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Cancelling my life assurance direct debit

I am insured with Phoenix Life. Now I'm retired my premiums are too expensive and the benefit not needed. I have cheaper life assurance with another provider which now meets my needs. 
I notice that Legal and General cover people for 60 days after missing two direct debits before cancelling the policy. I can't find anything on the Phoenix website that suggests anything similar. My question is:
Should I write to Phoenix and cancel my policy or should I cancel my direct debit without contacting them in the hope that they will cover me for some weeks into the unpaid period. 

Comments

  • Brie
    Brie Posts: 13,477 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Best to be direct, honest and use belt and braces.  Cancel the DD & write (email should do) to cancel the policy.
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  • 400ixl
    400ixl Posts: 4,137 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    Contact them (creating an account on their portal is pretty straight forward) and cancel the policy via the portal. Then once any final payments have been taken you can cancel the DD.

    Cancelling the DD without cancelling the policy could mean they put missed payment markers on your credit file. So do it the right way around.
  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 18,389 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    Contact them to cancel. Cancelling DD could show in your credit history as missed payment when you have not informed them.
    Life in the slow lane
  • Cancelling the DD without cancelling the policy could mean they put missed payment markers on your credit file. So do it the right way around.
    I am pretty sure missed life assurance payments do not affect your credit file.
  • Aretnap
    Aretnap Posts: 5,530 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Your credit file might be the least of your worries.  

    An insurance policy is a contract, and while you generally have a right to cancel the contract, simply stopping the payments does not cancel the contract, it just puts you in breach of the contract. In turn the insurer will eventually cancel your policy for non-payment. The cancellation will be recorded - and whenever you take out any insurance policy for the rest of your life (home insurance, car insurance, pet insurance etc etc) you will have to say "yes" to the "have you ever had insurance cancelled?" question. That will make it difficult and expensive to get insurance in future.

    That would certainly be the case of you simply cancelled the direct debit on a car or home insurance policy. I'm not sure whether non-payment on a life insurance policy would be recorded in the same way - but I would want to be very confident that it wasn't before I simply cancelled the direct debit without contacting the insurer first.

  • Your credit file might be the least of your worries.  

     The cancellation will be recorded - and whenever you take out any insurance policy for the rest of your life (home insurance, car insurance, pet insurance etc etc) you will have to say "yes" to the "have you ever had insurance cancelled?" question. That will make it difficult and expensive to get insurance in future.


    Excellent point
  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 9,079 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    It is always possible they will just reinstate the DD anyway.
  • badmemory said:
    It is always possible they will just reinstate the DD anyway.
    Phoenix Life wouldn’t do that as they would be breaking the direct debit rules that require permission from the customer to reinstate a cancelled direct debit. This is from direct debit.co.uk Money shouldn't be collected from your account after you have cancelled the Direct Debit and, under the Scheme rules, an organisation would have to obtain your authority to reinstate a cancelled Instruction.
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