Zurich (Swiss Life) Insurance Policy Advice Please

[bach]

Last year I had to cancell a Swiss Life Insurance Policy £153 a month ) as we could not afford the payments, we have been paying this since 1998 and was due to finish in 2011.

I rang Swiss Life to cancell and was told
"that's fine your wern't covered anyway".

I have sent a letter on the 5th January 2007 asking for an explaination of the comment made as this is still bugging me.

I would appreciate any thoughts on this matter and how to proceed.

Happy New Year to all.

Lynn

[Jimbo44]

I don't think there's an awful lot you can do until the insurance comapny explains their remark. I can think of a number of different explanations, all of which would warrant different courses of action.

[Kizan]

Bach,

You didn't tell us what kind of policy it is?

Is it term assurance, or whole of life or a pension product or some sort of savings plan?

Please advise and perhaps I can help you further

[bach]

Sorry for deley in getting back,
I work away from home
I beleive it a was a term assurance policy with cover for critical illness taken out with the Mortgage
I don't really understand these insurance policies

Thanks for taking an interest
Lynn

[Kizan]

In that case, if you were paying the premiums every month you should have been covered. I've never known an insurance company fail to commence a policy like this but still take the monthly premium from the client; then again there is always a first time for everything.

Are you perhaps getting yourself mixed up with some of the insurance terminology here? If it's a term assurance policy it is a pure protection policy with no investment element; thus no surrender value.

Have you had any more contact with the insurer since the last post?

[bach]

Never missed any monthly payments untill the last month before I cancelled the policy. When they sent a letter for two months payment it was then I decided I could not afford to keep up the payments they asked for £306 for the two months. Apparantly in the small print it says 28 days grace are allowed if a lapse of payment occurs after that all benifits from that policy are not applicable.

The Policy is called
A Mortgage Solution Policy {term insurrance policy) covering Cancers Aids Heart attack etc.
Deffinatly no investment element and no surrender value,
It would have finished in 2011 with nothing payable to me.

Thanks Lynn

[Kizan]

Yes that explains it Lynn,

Because you missed two months payments, this would explain the remark about you no longer being covered anyway.

[bach]

A bit of a hard lesson to learn having paid all the premiums from 1999, and never faultered. Do you think under the circumstances they could have helped me in any other way, I mean I know I could'nt afford the payments but I feel they should have a least tried to keep my policy going some way or another. My other thought was that because Im getting on in years do you think they thought I might be a big risk with the critical illness section.
Lynn and Thanks again

[Kizan]

Yes it does surprise me that they didn't try and discuss other options with you.

You can of course seek independent advice yourself. Some options to consider are:

1. If this policy was for mortgage cover, perhaps a lifecover only policy would be more affordable (I would estimate that at least 50 - 60% of your Zurich premium was paying for your critical illness cover)

2. Obtain a quote elsewhere for a plan with different sum assureds. For example, if your outstanding mortgage amount was £100,000 you could perhaps consider a new policy with £100,000 of life cover but a smaller amount of critical illness cover (say £50,000)

There are other options, but it would be wrong of me to start giving anyone advice on an open forum. Feel free to contact me via my website or alternatively seek advice from any other independent adviser.

Good luck Lynn

[bach]

Firstly I have checked the paper work and only missed the one payment on the 19th January 06
,Iv just opened reply from Swiss Life, saying they "confirm the policy was cancelled on the 30th January 06" and that

Quote" they can only assume the reason why I was told that we were not covered was because the direct debit collection had not taken place on the 19th January 06 due to payer reasons from the bank"

28 days grace is allowed if a lapse in payment occurs.
I therefore believe that there comment made " that we were not covered any way", was incorrect.

19th Jan to 30th Jan equates to 11days, so we should still have had cover.

All views apprecited please.

[Kizan]

bach,

I am in full agreement with you.

The life company seem too hasty to cancel your contract with them. Normally life companies don't actually lapse a policy until two or three premiums have been missed. Furthermore, they usually let you reinstate the policy within this period if you pay the back premiums (sometimes you are also required to sign a declaration of continued good health).

If I recall however, you said you were struggling to afford the premium. If this is the case, perhaps you would be better off looking for cheaper alternative cover elsewhere rather than trying to reinstate this policy if you cannot afford the premiums. This is of course provided that your health has not deteriorated in the meantime.

[mooreda]

wow £153 a month - sounds a rip off to me.

Against my mortgage I have a term assurance life insurance policy with critical illness cover - with Legal & General. It covers my mortgage upto £49,640. My premium a month is £12.53. The policy also covers my wife.

[bach]

Hi, thanks for that, Iv long suspected that I was paying far to much . It's crippiled me in the past trying to find the payment every month.

Iv decided to write to the financial adviser that set it up in the first place, and also write back to Swiss Life with S A R letter.

If I recall in 2005 Swiss Life was taken over by Pheonix and I remeber a letter asking if I would like to cancel the policy with them at that time as the were no longer going to operate in the UK. So I thought a S A Request for info would confirm this.
Thanks Lynn

[Kizan]

Bach,

Within my signature is details of one of my commercial websites. Within this site is the facility to obtain an online quotation for life and critical illness cover.

It's quick, easy to use and free of charge. Feel free to use this as a guide to the true cost of the premiums that you should be paying, if this will help you.

[bach]

Thanks will have a look lunch time

Lynn