Life insurance lapse

PhatPiggins

Hi all.

I just had a question regarding a mortgage protection policy that lapsed.

The insurers reason for letting the policy lapse was the rejection of 3 direct debits. A subsequent fourth attempt to retrieve the debits was successful including the 3 missed DD's. The insurance company continued to take DD's for another two years.

The company claim the policy lapsed due to the first 3 rejected DD's , as far as I know no notice was given of the cancellation. Was the policy valid during the final two years?

Pablo Sanchez

So you missed three DD collections but then made them up and they collected for another two years but claim it lapsed?

On most contracts it states that you are not on cover if you miss a months payments....if it lapsed they would have written out to you at that point, they clearly should not keep collecting from your account. As you are clearly not in a position to claim on the policy at the moment i presume they have offered you a refund of all premiums you have paid since it lapsed?

amdublin

From what you are describing it sounds like you were on cover.

If it lapsed and then dd's restarted the policy should be back inforce

Generally a plan lapses and if no dd's restart it cancels.

Yours never cancelled so it was inforce, no?

Are you looking to claim (maybe on a partner?) for that period??? It is possible you were not on cover at the time the dd was not paid....

What correspondence did you get at the time of the lapse and what correspondence did you subsequently???

If the policy has not been valid since the original unpaid dds and you are not claiming, I agree you should look for premiums to be returned...

PhatPiggins

amdublin wrote: »

From what you are describing it sounds like you were on cover.

If it lapsed and then dd's restarted the policy should be back inforce

Generally a plan lapses and if no dd's restart it cancels.

Yours never cancelled so it was inforce, no?

Are you looking to claim (maybe on a partner?) for that period??? It is possible you were not on cover at the time the dd was not paid....

What correspondence did you get at the time of the lapse and what correspondence did you subsequently???

If the policy has not been valid since the original unpaid dds and you are not claiming, I agree you should look for premiums to be returned...

That was my reasoning too. I am looking to claim on the policy as we believe the policy was valid due to the collection of DD's owed and the subsequent two years. The claim would fall within the period which the DD's were paid.

To be honest I'm not 100% sure about what notification was received as I'm the executor of the will. The deceased was the holder of the policy.

They insurance company have offered to refund the DD's with 5% interest.

Could anyone advise on what steps I should take? I have very little documentation and dont want to start making noises to the insurance company untill I have all the facts.

amdublin

Seems strange.

Talk to the ins co and find out on what basis they are now invalidating the claim.

Maybe there is something in the terms and conditions about the unpaid dds etc - this seems unlikely to me but may be a possibility??

First step you need to raise it with the ins co, find out their reasoning etc. They should have a reason for not paying out the claim.

If you not happy with their answers ask them to relook at it again as a complaint. If you are still not happy having gone through their complaints proceedure you can take it to the insurance ombudsman.

amdublin

PhatPiggins wrote: »

I have very little documentation and dont want to start making noises to the insurance company untill I have all the facts.

Well there should be no problem with you just querying this with the ins co at this point (ie. not escalating it to a complaint just yet).

They are there to help. They do not invalidate claims wily nily. There may be a valid reason which might then make complete sense to you. On the other hand they may have made a mistake. You need to talk to them to find out exactly what happened and what they say etc. They should be able to send you out all copies of correspondence sent out at the time of unpaid dds and subsequent collection of the dds etc.

Talk to them and see what the story is.

Best of luck!

broker2008

Look for copies of the notices that went out in relation to the breakdowns. If they went to the correct address, you will have very little chance to make a claim.

PhatPiggins

broker2008 wrote: »

Look for copies of the notices that went out in relation to the breakdowns. If they went to the correct address, you will have very little chance to make a claim.

I'm sorry but I not 100% sure what you mean by breakdowns? I haven't tried to make any claim yet.

broker2008

PhatPiggins wrote: »

I'm sorry but I not 100% sure what you mean by breakdowns? I haven't tried to make any claim yet.

the rejection of the 3 direct debits

amdublin

Just wondering how you got on with company OP?