life insurance Reassure cancelled policy

helpme25

Hi Martin please I need some guidance my husband paid this company Reassure which belonged to another company Addico or something like this years ago for 2 policies which he believes was life insurance or some sort of out of work pension type (sorry he is not really good with paperwork) he paid them for at least 27 years or more monthly for 2 separate policy self employed he was which is why - we never were able to have anything online only letters- We experienced some personal  issue 2 years ago and he wasn't able to keep the payment going he did catch up them failed again at paying so they cancelled his policies - i try to speak to them on the phone multiple time and the advisor were so unhelpful and couldn't give details of the type of policies he held and i would like to know if there is anything we can do to get some his money back any advise would be much appreciated 

CliveOfIndia

It's fairly standard practice for these type of policies that the policy will be cancelled if premium payments are not maintained.  And, in common with all insurance policies, you're not due to any refund simply because you haven't claimed on the policy.

helpme25 said:

we never were able to have anything online only letters

Have you still got any of the original paperwork or policy documents?  If so, that should give you a decent starting point in establishing what the precise T&Cs state.

Failing that ...

helpme25 said:

which he believes was life insurance or some sort of out of work pension type (sorry he is not really good with paperwork) he paid them for at least 27 years or more monthly for 2 separate policy self employed he was 

Is there any chance his accountant will have a record of these policies?

MyRealNameToo

helpme25 said:

Hi Martin please I need some guidance my husband paid this company Reassure which belonged to another company Addico or something like this years ago for 2 policies which he believes was life insurance or some sort of out of work pension type (sorry he is not really good with paperwork) he paid them for at least 27 years or more monthly for 2 separate policy self employed he was which is why - we never were able to have anything online only letters- We experienced some personal  issue 2 years ago and he wasn't able to keep the payment going he did catch up them failed again at paying so they cancelled his policies - i try to speak to them on the phone multiple time and the advisor were so unhelpful and couldn't give details of the type of policies he held and i would like to know if there is anything we can do to get some his money back any advise would be much appreciated 

ReAssure is currently owned by the Phoenix Group (since 2020). ReAssure was/is a consolidator, they buy up other companies backbooks and so almost certainly he bought the policies from somewhere else and they were subsequently transferred. Phoenix is a public traded organisation with no single owner. 

Insurance doesnt work like that, you can't get your Motor insurance premiums back just because you didnt make a claim nor your life insurance. You've had the service of having protection in case something really bad happened to you even if you were lucky and it didnt. 

If its insurance and ReAssure than its almost certainly life insurance, they have books of both term assured and whole of life. How old is your husband? Term assured would normally be ending at your planned retirement age and/pr when your mortgage is cleared etc. Its the much cheaper option because most people dont die during the policy so premiums cross fund others deaths -v- whole of life where almost all payout so premiums have to on average cover the cost of the claim (factoring in interest and operational costs). 

One option would be to do a DSAR with ReAssure which at least should identify policy numbers etc. Generally however non-payment is the only way an insurer can cancel long term insurance like Life. Most are not to generous with reinstating policies. Had he discussed it with them before or simply not paid them and hoped they wouldnt mind?

ProcessMatters

One important thing to clarify is whether these were pure life insurance policies or with-profits / endowment-type policies.

If they were standard term life insurance, then unfortunately cancellation for non-payment normally means there is no value to recover, as the premiums only paid for cover during those years.

However, if there is any chance these were with-profits, whole-of-life, or pension-linked policies, there may have been a surrender value at the point they lapsed, depending on the terms.

The safest next step is a DSAR to ReAssure (now Phoenix Group) requesting full policy details, policy type, start dates, and whether any surrender or paid-up value existed at cancellation. You don’t need policy numbers — name, DOB and previous addresses are enough.

Once you know what the policies were, you’ll know whether there’s anything further to pursue. Without that confirmation, it’s impossible to say either way.

dunstonh

The safest next step is a DSAR to ReAssure (now Phoenix Group) requesting full policy details, policy type, start dates, and whether any surrender or paid-up value existed at cancellation. You don’t need policy numbers — name, DOB and previous addresses are enough.

You dont need to DSAR for policy details.   Just requesting a policy details summary is good enough, assuming the OP hasnt got the policy details on file already.