How do I Cancel Life Insurance when I can’t log in to L&G account

dothenumbersaddup

I selected L and G for life insurance, was happy with product, but I am unable to log in to ‘my account’ as requested to confirm. Tried the call centre but couldn’t help and didn’t want to go into a second call queue. I’ve had enough messing about, so want to cancel. Does anyone know how I do this in writing as emails are not being responded too either? Should I just cancel my direct debit?

cymruchris

No you shouldn't just cancel the direct debit. 

Write to them at the address provided under their website complaints section for life insurance:

Weighty1

Personally, I tell a lot of my clients to simply cancel the direct debit.  L&G would write to you in case it's been done in error, however, those could simply be ignored.  That said, if you arranged the cover via a broker then you might want to check there's no tie in period which means you have to keep the cover for a minimum period (often 4-years) and I'd generally also recommend getting any replacement cover ready to start before stopping any d/d to ensure you don't leave yourself unprotected.

PRAISETHESUN

Cancelling the DD is a really bad idea - it doesn't cancel your policy or remove any obligation to pay. The provider would have a right to chase you for any money you agreed to pay but haven't, possibly also including any fees incurred on their end in trying to do so.

I'd get in touch with them using alternate contact details. There will be a section in your agreement with them on how to serve notice to cancel your policy - I'd pull that out and have a read.

dunstonh

It is correct that cancelling a direct does not cancel a contract and in the vast majority of cases, you should not cancel the direct debit and expect it to cancel the contract.    However, life assurance is one of those exceptions.   The life company will write on on cancellation and will chase a couple of times but following no response, they will cancel the life assurance.

Brokers are no longer allowed to claim clawed back commission from the policyholder (consumer rights act 2015 put paid to the legal position) unless it is to offset a set fee under a fee arrangement. e.g. fee of £1000 agreed and commission to the value of £1000 was taken to offset that. If you cancel then you are liable for the fee minus any commission paid.      Not many cases are done this way. Typically more common with IFAs on high value cases rather than run of the mill transactions.

Sandtree

dunstonh said:

It is correct that cancelling a direct does not cancel a contract and in the vast majority of cases, you should not cancel the direct debit and expect it to cancel the contract.    However, life assurance is one of those exceptions.   The life company will write on on cancellation and will chase a couple of times but following no response, they will cancel the life assurance.

Which then means you must answer "yes" to the question on your Home or Car insurance "have you ever had insurance cancelled, void, refused etc".

In reality GI dont tend to care about Life/Protection policies but its not a sensible risk to take -v- the effort to send an email.

Weighty1

Sandtree said:

dunstonh said:

It is correct that cancelling a direct does not cancel a contract and in the vast majority of cases, you should not cancel the direct debit and expect it to cancel the contract.    However, life assurance is one of those exceptions.   The life company will write on on cancellation and will chase a couple of times but following no response, they will cancel the life assurance.

Which then means you must answer "yes" to the question on your Home or Car insurance "have you ever had insurance cancelled, void, refused etc".

In reality GI dont tend to care about Life/Protection policies but its not a sensible risk to take -v- the effort to send an email.

I'd suggest there's a difference between cancelling a policy and having one cancelled.  If there wasn't surely any time a policyholder cancels a plan mid-term, even with the insurers consent, they would be saying "yes" to that question.

Nearlyold

Where I worked non payment of premiums would result in a "lapsed" policy being recorded on our systems not  a "cancelled" policy. 

Sandtree

Weighty1 said:

I'd suggest there's a difference between cancelling a policy and having one cancelled.  If there wasn't surely any time a policyholder cancels a plan mid-term, even with the insurers consent, they would be saying "yes" to that question.

Absolutely there is a difference between you asking for it to be cancelled and one being cancelled for non-disclosure, non-payment etc by the insurer.  I'm not close enough to standard Life wording to know if policies state that non-payment is an accepted method of policyholder cancellation.

As already mentioned, there is only a small risk of cross contagion across the classes of insurance but for the sake of a call it doesnt feel worth the risk that an insurer cancels it for "non-payment" rather than "assumed cancellation" or something similar. 

Had a similar discussion several years ago about call centre agents that just disappear one day and never come back... were they fired for being AWOL or are they assumed resignation (which was an option in the HR system and if this isnt what that option was intended for then what was it?)

Old_Lifer

As  Nearlyold  says,    if the policyholder has stopped paying the premiums and assuming it is a non-value policy such as term assurance,  the policy will lapse.   The policy would have terminated as a result of the policyholder not paying the premiums rather than any action by the Life Office to cancel the policy  and would be regarded as a lapsed policy and not a cancelled policy.

The exception to this would be a value policy where on non-payment of premiums the policy may  continue to remain in force under Non-Forfeiture Regulations.

dothenumbersaddup

Thank you for all your comments, especially cymruchris, whose eagle eyes found some contact details which I didn’t spot. I shall send an email, and if not responded to in 5 days will send a letter.  I have cancelled the direct debit, as I will have all the evidence to show I have contacted them to explain why I am not proceeding.  I am very disappointed that l and g is not an option, but I feel as if they are falling behind on the digital front.  It isn’t acceptable to restrict the cancellation process to be conditional on me being able to access an IT platform.