Funeral plans

jantaffy

My mum has been paying about £45 a month for years.  She probably has paid for a total of 3 funerals during this time and is still paying until she passes away otherwise her policy is void.  I don't have much info about this but have recently found out about it.  She is 83.  This seems wrong to me.  Can anyone help? 

Mojisola

A funeral plan is usually a set price.  This sounds like one of those dreadful 'over-50s' plans advertised on the TV.

Keep_pedalling

Mojisola said:

A funeral plan is usually a set price.  This sounds like one of those dreadful 'over-50s' plans advertised on the TV.

Sun Life and others do monthly paid funeral plans, which are very poor value if you have a long life after taking the plan out. The problem is if you stop the payments you have lost everything you put in. The premiums usually stop if you manage to reach 90.

badmemory

Why buy a "plan" when you can buy an actual funeral?  There is often no guarantee that the plan will even cover the cost of a funeral.

Technosaurus

Hi Jantaffy,

She hasn't bought a 'funeral plan', she has bought life insurance. Most likely one of those "over-50's life insurance" things you see advertised on daytime TV where the big selling point is that it covers your funeral. But in reality the money can be used for anything the next-of-kin want at the point of death, they send you the Estate a cheque - as oppose to funeral plans which can only be used towards the cost of a funeral and have no real "cash" value.

As you say though, if she's been long-lived since buying it then it's gone from being a potentially helpful sum for her family to now being in the "may as well have saved the cash" camp. There's not a lot you can do as it's all in the small print, except perhaps rejoice that your Mum has lived so long?!

Robin9

@jantaffy Had your Mum died a year after taking out the plan - you would have said well done mum, thank you.