Mortgage and Life Insurance

PCampbell

Good morning, I am new to the site and have spent the morning looking through old threads to see if I can find an answer to my question...no luck. Apologies if this is a duplicate question.
In 2002, we took out a mortgage arranged by a broker, with The Bank of Scotland. The broker also arranged a life insurance policy, Adaptable Term Plan, with Allied Dunbar (now Zurich). The cost per month was approximately £40. I've come to realise, that the mortgage appears to have had a policy already attached to it, with St Andrews Group, also at approximately £40 per month. My question is, can I class the Allied Dunbar policy as being mis sold, and can I claim our premiums back? Thank you

dunstonh

In 2002, we took out a mortgage arranged by a broker, with The Bank of Scotland. The broker also arranged a life insurance policy, Adaptable Term Plan, with Allied Dunbar (now Zurich).

It wasnt a broker. Allied Dunbar were tied sales reps.

The cost per month was approximately £40. I've come to realise, that the mortgage appears to have had a policy already attached to it, with St Andrews Group, also at approximately £40 per month.

That is Halifax IIRC.

My question is, can I class the Allied Dunbar policy as being mis sold, and can I claim our premiums back? Thank you

Only if you told Allied Crowbar that you had the life policy with St Andrews. If you didnt then they wouldnt know. Also, are both plans decreasing term assurance or is either of them level term assurance? Its possible one is for mortgage and another is family protection.

Also, for future note, both of those products were arranged by tied sales agents. Never use tied sales reps. Their products would be around 40-50% higher in cost than those arranged via an IFA.

pinkteapot

dunstonh wrote: »

Only if you told Allied Crowbar that you had the life policy with St Andrews. If you didnt then they wouldnt know.

But couldn't it be argued the fault lies with the rep, if they sold OP a mortgage that include life assurance, and then arranged another life assurance policy on top? (assuming OP can prove they weren't told they were getting two policies, which seems unlikely)

Insurance companies weren't to know, but rep should have.

OP - do you still have the paperwork from when you took out the mortgage, that told you what you'd bought?

kingstreet

Isn't St Andrews more likely to be ASU?

I remember them being the bolt-on ASU provider for Scottish Provident a few years ago.

dunstonh

But couldn't it be argued the fault lies with the rep, if they sold OP a mortgage that include life assurance, and then arranged another life assurance policy on top? (assuming OP can prove they weren't told they were getting two policies, which seems unlikely)

Dunbar could only sell dunbar products. it didnt have access to other insurers. So, it would be totally reliant on what the customer said to them about their existing policies.

Mortgages do not include life assurance. Life assurance is a standalone product. its like having a car and car insurance. They are linked but they are separate.

antrobus

PCampbell wrote: »

..In 2002, we took out a mortgage arranged by a broker, with The Bank of Scotland. The broker also arranged a life insurance policy, Adaptable Term Plan, with Allied Dunbar (now Zurich). The cost per month was approximately £40. I've come to realise, that the mortgage appears to have had a policy already attached to it, with St Andrews Group, also at approximately £40 per month....

How is that possible? If you took out a mortgage in 2002, how can it already have something 'attached to it'?

I suspect that what you mean is that you took out one mortgage sometime before 2002, and signed up for the St Andrews Group policy. Then remortgaged in 2002 and took out the Allied Dunbar policy at that time.

As has been suggested, whoever sold you that Allied Dunbar policy (which looks like a life insurance/critical illness policy) wouldn't have known about the pre-existing policy unless you had told them.

Even if that St Andrews Group policy was also a life assurance policy all that means is that you have a lot of life assurance.

PCampbell

Hi, thanks for all the reponses - really appreciated.
This was a mortgage, not a remortgage, and we took it out via an advisor. This was our first home together, so I know for a fact, that we did not previously have a life insurance policy together. The only paperwork that I've managed to dig out so far, is the mortgage offer letter and bank statements dating back to 2002 where I can see 3 separate direct debits. The mortgage, St Andrews Group and Allied Dunbar.
Everything was sold via the same rep and I don't recall being told we would need 2 policies. Why would we? We were just starting out, new home. No kids at the time and we took out critical illness cover separately with the AA

dunstonh

St Andrews was only retailed via Halifax. Like above, I suspect the St Andrews policy is MPPI and not life assurance.

PCampbell

If is was MPPI, we definately wasn't aware, hence why we took out the AA mortgagecare cover within the same month of the mortgage etc. Is MPPI something we can reclaim or have we missed the boat? We paid up for 3 years until we remortgaged