Over 50s Life Insurance Plans Guide Discussion

The general "adviser" view is that these plans are an option of last resort. So, the article is certainly in the right direction there.

However, it does appear to be lacking information on normal underwritten life assurance plans such as level term assurance or whole of life assurance. These are the options people should be looking at before over 50s plan where there is a life assurance need.

Pre-pay funerals and ISAs are other areas that can also be considered.

My FIL had one and he paid in approx double to what they paid out. Thats the risk. The more sensible option maybe a funeral plan.

He paid £1800 for a funeral plan with age concern, The funeral would have cost us £3800 when he passed away. I would say thats a much better option than the over 50's plan. You can probably do better than age concern also.

Even with the top one take it out when your 50 and live to be 90, you will have paid £4800. But you will only receive £1820 back.

Also the earlier you take the funeral plan the better. Its unlikely to get cheaper over the years.

We are in the County Court with Phoenix Life Ltd tomorrow 1.5.15 after a long battle including the ombudsman. ( Ombudsman results - check out their website - last year from January to end of June only 19% of cases awarded in favour of the consumer !!!!) Which is why we are at the disgraceful place of having to drag a 91 year old to court in her wheel chair. I will come back and post the results. My mother never received full policy information ( in her stored paper work she had a policy and paid up certificate 76 years old - but they argue she is a batty old fool who has lost or mislaid their policy! She believed her payments would stop when she reached the target figure she ticked! Because she is very partially sighted the continuing payment came to light only less than 3 years ago when she moved in with my sister. What ever you do - do not stop the payments as it is clear that the policy is then void and you get NOTHING. I can tell you after over 2 years of arguing and with a recorded delivery ultimatum I did on behalf of my mother get a very small compromise - Phoenix agreed to freeze the policy and take no further payments - ( hers is £12 a month) she refused as she had in her view over paid them by over £1000, and this was the complaint and they were still not addressing it. Try this first and bombard them with letters and complaints but I can tell you will have to have tremendous perseverance as they are as slippery as a bag of snakes with continual fob off letters and I cannot say how tomorrow will go, technically we are out of time as Phoenix took the policy over in January 2007 - ( The policy was introduced by B&Q for Cornhill, then sold out first to Britannic and they sold on bulk policies in January 2007 to Phoenix Life Ltd.) but I am asking the judge to look at the matter under the Latent Damage act 1986 - where you have another 3 years to claim if there is a good reason why a mistake or fraud had not been spotted earlier - (my mother has very limited sight in her left eye only and cannot read at all - certainly not her bank statements and she lived independently until age 88) I have written and asked the Deputy District Judge If I can be my mothers McKenzie Friend and also for "power of audience" ( which means to be allowed to speak on the persons behalf - as a lay person, granted in exceptional cases only) Win or lose - you can be sure I will post the results here - I just know there are people out there affected by the same issues - (My mother was already 74 when she took the policy out a s a B&Q Senior Member - you have to be 65, so there could be many younger people out there in the same situation still paying into Phoenix's fat greedy pockets! I believe my mother was purposely targeted in a vulnerable trusting older age group, and the very sad thing is mostly this all comes to light when some one has died and then there is nothing at all you can do about it. The amount of letters is so much it will not fit in my brief case - 3 other family members will be in court as witnesses tomorrow as they also have had to help my mother store and file her paper work over the years - now it has become about the principle more than the money and bringing this whole thing into the open. My Mum is looking forward to her day in Court - it might be David and Goliath but her complaint is very well documented. Louise F