HSBC Critical Illness Policy Sum Lowered

JimSpriggs

I've received a letter from HSBC telling me my critical illness cover would not pay out as much as originally thought so I either need to accept lower cover or increase my premium.

I took out critical illness cover from our mortgage provider HSBC and have been paying £29.50 every month since 1995. The sum assured was set at £39,427 now they either want me to pay £52.50 a month or the cover reduces to £25,657

Is this fair? What redress do I have? I had exactly the same issue with the endowment policy from HSBC. It feels like they are able to mismanage my money and I'm the one who has to make up for it.

FIRSTTIMER

it all depends if it was fixed or reviewable premiums ?

SonOf

Is this fair?

If you have guaranteed premiums, no. If you have renewable premiums, reviewable premiums or your policy is investment linked then yes it is fair.

What redress do I have?

From memory, I don't think HSBC did guaranteed premiums from policies of that era. So, no redress whatsoever.

You needed to buy a better policy at the start. And ironically, had you seen an IFA and not an HSBC sales rep, a guaranteed premium on an IFA arranged policy would have been cheaper than a reviewable one with HSBC. Too late now but may benefit others reading who have yet to buy.

LadyDee

OP - ignore poster number 75ll. This person has posted his email address on multiple threads - reported as SPAM.

Weighty1

Another thing to consider is the breadth of cover. Up until recently HSBC only covered 5 critical illnesses. Whilst these were the most commonly claimed on conditions this is a woefully limited number to even basic plans on the open market which would cover around 30-35 conditions and the comprehensive plans which would cover around 55-60 conditions.