Insurance Direct Debits not taken.

blodcob

I have been insured with NFU for years for various insurances which mean i have 3 or 4 direct debits to them that come out of my bank account every month. In July 2011 i had a letter from NFU saying they had just realised they had not taken the monthly direct debits from my account for the year 2010 - 2011 for one of my insurances (a vehicle) and that they required me to pay the whole lot to them now in one go. I contacted them and explained i pay my insurance monthly because i cannot afford to pay the whole lot in one go and that they should have been taking it monthly for the last year (i had not realised the direct debit had not been going out) they said then i could pay in 2 installments over 2 months - i still could not afford to do this so they said they would get back to me.I have heard nothing from them until today (a year later) when i had a letter saying if i didnt pay immediately they were going to take it further. I have phoned them and the manager there has said he is going to pay it personally (??) and i now have to send 10 cheques made out to him personally to cover it! This strikes me as dodgy and im not at all happy about it as i gave them permission to take these direct debits from my account and they didnt do so, am i still liable for this from 2 years ago?

huckster

Contact NFU head office and make a complaint. The NFU agent you are dealing with, may be in for a b*llocking from NFU senior managers responsible for the branch. They will probably just write off the premium. If they don't, then tell them that you will take it further with the FOS and also notify the FSA.

I have had this issue working for an Insurers and we had to write off the money we failed to collect. Under FSA rules, Insurers have to have effective accounting in place and if there are any issues, then they need to sort themselves out. e.g make sure that they collect the premiums on the due dates.

dunstonh

When you were not paying these premiums, what did you do with the money? Or were you hoping to get away with it?

I have phoned them and the manager there has said he is going to pay it personally (??) and i now have to send 10 cheques made out to him personally to cover it! This strikes me as dodgy

That is dodgy and possibly an FSA breach on their handling of client money.

blodcob

dunstonh, Until i got their letter i wasnt aware the Direct debits hadnt been taken, as i stated i have 3 or 4 direct debits that go out to NFU, hardly "hoping to get away with it" as you put. I had no problem with paying the money over 12 installments which i offered to do, as i was expecting to have paid this, but this wasnt good enough for them, they wanted it immediately. I dont feel im at fault here, i gave them permission to take the money from my account, surely it is their problem if they didnt do so?

rs65

blodcob wrote: »

This strikes me as dodgy

Extremely dodgy.

I would say you are still due to pay it but they have to be reasonable.

As has been said, write to their head office - maybe they will waive the premium as a thank you for highlighting what seems to be dodgy practice.