Assurance Policy

wiseowl123

Hi, I had a 10 year saving assurance policy that matured last year and I received my payment (albeit a disappointing amount).
The policy was only for £10 per week but I have received a couple of letters now which state that the premiums were stopped (by them) two weeks early so could I send them £20 to cover this ? I haven't checked whether this is the case or not.
How do I stand legally with this ?
They stopped collecting the payments. I didn't cancel them.
I have been paid out on the policy.
As stated the payout was very low in my opinion and I am annoyed that they are now wanting 20 back !!

dunstonh

Hi, I had a 10 year saving assurance policy that matured last year and I received my payment (albeit a disappointing amount).

Wow, they are rare beast nowadays.   

Endowments went out of fashion by the mid to late 80s and to hear of one being set up in 2015 is quite astonishing.  
Unless it was a Friendly Society plan rather than life assurance plan.  Still rubbish and obsolete but there are a handful of them still available.

How do I stand legally with this ?

Its not really a legal thing other than contract terms being met.   If you agreed to pay 10 years worth of premiums then that is what you are contracted to pay.  If the direct debit stopped two weeks early then you are still contracted to make them.

As stated the payout was very low in my opinion and I am annoyed that they are now wanting 20 back !!

If you choose to buy an obsolete product, then it's challenging to moan about it later.

Whether you are annoyed or not, if you owe them £20, then you owe them £20.  They are entitled to take all legal means available to them to collect from it.     

chega

Have l the right to know how much commission and other money was paid to a financial adviser/bank?

DullGreyGuy

chega said:

Have l the right to know how much commission and other money was paid to a financial adviser/bank?

You have no right to know anything about the OP's policy. 

You can ask the seller of your own policies, if its a straight commission it won't be difficult to provide but arrangements can be much more complex with profit shares, volume based rates etc which are not dependent on your policy alone and may not be known for several years. 

dunstonh

chega said:

Have l the right to know how much commission and other money was paid to a financial adviser/bank?

You need to be clearer on what you are asking.

Bancassurers have disclosed a form of commission on life assurance plans since the 90s.     It will be on the illustration issued at the point of sale, and again with the cancellation rights.    

However, you have no right to know what an individual working for the bank is paid.   That is between them and their employer, and has nothing to do with third-party busybodies.

chega

Thanks for the replies, the Bank says its independant of them, even though their financial advisor set it as a mortgage protection policy ,whenl took the mortgage on. I wanted to prove this by asking about commission payments and introducer money paid to the bank by asking the assurance company

dunstonh

Thanks for the replies, the Bank says its independant of them, even though their financial advisor set it as a mortgage protection policy ,whenl took the mortgage on. 

Mortgage protection is a term that can mean different types of policies and can fall under different parts of the rule book and it can depend on when it was done.

Life assurance, 
income protection,
ASU/MPPI 
are three different things that can sometimes be referred to as mortgage protection.

So, 
when was this policy set up?  (so we know what regulatory point applies)
what type of policy is it?
Which bank? 

Most banks haven't had financial advisers for over a decade.  So, it's either a small player, an outsourced adviser or a long time ago.   And don't assume that advisers you see in a bank actually work for the bank.   Lloyds Bank used to have in-house advisers and external Black Horse advisers in the branches.  The disclosures for the two types were different and consumers were not told the difference (as it didn't matter to them).   Also, sometimes advisers from independent firms would use the branch facilities.    Not common in recent years but certainly was 20+ years ago.

If you still have the point of sale documentation and its life assurance, the commission should be on there.