Brittania Building Society/Alba Life

ReportInvestor

Re taking up your case with Britannia BS I suggest the following:

Ask for the issue to be put to the Britannia Members' Council which is 24 ordinary members, chaired by Britannia non-executive director Lord Tom Sawyer.

More about the Members' Council on this link

Lord Tom's position on the Britannia board is a direct result of his previous position as deputy general secretary of UNISON. So your individual case should be something he takes seriously. I would write directly to him. He might be sympathetic and he has the ear of the board. This is something UNISON should already have done on your behalf - but perhaps they were just too embarrassed for effectively recommending Britannia in the first place.

Are you sure that there was no vote of the Britannia Life members before the deal? Britannia Life is a very unusual case. I know of no other mutual company that took away members voting rights without financial compensation.

The link between Britannia BS & Alba Life is still there in a bizarre way because I think you still qualify for Britannia Members Reward Scheme points as an Alba Life policy holder (even if you won't ever get any real bonuses on your policy).

BTW being taken over by Resolution Life shouldn't cost you if Britannic had already said that you wouldn't get any bonuses of any sort in future. The sum assured and guaranteed bonuses can't change.

kersleykirk

Hi Editor

Thanks very much for your help, you're a star!!

I wonder whether putting the cash in to an ISA might give me a better return and then taking a separate life insurance policy- what do you think?

Cheers KK

EdInvestor

kersleykirk wrote:

I wonder whether putting the cash in to an ISA might give me a better return and then taking a separate life insurance policy- what do you think?

Dunno KK, suggest you cost the life cover first - Tesco I believe is quite competitive - but MSE no doubt has a special offer. As you're older, it might be that the extra cost makes it more sensible to keep the endowment.This is often the case with the ones that are fairly near the end of their term.