help please- insurance compnay sent renewal forms to wrong address

Nenen

I’d be really grateful for any advice regarding my husband’s life insurance policy with Scottish Provident. He had a renewable term life assurance for around 125K which was due to expire on 12th February 2011 but he had an automatic right to renew it for a further term without needing to complete any medical forms etc. He has always paid on time via direct debit and never missed a payment.


We moved house in August 2009 and my husband telephoned Scottish Provident to inform them of our change of address. They now say they have no record of this. Fast forward 18 months...



On 27th February 2011 my husband received a letter from Scottish Provident which had been redirected by the people who now live in our old house. This letter was dated 8th January 2011. The letter concerned the renewal of my husband’s life assurance plan and asked him to sign and return the renewal form by 27th January 2011.
My husband telephoned and spoke to an admin worker at Scottish Provident and explained that he had not been able to sign up for renewal by the date requested on their letter as we had moved house in August 2009 and that these papers had been sent to our former address. The admin person said that they had no record of our current address despite the fact my husband had telephoned them with this information on moving in August 2009.



Furthermore, the admin person said that some mail for my husband had been sent to our old address and had been returned to Scottish Provident with ‘not at this address’, written on it. Therefore the worker could not speak to my husband as the case papers had been 'locked on their system' and my husband would have to write in with proof of our new address before they could do anything else.



My husband sent SP a letter with proof of our new address on 28th February 2011. I do not understand why, if SP knew we were not living at that address, they were quite happy to continue to take money for the policy but made no attempt to contact my husband via our bank etc and why they then sent out renewal forms to an address they knew we did not live at when apparently we were ‘locked into the system’. Once the policy expired on 12th February 2011 SP did write to our bank but too late for my husband to renew on time without penalty.


On 8th March 2011 my husband received a letter from Scottish Provident to our new address. This letter stated that they have no record of his telephone call advising them of a change of address and that in order for them to proceed with the request for renewal they require him to complete a Supplementary Health Questionnaire. The problem with this is, that since first taking out the policy ten years ago, my husband has suffered several health problems including diabetes and hypertension which may well mean the premiums are heavily loaded or even that he is refused insurance.


My husband telephoned Scottish Provident again and spoke to a lady called Alison in admin. She told him that his case was now off benefit and that it was a legal requirement for him to complete the questionnaire in order for the company to proceed. He argued that there was less than one month lapse as the payments for the plan had been taken up to and including the January 2011 payment and therefore the only missing payment at this stage was February 2011. While she was somewhat sympathetic she maintained that he had to complete the questionnaire about his current health status in order for the company to proceed.


What I want to know is, is this the only way forward as changes in my husband’s health would have an impact on his payments and I am sure any entitlement to benefit.
If they had logged our change of address correctly in the first place he would have been able to sign up in their time frame and it would have been automatically renewed, with only his age inflating the cost of the premiums. Of course it is our word against theirs that we did this.



Alison suggested if we were unhappy about how things had been handled we could contact the insurance ombudsman. Is this worth doing or are there any other avenues we can explore? This is the only life insurance cover he has and, as we are currently renting a property, we do not have any mortgage protection insurance. Hence it is vital for us to sort this out as I would be left not only devastated by his death but in dire financial straits with a dependent son still at university if my husband were to die without insurance.


In hindsight, we should of course kept a much closer eye on my husband's life insurance policy and contacted SP ourselves well in advance of the renewal date. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it may be that we have to learn a very hard lesson that is going to cost us a huge amount of money and stress.


However, if anyone has any experience of this sort of thing or any constructive advice (other than to take more care with renewal dates) we would be most grateful.

dunstonh

We moved house in August 2009 and my husband telephoned Scottish Provident to inform them of our change of address. They now say they have no record of this. Fast forward 18 months...

Change of addresses are rarely accepted over the phone. That may be why there is no record as they couldnt do it.

I do not understand why, if SP knew we were not living at that address, they were quite happy to continue to take money for the policy but made no attempt to contact my husband via our bank etc and why they then sent out renewal forms to an address they knew we did not live at when apparently we were ‘locked into the system’. Once the policy expired on 12th February 2011 SP did write to our bank but too late for my husband to renew on time without penalty.

If they didnt take the money and you had a claim then no doubt you would be unhappy they cancelled policy. So, logically the best course of action is to keep paying the premiums until told otherwise.

My husband telephoned Scottish Provident again and spoke to a lady called Alison in admin. She told him that his case was now off benefit and that it was a legal requirement for him to complete the questionnaire in order for the company to proceed. He argued that there was less than one month lapse as the payments for the plan had been taken up to and including the January 2011 payment and therefore the only missing payment at this stage was February 2011. While she was somewhat sympathetic she maintained that he had to complete the questionnaire about his current health status in order for the company to proceed.

A declaration of health is normal in any cases where premiums are missed and policy is to be reinstated.

Is this worth doing or are there any other avenues we can explore?

You cannot go to the FOS without making a formal complaint to Scot Prov first.

To be honest, its impossible to call this one either way. Insurers rarely take change of address over the phone. So, your claim that the address was changed via phone doesnt seem plausible. Especially with no record of the call showing. That works against you. The insurer in what happened next have done nothing wrong. So, unless you have some evidence of the phone call then it will be a balance of probability decision. If the insurer say they accept change of address over the phone, you get some possible swing to you. If they say they never accept change of address over the phone then any complaint to the FOS is likely to rule in their favour.

