Hi all,

Hoping you can help...

Basically, over the last year I have made two enquiries with my insurance company (via a broker).

Both have been placed on the "Claims Underwriting Exchange" for "information purposes only" and listed as no claim pursued.

Neither was a claim, or even close to it, they were questions regarding what is covered under my policy.

Two questions:

1) Should such entries be made for such queries?

2) If so, do I have to declare to a new insurer?

Seems bizarre to me.

1) My personal opinion is that the CUE entries should only be placed, if the Insurers had to do anything e.g send a loss assessor out. If it was purely an enquiry to establish whether something was covered or to find out if worth claiming, I don't think these should be recorded. If you had to report every minor event in the home, it could get a bit silly.

2) Yes I would suggest that until the CUE record is sorted out, that you should declare these enquiries, otherwise you could get into a silly situation. Some companies are looking for any reason to decline claims and to void policies.

If only enquiries and no Insurer actions, I would suggest that you contact the company concerned and ask that they correct their records. Once they amend their claims information, these entries on CUE should remove themselves.

Thanks unclebulgaria much appreciated.

Just for a bit further info....

1) The insurance was bought through a broker.

2) I made a formal complain to the broker, who a full 8 weeks later have come back to me and said "we wont change it as the underwriter (Aviva) wont change it".

So now have to go through another 8 week process (probably) with Aviva to get them changed!

Also just for some clarity as well, spoke to the financial ombudsman who advised me that entries SHOULD be made in this situation, but ONLY IF there was an insurable event. In my case there wasnt - it was very much advice only - so they agreed that the insurer is in the wrong (although obviously cannot do anything until I make a formal complaint, which I probably cannot now do until final response from underwriter, even though the broker has already given their final response - argh!).

To complicate matters - I'm now with a different insurer, who I DIDNT declare these to...! So now going to have to ring them and declare (no doubt with a substantial hike in premium, not only due to claims but due to loss of no claims).

I can see this going on and on, at sizeable impact to me, when it wasnt my fault!

With reference to answer to number 2, I agree with you, but surely I should only declare claims that were actually made? Its catch 22 - I cannot declare a claim as no claim was made, but do I declare that there is an entry on CUE, even though the entry is incorrect?

Honestly, what a mess. Last time I insure through a broker (basically, my understanding as to the reason this all came about is that the broker passed it to the underwriter via the claims process purely as they had no other way of getting me through to them in order to answer the query).

Suggest that you just write to the new Insurers to explain the situation in full. If you phone them , they might not understand and you could end up in an argument.

I doubt they will charge more. Most companies will check CUE when you take out the Insurance, so their systems have probably already accepted the information as being OK. With some companies, when you phone them, the person who you talked to, should have seen the information and if there was any issue, they would have raised it with you.

It was done online, but I did think it would be checked as a matter of course in any event as part of the application.

Is there any way of knowing whether it would have been?

Good advice about writing though - due to the somewhat complex nature of this, I agree that it could very easily be misunderstood over the phone.

Also, am I correct in thinking that I need to make a formal complaint to Aviva, even though my only relationship was with the broker?

It was done online, but I did think it would be checked as a matter of course in any event as part of the application.

 

Is there any way of knowing whether it would have been?.

I suspect the internet facility would be connected to CUE but there would have been a declaration question or assumption for quoting, that there had not been any claims.

Just an aside. My experience is that fulfilment of Insurance via the internet, is causing Insurers some major issues. It saves money on staffing costs, but there is an inherent risk of getting business that is not the best. Some of this is caused by a lack of sophistication in the software used, which is not quite as good as the brain of an average employee.

If you arrange cover via the internet, make sure you read all the information and consider taking screen prints of all the information completed. I have seen arguments occur following claims, where the Insurers advise of non disclosure and the policyholder is just not aware of what information they gave. When you get the documents in the post, it does confirm the details on which the policy is based, but not many read or bother to correct inaccuracies.

Also, am I correct in thinking that I need to make a formal complaint to Aviva, even though my only relationship was with the broker?

Yes, contact Aviva directly.

Thanks UB.

For a slight update:

- I have contacted my current insurer and although they do not believe a CUE check was ran at the time, they were quite happy with the information given, have recorded it on file, and have no concerns (including no uplift in premium).

- I have contacted Aviva directly and requested they fix the incorrect records.

Shall keep you updated!

1) My personal opinion is that the CUE entries should only be placed, if the Insurers had to do anything e.g send a loss assessor out. If it was purely an enquiry to establish whether something was covered or to find out if worth claiming, I don't think these should be recorded. If you had to report every minor event in the home, it could get a bit silly.

 

2) Yes I would suggest that until the CUE record is sorted out, that you should declare these enquiries, otherwise you could get into a silly situation. Some companies are looking for any reason to decline claims and to void policies.

 

If only enquiries and no Insurer actions, I would suggest that you contact the company concerned and ask that they correct their records. Once they amend their claims information, these entries on CUE should remove themselves.

CUE also helps prevent fraud, you could try and claim, find there is no cover, take a new policy out elsewhere where there would have been cover and then submit the claim again.

But agree, as these are only enquiries i.e just calling and asking am i covered for........then I cant see how these should be logged. If we did log every enquiry there would be millions of entrys.

Right letter fired off to Aviva today after they have been worse than useless via email. Lets see what happens.