Funeral Plans are a Con = Ecclesiastical and others

jamo2012

My aunt took out a funeral plan in 2009 with Anderson McGuire Funeral Directors Glasgow, the Funeral plan they had was from a company called Ecclesiastical Cost £2300, at the time it would have seemed the right thing to do in the glossy Brochure, thinking no matter what, all is covered even inflation years later, fixed fee price till Death..
Fast forward 12 years, she passed and we buried our aunt in Oct 2021, she left no will and we didn't know there was a Funeral plan, family paid for the funeral £3,300, then we find the plan when clearing her house.
Since then we have been fighting between the funeral Directors and Ecclesiastical to have these monies paid out to the now Executor of the estate, monies being the total cost of the funeral paid to the funeral directors.
When we contact Ecclesiastical they said, all we are entitled to is the £2300 our aunt paid in 2009 minus a policy cancelation fee (£95 charged for the privilege of your death) Total = £2,205.00

I challenged them on this amount, to no avail, Still fighting my corner involving the Financial Ombudsman.

My advise to anyone thinking about these plans is DONT DO IT, put your money in a separate savers account with your bank, you can top it up when you wish, you will gain interest at least and your family will get there hands on it without a question to pay for the funeral immediately, punctual and stress free.

Hope this post helps others from the pain and turmoil we have had to go through over the past 3 years and still not settled.

Keep_pedalling

Alternatively make a will and make sure your executor is aware of any funeral plans and other insurance policies you hold. 

Mark_d

If you are due an insurance benefit, from any insurance, they do not have to pay you what you feel is an equivalent amount.  If I choose to appoint my own solicitor rather than an equivalent solicitor provided by my legal insurers, I can't expect my insurers to pay out anything except what is mentioned in the policy wording.

Dealing with admin after someone's death is very complex.  There is a lot of advice out there about talking will the executors of your will.  It is also advisable that you maintain a document listing all your assets, so that in the event of your death the executors have an easier job.  I share a spreadsheet with my spouse, outlining my pension schemes, insurance policies, saving and investment accounts (account numbers but no passwords).  I would recommend others do this too

DullGreyGuy

jamo2012 said:

My aunt took out a funeral plan in 2009 with Anderson McGuire Funeral Directors Glasgow, the Funeral plan they had was from a company called Ecclesiastical Cost £2300, at the time it would have seemed the right thing to do in the glossy Brochure, thinking no matter what, all is covered even inflation years later, fixed fee price till Death..
Fast forward 12 years, she passed and we buried our aunt in Oct 2021, she left no will and we didn't know there was a Funeral plan, family paid for the funeral £3,300, then we find the plan when clearing her house.
Since then we have been fighting between the funeral Directors and Ecclesiastical to have these monies paid out to the now Executor of the estate, monies being the total cost of the funeral paid to the funeral directors.
When we contact Ecclesiastical they said, all we are entitled to is the £2300 our aunt paid in 2009 minus a policy cancelation fee (£95 charged for the privilege of your death) Total = £2,205.00

I challenged them on this amount, to no avail, Still fighting my corner involving the Financial Ombudsman.

My advise to anyone thinking about these plans is DONT DO IT, put your money in a separate savers account with your bank, you can top it up when you wish, you will gain interest at least and your family will get there hands on it without a question to pay for the funeral immediately, punctual and stress free.

Hope this post helps others from the pain and turmoil we have had to go through over the past 3 years and still not settled.

This is much more a story about ensuring you keep your next of kin informed of your plans and keeping documents like wills and funeral plans together. 

Insurance is a contract and like any contract its subject to terms and conditions. Almost every insurance policy states how claims will be settled and this often involves the insurers appointing their preferred suppliers and leveraging their economies of scale. 

It would be the same with your Home insurance, if you knocked your TV over you cannot just go out and buy another one and then send the invoice to the insurer for reimbursement. For Home almost all policies will state any cash settlement will be based on their suppliers prices to them so your £1,000 TV purchase would be marked down to the £700 their supplier would have charged less the £250 excess. 


Funeral plans are not fundamentally a bad product and certainly can make more financial sense than someone buying a term life policy until their 81, as another poster here proposed to do.