Halifax Mortgage insurance

Grizwald1973

Morning

I'm a little green at this, so thought I'd ask some advice first. An acquaintance recently asked me about my mortgage protection insurance which I took out with Halifax in 2006.

Whilst I remember the lady who sold it to me mentioning it was optional, she never advised that I could also seek alternative policies (possibly cheaper ones) which I now realise I could have done.

My acquaintance has suggested that she possibly should have done this and there may be a case for me being mis sold a policy.

Has anybody else had a similar experience or is there a wise one amongst us here, who can advise on whether this is worth pursuing or whether my friend is being a little over zealous.

Thanks in advance.

societys_child

Your friend's wrong, there is no requirement to tell you it may get it cheaper elsewhere, much like Tesco don't have to tell you wine is cheaper in Asda.

Grizwald1973

Hi

Thanks for the reply. My friends point wasn't so much as to whether there were cheaper products out there (there might not have been), it was more about the point that the Halifax should have advised me that if I wanted to insure the mortgage, I wasn't just beholden to use just their products. Older and wiser, I now know this is possible, but they should have guided me to a point and made it clear, so I could have made an appropriate decision about using their products or another's to protect my payments.

Nearlyold

You would have been given a copy of their "Terms of Business" which would make it clear whose insurance products Halifax sold eg their own only, or from a panel or from whole of market. There is absolutely no chance of you winning a complaint that it was miss-sold based on what your friend has told you.

dunstonh

Whilst I remember the lady who sold it to me mentioning it was optional, she never advised that I could also seek alternative policies (possibly cheaper ones) which I now realise I could have done.

My acquaintance has suggested that she possibly should have done this and there may be a case for me being mis sold a policy.

There has never been and there is no current requirement that you should be told that you can shop elsewhere.

My friends point wasn't so much as to whether there were cheaper products out there (there might not have been), it was more about the point that the Halifax should have advised me that if I wanted to insure the mortgage, I wasn't just beholden to use just their products.

Again, no requirement for that. They can't tell you that you have to use their product. But they do not have to tell you that you can shop around.

Bank financial products are typically a lot more expensive and often cut down versions of the whole of market/IFA version (when using a named insurer).

magpiecottage

In 2006 you would have been provided with a "Key Facts" illustration before applying for the mortgage. This will have made clear what, if any, insurance products you had to take out and what, if any, insurance products you had to take out with the lender.

This would have all been repeated in the subsequent mortgage offer.

With that in mind, you seem to have no case.