Prepaid Funeral Plans 11 October 2016 at 5:00PM in Deaths, funerals & probate 150 replies 49.9K views

MSE_Eesha

Hi!

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Thanks folks ,

Andysue

Anyone know if Golden charter are any good?

Redla15

I can't help with your query but I am looking for more information re funeral plans so will be interested to see what knowledge is out there.

ratcatcher

Please bear with me, I am unsure whether this should count as a new Thread but I couldn't understand how I should create a new thread! Help in this respect would be appreciated.
I want to share my concern about the security of ones's investment in Funeral Plans. I am approaching 81 y.o.a. and my wife and I have oft thought of taking out such a plan. However, I am always put off because I can never get the assurance that I need about the security aspects of the money to be invested! Usually, I am talking to the personnel of the plan providers who, I can tell, have little knowledge of such matters. What happens if the fund goes bust I say, I have never yet had a satisfactory reply!

Faith177

The Funeral Planning Authority pledge to cover funerals in the event a plan goes bust as long as the company is registered with them for example Golden Charter are registered with them so the FPA would look to cover in the event of them going bust

My mum took her plan our with Dignity in 1991 and it paid out last year though I wouldn't recommend them as their customer service was awful!

poppystar

My parent started by selecting the funeral director they wanted to use - plenty of experience since attending funerals becoming a regular occurrence - and then approached them for advice. They chose a pre payment rather than an ongoing plan but I'm sure that even for the latter the funeral directors have far more experience of which companies clients have had good or bad experiences with. If they think they may get business later too then helping you helps them in turn.

tkwinston4

Andysue we use Golden Charter at our fd and yes they are good. There is a £249 admin fee to be paid to them on top of the plan that you select. We prefer to do bespoke plans because they are more personal to each family. GC don't dictate when the day of the funeral is. Neither do we.

Our funerals average £2300 not £5000 as mse stated. We cover East and West Sussex and some of Surrey and Kent. We are very open about costs but it's the big players like co-op and dignity that charge £4000/5000 for a simple funeral.

We also offer a delivery only service which means there is no chapel service. This is considerably cheaper than a simple service. Our fees, the coffin, pw, hearse, bearers, drs fees are all included.

If someone is going to claim from the dwp they will be investigated along with direct members of the family. The dwp will only pay the cost of the cremation fee which does not include using the chapel at the crem. The dwp will find out the cheapest price in the area and only pay that fee. They will pay £700 towards the fd fees which includes the cost of the coffin. They will also pay the two Dr's fees of £82 each.

I hope the above clears up a few things. I just felt that mse were generalising the whole industry. X

HOv3

Hi

I took a prepaid plan for my father circa 2009 with a local Co - op Funeral Directors in West London. He passed 3 years later in Herts. I went into his local branch and was pleased to say the service was excellent with no questions asked and no hiccups. The plan was accepted and everything needed was done straight away.

Went to Co - op as a default as I had no other info at the time re options. Am now thinking of the need to deal with this matter on my own account and am pleased to get feedback re other providers. Am looking forward to MSE's summary of all providers as promised in latest weekly email. Thanks

Sueke

My dad paid £3685 last November for a plan from golden charter, he died suddenly less than 6 months later. When we received the final bill from the funeral director it showed that golden charter's allowance towards the cost had been less than £3050. We then had to pay a further £95 to cover disbursement costs, this is an allowance given by golden charter towards paying for crematorium and doctor's fee's that golden charter won't guarantee as part of the funeral plan. The allowance had not been sufficient less than six months after the start of the plan.
I appreciate that when you take up any financial product that there are costs involved but I felt this was excessive. Personally I shall put money aside for my own funeral - it might not accrue much interest but at least it's all still there!

Co-op_Funeralcare

Re the above post re Co-op and Dignity costs. Fully guaranteed Funeral Plans, which also completely guarantee all 3rd party fees start from just £2945 at Co-op. As stated in one of the other comments on this post, it's important people understand exactly what is covered and I note the other person saying just 6 months after buying a Golden Charter Funeral Plan, their 'contribution towards' instead of fully guaranteeing the third party fees (disbursements) meant they had more to pay at the time of the funeral.

colinicky

I convinced the Mother in Law to purchase a funeral plan back in 2011 from Age UK at a cost of £2660. We are now at the stage of making use of the plan via our local funeral directors & so far have been very happy. It made it a lot easier for my wife especially as she did not have to choose coffins etc . Will update in a couple of weeks when everything is over & we see what was not covered .