LV Insurance

Roberta_Mennie

In January 2000 I took out a critical illness policy with LV. It was a life term policy, a policy that LV no longer offer customers. I had the option of each year increasing the monthly payments to enhance the payout. In 2013 I stopped the yearly increase. The payments were £61 per month for £53,000 of cover. In Dec 2019 I received a letter from LV informing me that if I wished to retain my level of cover, that my monthly payments would increase from £61 to £224 per month, there was a 2nd option, I could still pay £61 per month as agreed in 2013 but the level of cover would be decreased by almost £40,000 to £14,000. I raised a complaint and for 4-5 weeks a LV representative investigated my case. In conclusion he informed me that it was company policy to substantially increase the monthly payments of customers who had survived to their mid 60s, as they are deemed as being high risk.

Malthusian

Yep, sounds about right.

Did you have a question?

I raised a complaint and for 4-5 weeks a LV representative investigated my case.

What actually happened is that it sat in the queue for 4-5 weeks. The facts are open-and-shut and it would have taken him less than an hour to reject this and send you a templated letter.

You can take it to the Financial Ombudsman and it's free to do so, but they will probably also reject the complaint on the strength of what you've told us.

Were you advised to take out the policy by an FCA-regulated adviser? The only possible grounds for valid complaint is that it wasn't made clear enough that the premiums could increase to the point you had no option other than to let the cover expire without value. That would be a complaint to the adviser (if any) rather than LV though. Even that may be a stretch.

SonOf

I concur. All quite normal with a reviewable plan. This is why we always use guaranteed plans.

soulsaver

There is only one thing you need to answer: Did the terms you accepted when you took out the policy allow them the right to vary the payout or premium in the future?

Old_Lifer

As others have said, from your post and the response of the Life Office, you appear to have a reviewable policy, in which case I can see little point in further complaint.


May I suggest you look beyond the current review. The cost pf providing cover increases with age, gradually at first but increasingly more rapidly later in life .



At the next review you are likely to be asked to pay an even higher premium, or alternatively suffer an even greater drop in the level of cover.


We know nothing of your circumstances or your state of health but may I be permitted to suggest that you consider carefully the amount of cover you actually need.