Hastings Direct Smartmiles - Policy Cancellation

[OllieJolly]

Hi there.

 

I appreciate this is a bit of a unique set of circumstances, if it was straight forward there'd be no need to post here, but I wanted some clarification and advice.

 

I'll try and keep it simple.

 

At 20 years old, I got my first car in October last year, Smartmiles was the cheapest insurance because of the box, however I still wanted to pay monthly due to my working circumstances and financial situation.

 

In June, with only 2 payments to go, my direct debit bounced due to negligence on my part.

I became aware of this, and went on to Creation's website (who manage my policy's finance) and paid the money that I was in arrears on there.

 

Unbeknownst to me, paying through the website didn't stop the direct debit from being repeated a few days later, once again putting my account into "arrears" even though I actually only owed the final month, which shouldn't be due until the end of July.

 

Then, due to the direct having bounced twice in a row, I apparently got hit with a £25 charge. However I was not told about said charge, and as such did not pay it. I got the usual letter from Hastings saying my policy would be cancelled in so many days due to my account being in arrears, however when this has happened previously I have called them, paid what I owe, and everything has been fine.

 

Naturally, as I knew I had already paid for June's payment, and July wasn't due yet, I knew my account should not actually be in arrears anymore, and could disregard the letter.

 

Except for the hidden £25 charge that had appeared. That ensured my account was still in arrears, and as such when I hadn't paid it by the 22nd July, my policy was cancelled.

 

First phone call to Hastings, was told they'd ring back the next morning, I never had a phone call but they told me they could not get through to me. Fair enough.

 

Second phone call, spoke to someone who basically told me that the £25 charge being unpaid was the reason my policy was cancelled, and they wouldn't reinstate it.

 

Third phone call, spoke to a lovely lady, and she actually looked upon my situation, my finance account, transaction history, and saw that it was simply a case of computer automation, for example if I had phoned the company to pay, they would know it was paid before the 2nd direct debit went out, therefore I would have had no charge.

 

Human intervention, in other words.

 

She said she's going to have a look at it today, and call me back, which I appreciate, I shall see what she says and go from there. However I still want some advice.

 

I completely understand that it is my responsibility to make sure my DD payments are going through. I get that.

 

What I'm stumped about is being hit with a £25 charge, which I had no notification of, and cannot find any information about on Creation's website. If I had known that it was due, I would have paid it straight away and this would never have happened.

 

As such now, with only 1 month's payment left (£155) I have lost the no claims of my first year, and, for the foreseeable future, whenever I try to get a new quote, I have to declare that I have had a policy cancelled, and so most insurers won't go near me, and the ones that do are easily charging north of £3000 for a 1.0 Saxo at 21 years old.

 

Any advice? If this was a simple case of me missing a DD payment, and it being cancelled for that, I would accept it as my mistake, however the way I see it, it is not completely my fault at all.

 

Thanks folks, apologies for being a bit long winded, it's just slightly complicated.

Edited July 25, 2014 by OllieJolly

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

The forum guys should be along later, and I see the Hastings rep is around today. Please bear with us until they're able to get here.

 

My best, HB

[OllieJolly]

Thank you for the welcome, hello.

 

No problem, thanks!

[unclebulgaria67]

Hopefully Hastings will reinstate the policy. Obviously some confusion about the process and this ended up with a cancellation. Many companies will now charge for a bounced DD payment and this will be on the Consumer Credit Agreement or documents setting out your monthly payments.

 

Re having to declare a cancelled policy. The Insurers ask a general question because there can be many reasons for a cancelled policy. Many Insurers will not be interested in a cancellation due to a payment problem. There will not be any central database noting the cancellation, so future Insurers would not pick this up. If you want to be 100% accurate about what you declare, then arranging future cover by internet is going to be ruled out for you. You will now always have to arrange cover by phone with insurers or a brokers. If it were me personally, I would not bother to mention such a cancellation, as I don't think a missed payment affects the risk.

[OllieJolly]

Okay I've just heard there is a database that keeps track of ANY insurance cancellation, particularly payment related.

 

Granted, I may now have to phone each insurance company personally. I would be happy to do that.

We'll see how thing play out today anyway I suppose.

 

Thanks!

[unclebulgaria67]

Okay I've just heard there is a database that keeps track of ANY insurance cancellation, particularly payment related.

 

Granted, I may now have to phone each insurance company personally. I would be happy to do that.

We'll see how thing play out today anyway I suppose.

 

Thanks!

 

Name the database. Does not exist as far as I know.

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi there.

 

I appreciate this is a bit of a unique set of circumstances, if it was straight forward there'd be no need to post here, but I wanted some clarification and advice.

 

I'll try and keep it simple.

 

At 20 years old, I got my first car in October last year, Smartmiles was the cheapest insurance because of the box, however I still wanted to pay monthly due to my working circumstances and financial situation.

 

In June, with only 2 payments to go, my direct debit bounced due to negligence on my part.

I became aware of this, and went on to Creation's website (who manage my policy's finance) and paid the money that I was in arrears on there.

 

Unbeknownst to me, paying through the website didn't stop the direct debit from being repeated a few days later, once again putting my account into "arrears" even though I actually only owed the final month, which shouldn't be due until the end of July.

 

Then, due to the direct having bounced twice in a row, I apparently got hit with a £25 charge. However I was not told about said charge, and as such did not pay it. I got the usual letter from Hastings saying my policy would be cancelled in so many days due to my account being in arrears, however when this has happened previously I have called them, paid what I owe, and everything has been fine.

 

Naturally, as I knew I had already paid for June's payment, and July wasn't due yet, I knew my account should not actually be in arrears anymore, and could disregard the letter.

 

Except for the hidden £25 charge that had appeared. That ensured my account was still in arrears, and as such when I hadn't paid it by the 22nd July, my policy was cancelled.

 

First phone call to Hastings, was told they'd ring back the next morning, I never had a phone call but they told me they could not get through to me. Fair enough.

 

Second phone call, spoke to someone who basically told me that the £25 charge being unpaid was the reason my policy was cancelled, and they wouldn't reinstate it.

 

Third phone call, spoke to a lovely lady, and she actually looked upon my situation, my finance account, transaction history, and saw that it was simply a case of computer automation, for example if I had phoned the company to pay, they would know it was paid before the 2nd direct debit went out, therefore I would have had no charge.

 

Human intervention, in other words.

 

She said she's going to have a look at it today, and call me back, which I appreciate, I shall see what she says and go from there. However I still want some advice.

 

I completely understand that it is my responsibility to make sure my DD payments are going through. I get that.

 

What I'm stumped about is being hit with a £25 charge, which I had no notification of, and cannot find any information about on Creation's website. If I had known that it was due, I would have paid it straight away and this would never have happened.

 

As such now, with only 1 month's payment left (£155) I have lost the no claims of my first year, and, for the foreseeable future, whenever I try to get a new quote, I have to declare that I have had a policy cancelled, and so most insurers won't go near me, and the ones that do are easily charging north of £3000 for a 1.0 Saxo at 21 years old.

 

Any advice? If this was a simple case of me missing a DD payment, and it being cancelled for that, I would accept it as my mistake, however the way I see it, it is not completely my fault at all.

 

Thanks folks, apologies for being a bit long winded, it's just slightly complicated.

 

Hi OllieJolly,

 

Thank you for your post, would you please be able to send me over your policy details so that I can check this for you. Hopefully we can help you to get this matter resolved. [email protected]

 

Many Thanks,

Jamie