wasted money

diane39

Can't believe this has happened,ive just realised by scouring my bank statements that we have been paying 2 insurances on a mortage we had 5 years ago,we sold the house and have been mortage free for the last 5 years.I have been paying one £15 a month amd another £20 a month for 5 years on something i didn't need.I realise it's my own stupidty and they are saying im not entitled to a refund as they would've paid out if i needed it but how could they when i didn't own the house?
Do you think im entitled for anything back?
Please don't comment at how stupid ive been as i feel bad enough.Im just consoling myself that at least ive stopped it now :mad:

chilli_red

Ouch :-( x

michelle2008

I have just discovered the same issue - only £9 a month - but I had two life assurance policies running for two years!!

Stupid me - I assumed one had been cancelled - but no! There was no mis-selling - just misunderstanding on my part. I had talked about a replacement assurance - the old policy was joint and I was doing an equity buy out so the bank knew the old policy wasn't appropriate. But I should have checked!!

smcqis

Valuable lesson learnt, always check your statements. Doubt you will get full refund

LLouiseR

I don't know if you mean mortgage protection insurance or buildings and contents - I'm feeling a bit thick tonight.

If its a policy that needed to be renewed every year did you agree to let them auto renew your insurance year on year, or did you understand that you were taking it out for a year only? Did you have to 'opt out' of the auto renewal on a year by year basis (I think that many insurances do this) if you didn't get the letter is it fair that they continued to take your money?

Did they send you any further letters re the change in policy and if so was this to a previous address or current address? did they have any letters returned to sender? (if so did they try to contact you by phone?) Was it with a company who should have known that you had moved ie was it taken out with the mortgage company along with the mortgage? or did you have any other insurance products with them that updated your address but not for this one product?
Were they aware that you were selling your property or any other changes that would indicate that you were no longer eligible?
Are you sure that you didn't phone them at the time - If you were selling your house then its easy to forget that you did, of course you would need some kind of proof like telephone bills......
Onus will probably be on you but if I was a insurance company that had letters returned to them 'not at this address' for a mortgage on that house I'd start asking questions.....but then I'd be broke.
Last final straw - were the policies mis-sold? they may have updated clauses which made the policy unsuitable for you (apart from the fact that you didn't have the mortgage any longer). You weren't informed of the changes and if you were you would have cancelled etc.
Basically you're not going to lose anything by trying apart from some letters envelopes and stamps. and time. Put everything down in writing in one letter and send it to them. If no joy send it to the ombudsman. You may need to get copies of the policy documents from the company.
Good luck but don't get your hopes up.

Thrugelmir

diane39 wrote: »

they are saying im not entitled to a refund as they would've paid out if i needed it but how could they when i didn't own the house?
D

If the cover was life assurance, if either of you had dies then the proceeds of the policy would have been paid to the survivor.

As life assurance becomes more expensive as you get older. Many people do leave policies running.

diane39

Thanks..
It was protection insurance.I don't think it was mis sold cos i think it was a condition when we took that particular mortage.
Good point about letters being returned to sender because we haven't heard a thing for 5 years.I guess im just going to have to take it on the chin.
Lifes lessons

Thanks again x

opinions4u

I don't think it was mis sold cos i think it was a condition when we took that particular mortage.

I bet it wasn't really a condition.

diane39

Sorted this..i wrote to one of them asking for a refund,using words like we didn't want or need this insurance and said we would take the matter further and we've recieved a cheque for £913 which is about 4 yrs payments.My guess is they thought they might as well pay me that before i try and take them for yrs worth of mis sold ppi.I honestly wasn't going to bother but i thought what's the worst that could happen?All for the price of a stamp!

Gonna write to the other one now

dunstonh

.My guess is they thought they might as well pay me that before i try and take them for yrs worth of mis sold ppi.

Probably settled because it was virtually the same cost as handling a complaint via the FOS to the amount they needed to pay you. It's often cheaper to settle than to argue the point.

VfM4meplse

Thrugelmir wrote: »

If the cover was life assurance, if either of you had dies then the proceeds of the policy would have been paid to the survivor.

As life assurance becomes more expensive as you get older. Many people do leave policies running.

Me included - even though I became MF within 7 years I have continued the policy - if I popped off tomorrow, at least someone will benefit from it!