PaymentShield cancelling my home insurance out of the blue

flev

Completely out of the blue I received a letter from Paymentshield informing me that they are giving me 30 days notice (helpfully starting almost 7 days ago) of cancelling my buildings and contents insurance. In the space for a cancellation reason it says "No cancellation reason specified".

I'm completely stumped! I mad a claim on my buildings insurance about 4 years ago with them, then moved to another insurer for a couple of years, then moved back to them. I've never made any other sort of claim, I've not made any strange changes to my house, and yet now this shows up?

I've tried calling them to get a reason for the cancellation, as I'm concerned I'm now going to struggle to get other insurance without excess costs. Apparently the team dealing with this don't work on Saturdays, and will call me back on Monday. I'm not holding my breath.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? Does anyone have any idea what might be going on? Is this now going to be a complete nightmare to sort new insurance? Help...?!

david39

Cannot throw any light on the reason for cancellation but you are likely to have a problem filling in a new proposal form for any type of insurance because all insurers always ask if you have ever had an insurance policy cancelled by an insurer in the past.

McKneff

Just to double check, are they actually saying


We are cancelling the insurance


and not


We will not be renewing your insurance.


It will make a big difference.

flev

Their exact wording is:

"Cancellation notice
Following a review of your Paymentshield policy we regret we are unable to continue your insurance and are issuing you with 30 days notice of the termination of the policy as stated n your terms and conditions.
Cancellation Reason: No Cancellation Reason Specified"

They then go on to tell me it's my responsibility to cancel my direct debit to them, my responsibility to find new insurance, my responsibility to tell my mortgage provider I'm changing insurer... the gist seems to be they're causing me a problem, they don't care and I have to deal with any issues that arise from it. Lovely.

I've called a couple of companies this afternoon - unless I can get a reason in writing from Paymentshield that proves it's not my fault in any way then I'm looking at at least an extra £50 on top of what my "normal" quote would be. And then I'm landed with this pretty much forever as I can never say I've not had insurance cancelled in the past. :mad:

keith1950

Just to clarify the situation....when is/was the policy renewal date ?

Archergirl

How very strange, I really don't understand why they would do this, are you up to date with payments? Is there a possibility they have mixed you up with someone else?

dunstonh

Paymentshield are normally very good on admin. You will just need to wait until tomorrow to find out.

rs65

flev wrote: »

I'm completely stumped! I mad a claim on my buildings insurance about 4 years ago with them, then moved to another insurer for a couple of years, then moved back to them.

Did you disclose that claim correctly when you went back to them?

One of their eligibility criteria is that you've not made any claim in 5 years.



To be eligible for our Buildings & Contents Insurance policy, we ask that you meet the following requirements:

The property to be insured is a residential property in the UK
Your property is built of brick or stone with a slate or tiled roof
Your property is occupied permanently by you and your family
Your property has not been affected by subsidence, landslip or heave
You or any member of your family living with you have not been convicted of any criminal offence (other than motoring convictions or any offences which are spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974).
You or any member of your family living with you has not had home insurance cancelled, declined or declared void
You or any member of your family living with you has not had any previous claims from the last 5 years
Your property is not left unoccupied for a total of more than 60 days in a row
Your property is used for residential purposes and is not used for any business or professional purposes other than clerical work undertaken by you and your family

[Deleted User]

OP - what happened with this?

I'm beginning to realise that insurance companies seem to throw around this cancel policy thing willy nilly and dont seem to understand the huge financial impact it can have.

dunstonh

I'm beginning to realise that insurance companies seem to throw around this cancel policy thing willy nilly and dont seem to understand the huge financial impact it can have.

it is actually an unusual occurrence. Not used willy nilly.