Aviva didnt take my monthly DD's..

minimi

Hi
I got a call from my broker, stating that Aviva have not/could not take my monthly payments for building and contents cover for the past 6 months (altho all details were correct) they now want to double my monthly payments to cover for the last 6 months and following 6 months of cover combined.

I stupidly gave them the go ahead and did ask was I covered in that period and they said yes, but have now thought (and my partner agrees) that if I was to have made a claim within the time they hadnt taken any money from me, them they wouldnt have paid out?

Am within my rights to stop the DD now, and cancel the policy.

Thanks for any advice
Minimi

BertTheRaccoon

I don't know much about this, but Direct Debits come with a form of guarantee/ insurance of there is bad administration with the payments, although I do not know what specific circumstances they cover.

I think you need to enquire with your bank as to what a direct debit scheme guarantee covers and also see if there was any problem at your bank or if it was an administrative problem with Aviva.

Maybe the guarantee scheme may honour the payments that were not taken when they should have been?

Quentin

The dd guarantee isn't any use here.

It guarantees the customer against the merchant taking any unauthorised funds from the customer's account.

Maladministration is a different issue.

If the op now cancels the policy expect a cancellation charge plus aviva pursuing for all the money they are owed!

forgotmyname

If its their mistake then you would have been covered.

You can cancel the policy but they will still want the premiun due so far and cancellation charges.

The worst thing you can do is stop the DD 1st. They will cancel the insurance for non payment and then you need to declare that forever...

You premiums will rise having to declare a cancelled policy.

You were covered and need to pay...

minimi

Thanks Quentin
But I also forgot to mention I didnt recieve a renewal letter or even new policy details if they auto renewed, in my mind Iv got it I wasnt covered if I was to have claimed
So how could I owe them money for no proof of cover?

Quentin

Your op says you have a broker dealing with this policy.

They may have some responsibility for passing on documents etc so speak to them over this issue and see if they have let you down.

minimi

Will do :0)
6 months of back payment ontop of further monthly payments is a lot of money for me to pay, I also dont think its fair that they left it 6 months before notifying me.

rs65

minimi wrote: »

but have now thought (and my partner agrees) that if I was to have made a claim within the time they hadnt taken any money from me, them they wouldnt have paid out?

They would've paid - but they may have noticed the missing payments sooner.

You still owe the premium and paying the missing amount over the final 6 months is reasonable. They could've asked you for 6 months worth now followed by 6 normal monthly payments.

Its not good that they didn't notice until now - but neither did you.

dunstonh

At least you had the money for an extra period and earned interest on it. When you noticed they were not collecting the money, why did you not inform them? Or were you hoping you would get away with it until renewal?

forgotmyname

minimi wrote: »

Will do :0)
6 months of back payment ontop of further monthly payments is a lot of money for me to pay, I also dont think its fair that they left it 6 months before notifying me.

You could have notified them. They could have said you have not paid and cancelled the policy. But they didnt they agreed you were and would have been covered if you did claim.

wozearly

dunstonh wrote: »

At least you had the money for an extra period and earned interest on it. When you noticed they were not collecting the money, why did you not inform them? Or were you hoping you would get away with it until renewal?

Bit harsh to assume minimi was attempting to be deceptive.

Given the comment about auto-renewal, my reading is that this wasn't a policy set up and no payments taken from day 1, but a policy that's been continued from a previous year where no payments were taken for the first 6 months following renewal.

I'm know I don't diligently check that all existing, expected DD payments are coming out in monthly statements. I'm more inclined to look at the account balance, swear, then look at any new DD setups or anything that appears unexpected.

I'd expect any company who I didn't pay on time because the DD failed to be on my back like a shot. Insurance companies usually react swiftly to a non-payment in the month after a renewal because its normally the sign of an administrative glitch, and its in their interest to get it sorted out.

Either the broker or Aviva (or both) appeared to be asleep on the job here.