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Kizan

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  1. Tommy, Please pm me and I'll help in any way I can. I'm ex DBS and have exactly the same problems that you are encountering with Sesame. believe me, you are NOT alone in that respect!!!
  2. As before, I believe that you must go through the due process which is: 1. Complain to the life company. If no joy there then 2. Complain to the ombudsman. If no joy there then 3. Seek legal advice (ideally no win, no fee if you can get it)
  3. Hi Wolfman, This is a terribly sad story. I have to say I'm also saddened that no solicitor on the forum has contributed on this thread to date. What I'm about to say should in no way be interpreted as personal advice, just my observations. Sadly, mortgages only became regulated by the FSA in Nov 2004 and general insurance in Jan 2005. Therefore. IMO, you have no recourse to complain to the FSA about this matter. Similarly, as the mortgage was effectively "unregulated" when you took it out, the lender did not need to ensure you had any insurances in place, other than building insurance to protect their investment. You would be surprised how many people are out their with no redundancy cover on their mortgages. There are also a large number of interest only mortgages out their with no repayment vehicle (endowment, ISA, pension, etc) in place. There is an ombudsman for lenders, but many posters on here are very sceptical/critical of ombudsmen, but again that's for you to decide what to do. Clearly the advice you were given at the outset was appauling. Your post doesn't say it outright, but reading between the lines you were probably sold a "single premium" redundancy plan at a cost of several thousand pounds, the cost of which was added onto your mortgage at the outset. If you had no credit problems and a good credit score, there could be no justifiable reason for any broker to remortgage you away from a high street lender to a "sub prime" lender such as Kensington. If I were in your shoes I'd be contemplating seeking legal advice. Many insurance policies now offer a free legal helpline (car insurance, household insurance, etc), so check whatever policies you have and see if this applies to you. Failing that, the Citizens Advice Bureau normally have a local solicitor come in one day a week to offer free legal advice. Finally, you might possibly get one of these "no win, no fee" legal firms to look at it, but I wouldn't build your hopes up on that score. Whatever you decide to do I sincerely wish you and your partner the very best of luck.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. I am having some frustrating exchanges with my local authority and would appreciate some help. Over the Xmas holidays someone pinched the wheelie bin from the back alley of my business premises. the council wont replace it free of charge and want to charge me £20 plus vat to do so. They are charging me £3 a week over and above my normal business rates to collect the damn thing, even though all it contains is waste paper and used tea bags (less toxic than your average household waste). They refuse to let me take my own rubbish to the council tip, want to charge me for a replacement bin and are threatening to take me to court if i dont pay for the weekly collection. Advice anyone???
  7. 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
  8. Yes that explains it Lynn, Because you missed two months payments, this would explain the remark about you no longer being covered anyway.
  9. 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?
  10. 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
  11. Yes sorry guys, I didn't explain that very clearly. If you are remaining with your existing lender, in this case the Halifax, but wish to change your household policy to another (cheaper) provider, you will need to ensure that the new household policy contains the name of your current lender on it (in this case the Halifax) as an interested party. Normally the lender would charge an admin fee of £25 to inspect the new household policy schedule to ensure that both the building sum assured amount was high enough and to ensure that they (the Halifax) were mentioned on the policy schedule as an interested party. I hope that makes more sense this time:oops:
  12. A couple of points here if I may. Firstly, it is unwise to have "all your eggs in one basket", in your case everything with the Halifax, so I'm glad to see you have remortgaged away from them. Secondly, this sounds more like a Sickness, Accident & Unemployment policy (ASU), now generically referred to as MPPI (mortgage payment protection insurance). If so, there is a section contained within the Halifax mortgage application for this which you either must have signed inadvertantly, or they have ticked the box without your knowledge/consent. Write a letter of complaint to them asking to see a copy of your original mortgage application form. Does this mean that you have not had buildings or contents insurance for the last 3 years then? That would have been interesting if you had needed to make a claim, wouldn't it?
  13. If John switches to another household insurance company at the renewal date, the lender should only charge him an admin fee of £25 to inspect the new policy. Tell your new insurance provider to name the Halifax on the policy schedule as an "interested party". The lender will insist on this and will want to see a copy of the new policy schedule to ensure they are mentioned on it; thus the £25 admin fee for inspecting the same. From what you've posted above John, this will be £25 well spent. Good luck.
  14. Thanks for visiting my website and your subsequent e mail. I will contact you again by email as I dont wish to appear to be touting for business on the forum.
  15. Thanks Resoli for the pm's and links which are exremely useful.
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