Owe Insurance in France due to account not being closed :/

25_and_Skint

Hi all,

I lived in France for a brief period last year and took out (obligatory) room insurance through my bank account. When I left, I shut down my bank account, but it appears that my insurance didn't get cancelled. I've just had an email from France Contentieux (a debt collection service) chasing me for the sum of €106.35.

I'm not sure who's at fault, because as anyone who lives there will know, French bureaucracy is a nightmare!

Although my bank wasn't with them, my insurance was under HSBC.

Anyway, my questions is, should I pay? What would happen if I didn't?! I don't really have much of a credit history (no credit cards/mortgages etc., only a phone contract), so I don't want to get a bad rating, and I also don't want to get in trouble if I go back to France

Thanks!

huckster

Won't affect you in the UK, unless they either get a French court judgement trasferred to UK or they issue a court claim in the UK.

Chances are that they won't bother. Best to write to the French Insurers office, just explaining what happened and that you thought the policy would be cancelled on closing Bank account. Ask them to backdate the cancellatlon to the relevant date as the Insurance was no longer required.