Mortgage Payment Protection Claim - Interview

Gayle1983

I was made redundant at the end of October. I have a mortgage payment protection policy with Iprotect. The initial exclusion period on the policy is 120 days and this ended on 10th August. I was first made aware that my position was "at risk" at a meeting on 12th August. I had absolutely no indication prior to that redundancies were on the card. My redundancy was eventually confirmed on 25th August.

I have now claimed on my mortgage protection policy. The insurers wrote to my employer and my employer has confirmed the dates of when I was informed I was at risk and dates of susequent consultation meetings etc.

I have today received a letter saying that the insurance company want to send someone from a company called Paragon out to my house to meet with me and "discuss the details of your redundancy".

The guy from Paragon has been on the phone and he's coming out on 2nd December. He is being flown up from London to see me that day.

I spoke to the insurance company and they have said this is fairly standard practice particularly where a claim comes so soon after the initial exclusion period.

Does anybody have any experience of this situation? I'm absolutely terrified they are going to try and reject my claim and say that I knew about the possible redundancy during the exclusion period which I absolutely did not!

lordhaldon

WOW! Put yourselves in their shoes. You are either very fortunate or had prior knowledge. That said, I would not worry. Just be honest which I am sure you will be and all will be OK. I am sure that you took the policy in good faith to protect yourself in hard economic and uncertain times. Just focus on the facts of the redundancy i.e. the key dates and a suggestion, dont get into the discussion about the rumours that must have been circulating the works. Don't flounder over the dates, be precise and ready. You don't say how long you have had the mortgage BEFORE you took out the cover. The 120 days is what they (the Co) reasonable expects its policy holders NOT to be aware of any pending redundancy. The meeting is standard practice and designed to protect the Co and the rest of the policy holders. Good luck and hope this helps.

Gayle1983

lordhaldon wrote: »

WOW! Put yourselves in their shoes. You are either very fortunate or had prior knowledge. That said, I would not worry. Just be honest which I am sure you will be and all will be OK. I am sure that you took the policy in good faith to protect yourself in hard economic and uncertain times. Just focus on the facts of the redundancy i.e. the key dates and a suggestion, dont get into the discussion about the rumours that must have been circulating the works. Don't flounder over the dates, be precise and ready. You don't say how long you have had the mortgage BEFORE you took out the cover. The 120 days is what they (the Co) reasonable expects its policy holders NOT to be aware of any pending redundancy. The meeting is standard practice and designed to protect the Co and the rest of the policy holders. Good luck and hope this helps.

I must be extremely fortunate as I can hand on my heart say I wasn't aware of any potential for redundancy. We had just been given a small payrise in May too. I moved house in November last year with my partner and took out this policy in the January. We did arrange a policy when we moved house but decided in December that the policy was not good value for money and so we cancelled it.

holderness

Don't worry too much, they wouldn't have worried if you had missed out by a day. You hold all the cards, i.e. that the company told you on the 12th - how were you to know? You were prudent enough to take out insurance because you wanted to protect yourself in the current economy, end of. It would be wise to have your cv and a few job apps to bring to the table as well.

Gayle1983

Thanks holderness. They've given me a huge long list of documentation that they want to see at the meeting including bank statements, wage slips, all redundancy correspondence from my employer and evidence of ongoing job search activities. It's taken me a long time to collate it all together. I've also got a copy of a letter which my employer gave to me in May this year confirming our wage rise - something which tends to run against the suggestion I knew of possible redundancies. I also had my 6 monthly appraisal in July and at that I was asked to set objectives for the next 6 months - again, why would I have been asked to do that and agree to do that if I thought my job was at risk. I'm feeling a little brighter about it but can imagine I'll be a bag of nerves a week on thursday