Canada Life policies transfer to Countrywide - !!NO!!

canadalifetransfer12

On 23rd February 2025 Canada Life protection policies sold before 1st January 2023 will be transferred to a company called Countrywide Assured plc, a company that doesn’t sell any policies but buys them…

”...we don’t sell products to you or new customers, rather we take over existing policies from other companies to manage them as efficiently and robustly as we can...”
Countrywide Assured website

Policyholders have no choice:

“The legal process we are following does not require us to obtain consent of individual policyholders in order to implement the transfer” - Canada Life Customer Guide regarding transfer, published June 2024.

Most of us taking out Life Insurance have 3 main considerations:

1.The reputation of the company providing the life cover.

2.The premium being paid, once accepted. 

3.But ABOVE ALL else:

The percentage of claims paid out when claims have been made:

For example on the Aviva or Vitality website you will see the percentage proudly displayed 99.3% and 99.7% respectively for the year 2023. This inspires confidence when purchasing a policy. There is a reason these numbers are marketed so prominently on insurance company websites, it is not an accident.

Canada Life website shows 100% of death claims paid out over the past 11 years.

This percentage does not exist for Countrywide Assured.

Tesco Life branded policies (actually provided by Direct Line) have already been transferred to Countrywide Assured in 2014. Has nobody passed since to determine a percentage?

No disrespect to previous Tesco (branded) Life policyholders (we shop there ourselves), but the decision to take out a Tesco branded policy, one assumes, would be based on the brand recognition of Tesco and there’s nothing wrong in that. Also having this reputation, you may have felt extra security that in the event of a claim (wrongly) being denied the reputation of the biggest supermarket in the country may work in your favour for reconsideration, again nothing wrong with that. This is the sole reason for insurance companies branding their policies with household / highstreet names. In addition the percentage of claims paid out by Direct Line (provider of Tesco Life policies) would no doubt have been visible at the time of purchase. All good then….but what about those reassurances (implied or otherwise) now, under Countrywide Assured?

Canada Life, more than most companies, would be a considered choice, usually on advice from a financial adviser, or for those of us with mild financial knowledge using the above three criteria, these aren’t rebranded policies.

The Customer Guide states the Independent Expert  (just one mind) has reviewed the transfer:

“I have considered and analysed the effects and the impact of the Scheme on all of the policyholders of Canada Life and Countrywide, including the Transferring Policies.

“In my opinion, the implementation of the Scheme will not have any material adverse effect on any of the following:
-The reasonable benefit expectations of the policyholders of Canada Life and
-The security of the benefits of the policyholders of Canada Life and Countrywide.
-The levels of administration and customer service, management and governance that apply to the  policyholders of Canada Life and Countrywide.”

Really how so….?

How did the Independent Expert come to these conclusions considering:

Death benefits paid out by Canada Life - 100% over 11 years, Countrywide Assured claims paid out  ??
Defaqto Star Rating when our policies were taken out Canada Life - 5 Stars,  Countrywide Assured ??
Trustpilot rating Canada Life - 4 stars, Trustpilot Rating Countrywide Assured - 1.5 Stars
Fitch Long term Insurer Financial Strength Rating Canada Life - AA (Very High) Outlook - Stable
Fitch Long term Insurer Financial Strength Rating Countrywide Assured  A ( High) Outlook - Negative

Remember Countrywide Assured doesn’t sell policies they “...manage them as efficiently and robustly as we can..”

Therefore it is fair to assume that the overall Trustpilot Rating of 1.5 Stars (made up of 89% 1 star ratings!!) is predominately of those seeking to claim. Other than changing your address there are very few reasons to contact your life provider once the policy is in place.

Would it not have been prudent for the “Independent Expert” to have availed himself of the percentage of death claims paid, since the purchase of other life policies by Countrywide Assured? This isn't like critical illness, with hundreds of conditions covered differently by each provider. The criteria for paying here is fixed, one's death!

Your options:

You can raise an objection with Canada Life, although those of us who have, received standard word responses, guiding us to the wisdom of the Independent Expert. Understandably the offer to appear in the High Court to press these issues is daunting and not without risk in our humble opinion. It is also not made clear whether there are any legal implications for us appearing in person. Nor do we want a blackmark against our policies which we are already concerned about.

You can carry on paying your premiums and hope your family receives a payout when you pass, based on information above.

You can cancel your policy and take out a new one with another company, this will undoubtedly cost more as you will be older. Also depending on your current health it may cost significantly more or you may be denied cover altogether. If you do this, get the new policy in place, before cancelling.

This hasn’t happened because Canada Life is financially troubled, it isn’t, they have traded policyholders as a commodity one assumes to the highest bidder. Had the reputation of the company they had chosen been of a similar standard or higher, there would be few complaints. For example AIG was purchased by Aviva, if you had a Life policy with AIG one assumes being with Aviva would be of little concern.