The other thing is what would you be complaining about? You are not financially worse off, there is no wrong doing apart from your change of address side but that is now resolved. So, there isnt really anything for the FOS to look into as it all appears sorted now.

Nenen

Thank you for taking the time to reply Dunstonh. However, there are a couple of things I want to clarify.

dunstonh wrote: »

Change of addresses are rarely accepted over the phone. That may be why there is no record as they couldnt do it.

In that case, surely they should have told my husband that when he rang them and told him to write in? We changed our car insurance and contents insurance over the phone at the same time and that was accepted, albeit by different companies. Would it strengthen the credibility of our case if we could get the car and contents companies to state we changed our address with them over the phone at the time of moving?

dunstonh wrote: »

If they didnt take the money and you had a claim then no doubt you would be unhappy they cancelled policy. So, logically the best course of action is to keep paying the premiums until told otherwise.

Fair point - I am glad they continued to take the premiums but my point was that they kept taking the premiums when letters to us had been returned to them stating 'not known at this address' without making any effort to find out where we were. However. once the policy expired and they had a chance of making more money out of us they were quick enough to contact our bank then!

dunstonh wrote: »

A declaration of health is normal in any cases where premiums are missed and policy is to be reinstated.

But my point is that the premiums would never have been missed if they had changed our address on their system as they told my dh they would on the phone. Even then it was only one premium that was missed. Is it really the case that if someone misses just ONE monthly premium, eg if overdrawn, they have to sign a new health declaration?

dunstonh wrote: »

You cannot go to the FOS without making a formal complaint to Scot Prov first.

That is not what SP told my dh on the phone - she even gave my dh the address to write to for the FOS - I am beginning to think their telephone operators are not very good at their job!

dunstonh wrote: »

To be honest, its impossible to call this one either way. Insurers rarely take change of address over the phone. So, your claim that the address was changed via phone doesnt seem plausible. Especially with no record of the call showing. That works against you. The insurer in what happened next have done nothing wrong. So, unless you have some evidence of the phone call then it will be a balance of probability decision. If the insurer say they accept change of address over the phone, you get some possible swing to you. If they say they never accept change of address over the phone then any complaint to the FOS is likely to rule in their favour.

See above re our car and contents insurers all taking the change of address over the phone and, with their help, we can prove this.

dunstonh wrote: »

The other thing is what would you be complaining about? You are not financially worse off, there is no wrong doing apart from your change of address side but that is now resolved. So, there isnt really anything for the FOS to look into as it all appears sorted now.

We will be financially worse off. We would be complaining that as they did not change our address when requested to do so, or check where we were living via our bank when they had letters returned to them, they did not give my dh the opportunity to renew his policy without the need for further medical statements which he had the right to do if he had received the documents in time. Any policy we take out now will be much more heavily loaded (if we can get one at all) as his health has declined.

y2afuk

Am l missing something? Does your husband not have to inform your life insurance company anyway if he has developed diabetes since he orginally signed up since it will impact the policy? And render the policy void if he does not declare this important info?? Cheers.

Nenen

y2afuk wrote: »

Am l missing something? Does your husband not have to inform your life insurance company anyway if he has developed diabetes since he orginally signed up since it will impact the policy? And render the policy void if he does not declare this important info?? Cheers.

My husband rang and spoke to the insurance company when he was diagnosed with diabetes and was told that it was irrelevant to the policy continuing as it is his health when the policy was taken out which is taken into account. The whole reason we want to stay with Scottish Provident is because, if he had been able to renew in time he was entitled to renew without having to make any further health declarations, ie they just look at his health as it was 10 years ago when he first took it out.

dunstonh

In that case, surely they should have told my husband that when he rang them and told him to write in? We changed our car insurance and contents insurance over the phone at the same time and that was accepted, albeit by different companies. Would it strengthen the credibility of our case if we could get the car and contents companies to state we changed our address with them over the phone at the time of moving?

Other companies are irrelevant. General insurance and life & pensions often have different requirements. Yes, they should have told him but lack of any evidence saying they did/didnt is a balance of probability decision. If they dont accept change of address over the phone and there is no recording on file then the balance would swing to them.

But my point is that the premiums would never have been missed if they had changed our address on their system as they told my dh they would on the phone. Even then it was only one premium that was missed. Is it really the case that if someone misses just ONE monthly premium, eg if overdrawn, they have to sign a new health declaration?

You normally get 28 days to ensure payment. After that it is normal for a declaration of health. Some companies may give a bit more but that is more or less the norm.

That is not what SP told my dh on the phone - she even gave my dh the address to write to for the FOS - I am beginning to think their telephone operators are not very good at their job!

Front line telephone staff at insurers are often dire. You frequently have to tell them what to do as they don't know. Not an excuse of course but just agreeing with you.

The formal complaints process requires you to complain to the company first. If you go to the FOS first then the FOS will just forward your complaint on to the company to deal with. The FOS can only look at it after 8 weeks (and no response) or you have been deadlocked in a decision you dont agree with.

Your best bet is to make a complaint. It really is impossible to call as there is no evidence. The front line staff you are speaking to on the phone will be no help. Those behind the scenes handling complaints can make decisions that the front line staff would never be allowed to make. So, it's possible they may just waive the health declaration. They may even find the call (some insurers have archived systems or multiple systems and the front line staff may not have access to older systems).