yes, it needs declaring or future insurance may not pay out if you claim and haven't told them.

huckster

oscarward wrote: »

many thanks Dunstonh

I've spoken to the BS asking where the information will be recorded, if it's effectivley I have cancelled then I don't have to declare it?

Yes you don't need to declare. The policy was cancelled,as you stopped paying as the wrong direct debit was cancelled.

Some people on this site will tell you to declare the cancellation, but in my opinion this is not correct. Insurers want to know about cancellations where other Insurers have refused to provide cover. e.g. non disclosure, fraudulent claims, deliberate underinsurance, too many claims made. These are situations where they don't want to continue the contractural relationship due to the risk or breakdown in good faith.

mikey72

huckster wrote: »

Yes you don't need to declare. The policy was cancelled,as you stopped paying as the wrong direct debit was cancelled.

Some people on this site will tell you to declare the cancellation, but in my opinion this is not correct. Insurers want to know about cancellations where other Insurers have refused to provide cover. e.g. non disclosure, fraudulent claims, deliberate underinsurance, too many claims made. These are situations where they don't want to continue the contractural relationship due to the risk or breakdown in good faith.

Why the sudden charge in opinions on here.
At the risk of appearing to be on the insurers side :eek:

It is now on a record somewhere, the op cancelled monthly payments mid term, the insurers wrote to them asking for payment, the op didn't pay, the insurance was cancelled.

Why is that allowed to be omitted when the question will be "have you has insurance cancelled"

oscarward

I'll complain and see what they can do, I don't feel I am totally to blame here.

I think that the BS communication was confusing and misleading.

i.e. Advised to cancel DD at time of mortgage redemption then when wrong one is cancelled write a week later to say DD cancelled but if your mortgage is in the process of being repaid please ignore this letter.

A further week later letter confirming mortgage paid and reminding to cancel DD.

Then a 14 day notice while I was on holiday 6 weeks later.

They then advise the 14 days notice letter is cancelled and back date the cancellation to 3 weeks before the 14 days notice. (what happens is there had been a claim before the 14 day notice?)

There were 3 different headings on the letters and it wasn't till the cancellation letter the policy type was mentioned.

huckster

mikey72 wrote: »

Why the sudden charge in opinions on here.
At the risk of appearing to be on the insurers side :eek:

It is now on a record somewhere, the op cancelled monthly payments mid term, the insurers wrote to them asking for payment, the op didn't pay, the insurance was cancelled.

Why is that allowed to be omitted when the question will be "have you has insurance cancelled"

Unless there is a definative list of what cancellations need to be disclosed, it is all about opinions.

When policies get cancelled due to payment issues, then the reason for cancellation is put down as that. I would not see it as relevant to disclose a cancellation where a policy had been stopped by the policyholder mid-term due to payment issues or where they had decided to cancel for other reasons. e.g. sold house, moved abroad.

There are normally specific cancellation codes the Insurers use for cancellation or voiding due to issues of non disclosure or other act of breach of faith. When these codes are used, they enable relevant reporting. Some companies restrict the staff that are authorised to cancel or void policies due to such issues, so that there is proper accountability for such actions. The Insurers will issue a letter stating that the policy had been cancelled, giving a reason for their decision.

oscarward

Ok

Strangely enough the same BS allowed me to set up a new household policy with DD to the same bank account. Not a mega increase either:).

So Household insurance is ok, just need to see if motor is affected.

Don't really care about credit rating as I have no mortgage won't be taking a loan out and have sufficent credit cards to see me out until I retire.

Worst case scenario I'll just take a company lease car and take mine off the road.

Just annoyed the BS won't accept they had any part to play in this debacle.