Life Policy Reclaim

bullinn1

Hi chaps I came across an ad' for Life Policy Reclaim. I recently cancelled a Life policy when I found out that the company had increased the premiums over the 15 years from £15 to £50/ month ... I thought maybe I'd be a bit cheeky and see if LPR could get some cash back, unlikely though, is it worth the small amount of paperwork ?

dunstonh

There are very few life assurance complaints and the FOS reject most of them too.

I recently cancelled a Life policy when I found out that the company had increased the premiums over the 15 years from £15 to £50/ month

Which is not grounds for complaint. When you buy, you have a choice of guaranteed premiums or reviewable premiums. Reviewable tend to cost less but prone to being increased at the first policy review (10 or 15 years and then 5 years thereafter. However, guaranteed cannot be changed.

I thought maybe I'd be a bit cheeky and see if LPR could get some cash back

Not very cheeky if it was a small local independent firm that has to deal with your try-it-on complaint. (if there are no grounds for complaint)

is it worth the small amount of paperwork ?

You havent told us your complaint reasons. So, we cannot really comment.

roonaldo

If the cost has gone up and you dont want it anymore then cancel it. You cant reclaim premiums for this reason, such as you cant reclaim the increasing cost of chicken from Tesco too!

magpiecottage

I have had the misfortune to deal with Life Policy Reclaim.

Let me quote from an Ombudsman's decision on one case:

"The simple fact that the policyholder has been asked to pay an increased premium or told they will have to accept a reduced sum assured is not reason in itself for the complaint to be upheld As noted above, Mr and MrsX were made aware of this possibility Although
appreciate that the size of the increase required by Legal & Genral at the ten year review will have come as a shock to Mr and Mrs X this was something that was outside the control of the business and would not necessarily have been anticipated at the time of the sale"

"I do not uphold this complaint and I make no award."

An enormous amount of time was wasted for the Financial Ombudsman Service and the adviser. The adviser had to pay the Financial Ombudsman Service a fee of £500 (now it would be £550). They also paid me a substantial fee to deal with it.

At the end, the complainants have had their relationship with the adviser trashed and, believe it or not, advisers talk to each other - so they will have trouble getting another quality financial adviser locally as well.

bullinn1

Thanks for that, I now realise I could have made a stupid mistake ... just as well I consulted you guys ... Roger

patternline

I am very wary of life insurance when my mum and brother died within 6 weeks of each other in 1989 i found in my mums papers life policies for my mum my brother and an endownment policy for me that she took out in the 1930s and 40s ok they were only for small amounts but in those days it was a lot of money i went to my local office for a claim form and sent it to head office i sent original policies and even had the payment book of some of the payments They wrote back to say they had no record of these policies as they are so old so couldnt pay out, i rang them to say life insurance is surposed to be old you do them for life they said perhaps they have been paid out already or perhaps the payments lapsed iassured them the money had not been paid as i was the person due for the endownment and i definately had not been paid surely if some payments had been missed they should have a record of this I tried a few times and enquired at the insurance ombudsmen but no luck so i put payments away in an account for my funeral

dunstonh

patternline wrote: »

I am very wary of life insurance when my mum and brother died within 6 weeks of each other in 1989 i found in my mums papers life policies for my mum my brother and an endownment policy for me that she took out in the 1930s and 40s ok they were only for small amounts but in those days it was a lot of money i went to my local office for a claim form and sent it to head office i sent original policies and even had the payment book of some of the payments They wrote back to say they had no record of these policies as they are so old so couldnt pay out, i rang them to say life insurance is surposed to be old you do them for life they said perhaps they have been paid out already or perhaps the payments lapsed iassured them the money had not been paid as i was the person due for the endownment and i definately had not been paid surely if some payments had been missed they should have a record of this I tried a few times and enquired at the insurance ombudsmen but no luck so i put payments away in an account for my funeral

They were not proper life assurance plans. They would have been industrial branch. An endowment policy is for a fixed term. So, it would have paid out on maturity. If the premiums were still being paid, they would have a record. So, its probable that the policies matured.