Deed Store account halifax and building insurance

neil7462

I had to help an elderly relative, who is becoming a bit forgetful, to sort out some paperwork and came across her building insurance renewal from the halifax. Her mortgage is paid off but the halifax have got her deeds and the building insurance is linked to her mortgage account. The renewal is over £400 and she has now got to pay this by the 1st July. I am going to the halifax with her before this date to sort out, but wondered if anyone could explain how this works. She doesnt like talking to anyone over the phone and prefers a one to one. Thank you

MWT

This used to be common practice when the original deeds were actually important and banks charged you to store documents.

People would leave a tiny amount left running on their mortgage or keep the account open with a linked insurance policy and get the deed storage for 'free'..

As long as her property is properly recorded on the Land Registry the original deeds are generally only of sentimental value, so there is no need to continue doing what she is doing at all....

Halifax do not need or want her deeds in relation to her insurance, it was just a benefit for her..

user1977

neil7462 said:

the building insurance is linked to her mortgage account.

I'm pretty sure it isn't "linked" in any real sense. And if there's no (significant) balance on the mortgage account, the Halifax aren't going to give two hoots whether the property is insured or who with.

Ishtar

Better to sort sooner rather than later.  We have been through the affairs of my late mother-in-law and one of the things we had to do was sort out the £13k + that was on her deed store account.  My brother-in-law had supposedly been assisting her with managing the money as he lived with her, but because the stupidly high insurance was not challenged at all we have few (if any) grounds to complain.  One year it was £800 for buildings only(!)  The insurance wasn't being paid, just charged against the open mortgage at 3.4% interest.

As already mentioned, its not needed - all deeds are stored electronically.  Watch that the Halifax don't try and hoodwink you/her into believing they need to keep the account open in order store the deeds as they emphasised this at the time we were sorting it out.

Best thing to do is to cancel the insurance, close the deedstore account and go with another provider.  

[Deleted User]

user1977 said:

neil7462 said:

the building insurance is linked to her mortgage account.

I'm pretty sure it isn't "linked" in any real sense. And if there's no (significant) balance on the mortgage account, the Halifax aren't going to give two hoots whether the property is insured or who with.

It will be linked in as much as the buildings insurance will be charged to the mortgage account each year and the monthly payment made to the mortgage throughout the year.   Still same rules as cancellation rights and being able to shop around etc but it is likely to be technically linked to the mortgage. 

I used to be a mortgage advisor with halifax and we would see these quite a lot.  Always massively overcharging compared to new policies