Good evening all and i am glad i stumbled upon your forum.

I am currently sorting out my mothers bills e.t.c while she is in respite care and have discovered she has 2 home insurance policies running alongside eachother.

A policy was in place with directline for her previous address which has been renewed upon her buying her new property. When purchasing this property she took out a small mortgage with nationwide who have automatically provided her with building and contents policy as well.

The direct line policy is £35 per month wereas the nationwide policy is £18 per month, they provide similar levels of cover and have both been paid from her bank account with nationwide for 10 months.

I am sure i have read or heard from somebody else that if 2 policies are in place at the same time then the insurers may refund 50% of the annual premium, is this correct?

What is my next best step/s? They are both paid monthly so my first thought is to cancel the directline policy and then investigate how to claim any money back?

many thanks in advance for any help provided.

Hi,

What you are referring to is called Dual Insurance.

Its fairly straight forward to sort out. All you need to do is decide which policy you want to keep (in this case you appear to have chosen the nationwide one, presumably due to the price)

Then you simply call up direct line, ask them what their process is for dual insurance, they'll probably ask you for proof of the other insurer, the cover thats in force (buildings/contents etc), the dates the cover was in force.

Then call nationwide and ask them the same question. Send each company what they ask for and they will liaise with each other and will sort out any refund that is due. Usually they will pay 50% each so you get a 100% refund of the cover that wasn't required.

hope this helps

DA

Hi jbarnsie im sure someone will come along soon and offer the advice you need but for the moment dont be hasty by cancelling one over the other until you find out the best way to deal with it.

It may be that by cancelling the direct line insurance they may not refund any money due to the other policy starting second, you may stand a better chance of refund if you cancel the nationwide as a policy was already in place when that started but thats my opinion only.

Obviously the monthly premiums are quite a difference but that could be sorted after this.

See someone did come along and advise.

One thing i forgot to point out is that you shouldn't always cancel a policy just cos its more expensive. Its always best to check the T&C's just to make sure that you are getting the right cover for your needs.

DA

many many thanks for your swift replies

i will keep the forum updated with my progress

thanks again

Please do as this could help others who are in the same situation.

Just in case anyone says otherwise (insurance staff aren't always that au fait with insurance matters) having more than one insurance policy covering the same risk is NOT illegal. If you do get anyone at the insurer telling you this, simply ask to speak to someone else who knows about insurance.

no problem its the least i can do

spoke to direct line first very helpful advised me to send details of nationwide policy in post with a covering note (did last thursday)

nationwide then told me that as i had already contacted direct line i didnt have to write to them and they would dialogue with eachother.

will update when i hear anymore through the post.

many many thanks

sorry for my delay in replying

direct line refunded the full policy for the last year t o my mums bank account last week, i never received any further correspondence but that doesnt matter

many many thanks again

Thx for updating, good result.

No Problems,

glad you got it all sorted in the end.