Should Insurance Brokers be asking for bank account details before agreeing to sign up for a policy?

jearley

I've been searching for a deal on Life Insurance and have gone through the three brokers that MSE recommend - Cavendish, Moneyworld and Money Minder.  However, a broker phoned me out of the blue who I'd never heard of trying to sell me a Legal and General Policy which sounded OK over the phone but he wanted to take my bank account details prior to me reading the policy and signing up for it.  I told him I was uncomfortable about doing that but he was insisting that I need to give the details as Legal and General would need to pay for a medical report from my GP and needed to know that I was serious about buying the policy.  Just wanted to know, in light of the many scams that are around if this is usual practice.

TELLIT01

They can ask for whatever they like, but I wouldn't provide bank details until I had agreed to take out the policy.  They don't need the information any earlier.

Contact out of the blue should get alarm bells ringing and I've never heard of any insurance company asking for money up front.  Certainly sounds like a scam to me.  If the policy proposed is through L&G I would call them and provide them with as much information as possible.

SaverRate

Speak to Cura Insurance they are a very good broker for insurance polices. With the 5+ brokers I have spoken to they only ask for the bank details when completing the policy application. Cura were the best out of the brokers I had spoken to. PS - I am not part of or do not receive any incentive for them. I just think they are the one of the best and most professional brokers I have spoken to and never had issues with them. 

dunstonh

There are scammers who use life assurance as a way to scam data out of you.  They are not genuine and not in the financial services industry.    So, it could be a coincidence.

There is no requirement to get bank details to give a quote. Not a single intermediary quote service requests bank details at quote stage.   So, I would be on guard.
A general rule of thumb is to never act on cold calls.  If you want an intermediary to arrange something for you, then you contact the intermediary of your choice.    

Old_Lifer

They may or may  not contact your GP.     However, if they do need to contact your GP,  the Life Office will pay for the medical report.

Any terms offered may not be acceptable to you so you may decide not to proceed anyway.

jearley

Thanks all.  The company was called Reassured which is a member of the FCA but the salesman was quite pushy when I said I wasn't comfortable about giving bank details so that was enough to put me off anyway.  Think I'll go elsewhere.  Might try Cura as suggested by HarryDavies01 thanks.

csgohan4

People on the phone can pretend to be anyone who are FCA registered. I would only agree contact with people you have done research on, like the ones you have mentioned.

The fact you were contacted out of the blue, means you are now on a 'sucker' list, be weary of further calls asking for money or policies. 

Weighty1

It sounds like the application was completed and it needed to be submitted as the adviser indicated they were going to be writing to your GP.  With some insurers, and Legal & General is one of them, you do need to enter direct debit details once the application questions have been answered otherwise you never formally submit the application. 

Reassured are also quite a large brokerage.  As is often the case with large brokerages they'll be targeted quite heavily so the guy was likely just trying to hit his sales target.  Insurance brokers pay LOT's of money when they have a telephone sales advice model and it wouldn't pay for them to take a lackadaisical approach to trying to convert "leads" to sales.