Cheque not cashed by bank for insurance!

Nospringchicken

Hi, my mum always does her house insurance with her bank, she sends a cheque away and forgets about it, she has never had a receipt for it and always relies on her cheque stub. Her bank phoned her yesterday saying they where updating her files and said various things that weren't correct so they looked into it further and low and behold they found they could make her insurance cheaper! Her ins. Would £200 cheaper for the next year, fabulous! They would need a cheque for £500! Mum asked why, because sh didn't pay last years, no-one informed her of this, they just put her insurance in arrears. So she was still insured for the past year, but in arrears. Is the bank allowed to do this? And surely if they didn't receive the cheque they are obliged to tell my mum. She is elderly and £500 is a lot to pay out, she didn't check to see if the money had been taken out a year ago. Can some one advise if she has to pay this money or not, as if she had had a claim would they have paid out, we only have their word for it.

Fosterdog

If she sends the cheque away it may have got lost in the post, I'm sure if they received it they would have banked it. They'd have no reason not to.

She may not get a receipt but surely she gets sent her policy documents? Did she get them last year?

ap1986

Surely she still has the money that wasn't taken last year? If she didn't check to see if it had been taken out, she wouldn't have noticed that it was still there as she wouldn't have over spent and it would still be there?!

She could just use that to put towards this years premium, couldn't she?

molerat

Yes she does have to pay as she owes the money. She may have to come to some arrangement over paying it. Surely she checks her account to see if things are coming in and going out ?

ValHaller

Nospringchicken wrote: »

we only have their word for it.

Well you could try checking statements.

~Beanie~

If the cheque went missing in the post or was lost, surely the insurance wouldn't have been renewed?

I've never heard of an insurer that will cover you for a whole year if you haven't paid! Most of them would either have cancelled the insurance or would be chasing for the payment within a few weeks of the policy being renewed. Would she have been covered if she had made a claim?

Who is the insurance with?

dacouch

~Beanie~ wrote: »

Would she have been covered if she had made a claim?

Yes you would