But what Canada Life has done here is truly disgusting. We didn’t seek out a company with a decent customer care reputation, pay higher premiums for one paying out a higher claims % than others; to than be transferred to Countrywide Assured, with no choice, no past performance and most importantly no record of what % of claims they honour. Who in their right mind would have voluntarily purchased (if it were possible) or chosen for Countrywide to  manage their policy based on publicly available information. The exact same information one would use if purchasing a policy from another company, no more no less.

We can only hope somebody with a high profile (MP, Financial Services Regulation Committee, Treasury Sub-Committee on Financial Services Regulation, Finance Committee (Lords / Commons), Financial Journalist) will take this up and raise objections in the High Court.

There is major consolidation in the life insurance market and it is ongoing. Customers who took out policies in good faith, having done their research, shouldn’t have these expensive protection products traded with disdain. Especially when they were purchased for the benefit of surviving family members.

Please share far and wide.

Thank you.

References:
Typing the phrase below into google will take you to the official page detailing the transfer on the Canada Life website - “...canada life transfer to countrywide..”

DullGreyGuy

For insurance to be transferred from one insurer to another they are required to get approval from the High Court under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act. Whilst you do not have an option to elect to be included or excluded from the transfer you have the right to raise an objection. The company must document and respond to all objections received, they must be passed to the Independent Expert and to the High Court Judge both of which will consider the objection when deciding if to recommend the transfer. You likewise have the right to attend the court case and can raise your objection in person to the court. 


Several of your points are in relation to the policy wording not the insurer. If Defaqto rated your policy 5* then the policy will still be 5* after the transfer because the transfer doesn't change the terms of the policy and it's the terms that determine the star rating. 

What your percentage payout is also depends heavily on your policy terms, if you have very restrictive terms the rate will be lower, if you have very liberal terms the rate will be higher. Again the terms dont change because of the transfer. Countrywide Assured dont control the terms of the policy because they were all set by the original seller and therefore they dont get to decide how liberal they are. Now there can be some variance in how strictly terms are applied however you must always assume that terms will be applied as they are written and just be pleasantly surprised if they go beyond the terms. 

So if they buy a book which has an average 75% payout rate then you'd expect that to be maintained, if they then buy an equal sized book with a 100% payout rate because there are no exclusions then that would continue but there would be an average of the mid point of the two which is meaningless because few insurers sell both full fat and full of loophole policies when it comes to L&P (whereas in GI insurers do offer the full spread)

canadalifetransfer12

DullGreyGuy said:

For insurance to be transferred from one insurer to another they are required to get approval from the High Court under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act. Whilst you do not have an option to elect to be included or excluded from the transfer you have the right to raise an objection. The company must document and respond to all objections received, they must be passed to the Independent Expert and to the High Court Judge both of which will consider the objection when deciding if to recommend the transfer. You likewise have the right to attend the court case and can raise your objection in person to the court. 

Several of your points are in relation to the policy wording not the insurer. If Defaqto rated your policy 5* then the policy will still be 5* after the transfer because the transfer doesn't change the terms of the policy and it's the terms that determine the star rating. 

What your percentage payout is also depends heavily on your policy terms, if you have very restrictive terms the rate will be lower, if you have very liberal terms the rate will be higher. Again the terms dont change because of the transfer. Countrywide Assured dont control the terms of the policy because they were all set by the original seller and therefore they dont get to decide how liberal they are. Now there can be some variance in how strictly terms are applied however you must always assume that terms will be applied as they are written and just be pleasantly surprised if they go beyond the terms. 

So if they buy a book which has an average 75% payout rate then you'd expect that to be maintained, if they then buy an equal sized book with a 100% payout rate because there are no exclusions then that would continue but there would be an average of the mid point of the two which is meaningless because few insurers sell both full fat and full of loophole policies when it comes to L&P (whereas in GI insurers do offer the full spread)

We are aware of all of this, in fact it was all mentioned in the original post, in repsect of the high court etc..pays to read the whole post.

"what your percentage payout is also depends heavily on your policy terms.."

No you are wrong in this paticular case as are your points on book size etc. We are not comparing Canada Life to another provider and asking why it has a higher or lower payout. We are asking whether Countrywide Assured will maintain the same standard of Canada Life.. A level term life insurance policy has relatively few terms when it comes to claiming, you inform the company of the the death, the cause of death with evidence. Some also provide terminal illness cover. The claims department assess if anything had been missed off your medical disclourse at the point of sale.  Now if you have 2 compnaies and one of them incentivises their claims department to look for the most trival reason to decline a claim this would show (accepting nothing is perfect) in the % of claims honoured. Sometimes this is done on the basis that the customer may not pursue it further. We are not suggesting Countywide would do this, but how do we know, we simply don't have any information. We know insurance compnaies are not saints  The claims would also be assessed by by Countrywide Assured not the exisitng Canada Life team and here too business culture and reputation matters.

