Mortgage insurance 10 January 2019 at 7:10PM in Reclaiming mortgage fees, council tax, etc 8 replies 1.7K views

christine21uk

Hi all, when I took out my mortgage in 2000 I was advised to take out an insurance policy that ran along side the mortgage, as I was a single mother with 2 children at the time I thought perhaps it was a good idea as if anything happened to me it would pay off any remaining mortgage. It would also pay out if I had a serious accident too. However now I have retired I was wondering why I am still paying for this insurance. I only get my pension and that wont change if I had an accident, both my children are now grown up and working so if I died they could sell the house to pay off the small amount left on the mortgage. I feel a bit cheated really as this type of insurance does not pay out anything when its finished. Can I reclaim any of this money that ive spent on this or shall I just cancel it and let it go. They did advise me to keep it going when I retired but I really don't see the point. Thoughts anyone?

[Deleted User]

christine21uk wrote: »

I feel a bit cheated really as this type of insurance does not pay out anything when its finished.

So you are expecting a refund simply because you haven't claimed on the insurance? Not going to happen I'm afraid.

dunstonh

when I took out my mortgage in 2000 I was advised to take out an insurance policy that ran along side the mortgage, as I was a single mother with 2 children at the time I thought perhaps it was a good idea as if anything happened to me it would pay off any remaining mortgage.

Sounds like a very good idea and something that most people do as a matter of routine.

However now I have retired I was wondering why I am still paying for this insurance.

If you no longer need it then cease it.

. I feel a bit cheated really as this type of insurance does not pay out anything when its finished

Do you expect money back on your other insurances? Car insurance, house insurance, pet insurance etc....

Can I reclaim any of this money that ive spent on this

No. Of course you cannot.

christine21uk

Thanks for your reply, my friends all thought that I had been advised wrong and that it was some kind of PPI, yes it gave me peace of mind at first but now I just think i'm wasting money. I just wanted to be sure before I stop paying into this. Its still quite scary to close it but I really think I can put that money to better use. Thanks again

haras_nosirrah

If you don't need it then cancel it.

It certainly isn't a missell though as you now know you didn't need it. 20 yrs ago you didn't.

Your premiums have helped support the 25% of income protection holders who were ill enough to claim on their income protection policy for a period of time. What would you have done had you been in the 25% and not taken out insurance? Read the bankruptcy board as it comes up time and time again when people's circumstances change and they can no longer pay the mortgage but had no insurance.

What about the 8.3% of insurance holders who never made it to retirement age and whose families had to claim on their insurance. What position would your kids have been in had you been one of the 8.3% and had not insured yourself?

The point is you now know you are not on of the unfortunate few but insurance works by the many paying for the few and to give you piece of mind that if fate had put you in with the unfortunate few that insurance would have supported your family. I bet those who did get money do not feel lucky and would swap with you in a heartbeat.

So what should you do? Celebrate you have got to retirement age with your health and your life. Cancel the policy if your circumstances have now changed so that you no longer require a policy but in the main the premiums have gone and be glad you didn't need it to pay out as if it had you would possibly not be here now.

Magga

In 1987/88, I had a Abbey National repayment mortgage. Unfortunately, due to loss of work and general financial uncertainty I could not afford the repayments and had no choice but to hand the property back to the building society. We had dialogue during the exchange and presumed we had abided by our requirements. Whilst obviously extremely upset, we thought it was the end of matter.
In 1994 we were contacted by a legal firm from Leeds (exact details I cannot recall), we were asked to repay £25,000 to this company, who were supposedly acting on behalf of Abbey National, to clear the debt from our mortgage. We entered into talks with the company,even though we thought we had no debt to answer, because along with the demand we were served with a Attachment to Earnings order. We finally negotiated a full and final cash settlement of £8,000.
After the payment was made and we had time to evaluate the situation, we discovered that the legal firm from Leeds had bought several debts from Abbey National and were reclaiming money (for themselves and not on behalf of the building society) for obviously profit.
We made several representations to the Abbey National, but were told this was not there issue because they had sold the debt. We asked how the debt had arisen because we had paid mortgage indemnity and were informed that M.I.P. was not a guarantee.
We felt aggrieved but were not confident enough or had the funds to argue our case.
We still feel the Abbey National were compensated with our mortgage payments, M.I.P. and the sale of the so called debt and a third party company also profited from our unfortunate circumstances.
Now in the current climate when there is opportunity to right financial wrongs, we would ask the question do we have any recourse?

dunstonh

We still feel the Abbey National were compensated with our mortgage payments, M.I.P. and the sale of the so called debt and a third party company also profited from our unfortunate circumstances.

Whilst MIG was used to cover the defaults to the lender, like any insurance, the insurer can recover the funds from the person that generated the loss. i.e. the borrower.

Now in the current climate when there is opportunity to right financial wrongs, we would ask the question do we have any recourse?

None whatsoever.

Bermonia

If you felt aggrieved the time to take action would’ve been back then... given the time that has passed there is absolutely nothing to now consider

Nasqueron

Magga wrote: »

In 1987/88, I had a Abbey National repayment mortgage. Unfortunately, due to loss of work and general financial uncertainty I could not afford the repayments and had no choice but to hand the property back to the building society. We had dialogue during the exchange and presumed we had abided by our requirements. Whilst obviously extremely upset, we thought it was the end of matter.
In 1994 we were contacted by a legal firm from Leeds (exact details I cannot recall), we were asked to repay £25,000 to this company, who were supposedly acting on behalf of Abbey National, to clear the debt from our mortgage. We entered into talks with the company,even though we thought we had no debt to answer, because along with the demand we were served with a Attachment to Earnings order. We finally negotiated a full and final cash settlement of £8,000.
After the payment was made and we had time to evaluate the situation, we discovered that the legal firm from Leeds had bought several debts from Abbey National and were reclaiming money (for themselves and not on behalf of the building society) for obviously profit.
We made several representations to the Abbey National, but were told this was not there issue because they had sold the debt. We asked how the debt had arisen because we had paid mortgage indemnity and were informed that M.I.P. was not a guarantee.
We felt aggrieved but were not confident enough or had the funds to argue our case.
We still feel the Abbey National were compensated with our mortgage payments, M.I.P. and the sale of the so called debt and a third party company also profited from our unfortunate circumstances.
Now in the current climate when there is opportunity to right financial wrongs, we would ask the question do we have any recourse?

It wasn't a financial wrong, so there is nothing to right. Your debt was sold on (legal) and the firm who bought it have the right to chase you (also legal). Abbey lost money when you defaulted and have the right to chase you even if they are using their insurance. There is no wrongdoing here