And before you retort we could complain to FOS  etc ...if a claim was denied or if the customer care during a claim was awful...we wouldn't be there, that would be spouses and children, already in distress!

If they would honour the claims on the same basis as Canada Life currently do, then why not declare the % of claims paid for Tesco Life policy holders since they purchased these policies. We could then compare this to the average % honoured under Direct Line (actual provider of Tesco policies) and see if Countrywide are true to their word. The Indepednet Expert didn't ask the company to divulge how it has been performing in relation to Tesco policies it bought.

Would you in good conscience purchase a policy from Countrywide with its current Trustpilot rating, with no acutal informtion on % of claims paid, other than a hope and a prayer...we doubt it very much. It's either naive or purposely naive.

dunstonh

On 23rd February 2025 Canada Life protection policies sold before 1st January 2023 will be transferred to a company called Countrywide Assured plc, a company that doesn’t sell any policies but buys them…

Not a surprise.    With so many old insurers selling parts or all of their legacy books to consolidators, it was only a matter of time.

Most of us taking out Life Insurance have 3 main considerations:
1.The reputation of the company providing the life cover.
2.The premium being paid, once accepted. 
3.But ABOVE ALL else:
The percentage of claims paid out when claims have been made:

To be fair, as you are talking life assurance, then pretty much all providers will be in the 99.x% range.

Trustpilot rating Canada Life - 4 stars, Trustpilot Rating Countrywide Assured - 1.5 Stars

Trustpiliot is never a reliable guide for accurate views.    The consolitators typically get lower ratings because they have taken on unwanted books which are usually operating on obsolete software and systems and products that are long in the tooth compared to modern options.     It can take them many many years or even decades to get those plans onto their own systems and not all the plans can be migrated to a modern product with modern functionality.  

Therefore it is fair to assume that the overall Trustpilot Rating of 1.5 Stars (made up of 89% 1 star ratings!!) is predominately of those seeking to claim.

That is an inaccurate assumption as you are assuming there is only one product type and one version offered by every book that Countrywide have taken over and that is is the same product and version type as yours.

Other than changing your address there are very few reasons to contact your life provider once the policy is in place.

Again, an incorrect assumption.   What about all the pensions? many of the legacy books Countrywide manage don't offer any of the pension freedom options because they pre-date those rules.  So, that means low knowledge consumer will blame countrywide.   What about endowments?  What about investment bonds? 

We are asking whether Countrywide Assured will maintain the same standard of Canada Life.. 

Hopefully it would get better. Canada Life hasn't had the best of reputations recently.

Would you in good conscience purchase a policy from Countrywide with its current Trustpilot rating, with no acutal informtion on % of claims paid, other than a hope and a prayer...we doubt it very much. It's either naive or purposely naive.

 I would take no notice of trustpilot ratings because they are completely flawed and lead to incorrect assumptions.

DullGreyGuy

It is also worth noting that Countrywide already have the full economic interest of the policies even without the Part VII happening as the deal was structured as a 100% QS reinsurance deal followed by a Part VII. In principle CLL could simply outsource claims management to CW and it would have almost the same effect as CLL have no skin left in the game and CW will be making any of the hard decisions. 

CLL however clearly want to divest this book of business and so there is likely to be undesirable terms in the reinsurance about posted collateral that CW will want to get rid of hence it gives the incentive for them to support the Part VII and take on legal control as well as economic. 

I think the comparison of star ratings on TrustPilot is inappropriate, almost none of CLL's is in relation to its individual life policies but most of them are on annuities or equity release, similarly many of the feedbacks are on the sales process rather than claims. Insurers sales results are normally driven by things like price and so if you are cheap you get good ratings. Claims are typically lower scored but that in many cases is because people bought on price and dont understand what they bought. CLL still sell so their negative claims are offset by positive sales whereas CW dont sell at all so you only get the negative claims experience scores. 

johnbhoy70

As a policy holder with Canada Life i actually didn't know this was happening till i read it on here. I would  probably have got a letter but just filed it under B and forgotten about it till it happened. 

Personally i would only use Trustpilot as an slight indicator and never base a big decision on it. I'm sure their percentages won't change or questions would be asked. Also, if they don't show payout rates like others then more fool them i would say. That surely can't help their business.

Anyway, my main point. Canada Life gave discounted rates to vapers which has saved me quite a bit so far and i phoned Countrywide yesterday to see what information they held on my policy. The girl  said we have you down as a non-smoker to which i replied yes i'm a non-smoker but i vape. She seemed non the wiser and couldn't answer that and has passed it on to relevant department. They're getting back to me. Only after phoning them i found this article-

https://healthcareandprotection.com/canada-life-leaves-individual-protection-market-in-disheartening-move/