Criminal records & obtaining insurance
Discussion
So I notice that when applying for insurance, car or home for example, you are asked about "other criminal records". Out of total interest I added one in when last messing around with insurance quotes and noticed immediately the number of companies willing to give quotes dropped to around 3 from the 100+ when you don't have one. Also the quote was obviously higher.
Now of course not mentioning a criminal record when specifically asked means you run the risk of having insurance invalidated - not something you'd want to suddenly find on house insurance should the worst happen.
I'm just interested as so "how" someone who had lied to this question might actually get found out. I don't know much about the law but I didn't think people could find out somebody else's criminal past without them agreeing to such a background check?
Even if this wasn't the case - would insurance firms routinely run a check should a customer make a claim?
This doesn't effect me, but I know of two people (one friend, one I've chatted to online) who have both said that they don't mention criminal records when applying for car insurance as it increases their premium. One of the two claims (and I've only got their word) that they claimed off of their policy and the claim went through without any issue.
Really just wondered about it all really. I hear of stories now and again where people have been refused a pay-out because they had failed to mention an insurance claim when they renewed - I guess this kind of lie easily catches up with you due to insurance database etc. Just wondered if criminal records outside of driving records are actually likely to be found and someone could suddenly end up with their insurance invalidated.
Now of course not mentioning a criminal record when specifically asked means you run the risk of having insurance invalidated - not something you'd want to suddenly find on house insurance should the worst happen.
I'm just interested as so "how" someone who had lied to this question might actually get found out. I don't know much about the law but I didn't think people could find out somebody else's criminal past without them agreeing to such a background check?
Even if this wasn't the case - would insurance firms routinely run a check should a customer make a claim?
This doesn't effect me, but I know of two people (one friend, one I've chatted to online) who have both said that they don't mention criminal records when applying for car insurance as it increases their premium. One of the two claims (and I've only got their word) that they claimed off of their policy and the claim went through without any issue.
Really just wondered about it all really. I hear of stories now and again where people have been refused a pay-out because they had failed to mention an insurance claim when they renewed - I guess this kind of lie easily catches up with you due to insurance database etc. Just wondered if criminal records outside of driving records are actually likely to be found and someone could suddenly end up with their insurance invalidated.
Stoofa said:
Out of total interest I added one in when last messing around with insurance quotes and noticed immediately the number of companies willing to give quotes dropped to around 3 from the 100+ when you don't have one. Also the quote was obviously higher.
I assume you used a comparison web site. You do realise I hope that the biggest of them is owned by an insurer - Admiral Group. So if ANY of the data you entered can be matched to you, that 'conviction' is on record and may come back to haunt you. Red Devil said:
I assume you used a comparison web site. You do realise I hope that the biggest of them is owned by an insurer - Admiral Group. So if ANY of the data you entered can be matched to you, that 'conviction' is on record and may come back to haunt you.
biggest laugh I have heard..Thanks for the replies.
I suppose the answer "Google" is the most likely way someone would be found out I guess.
With regards CRB - I wasn't aware that anyone could perform a CRB check on anyone else. If you apply for a job which requires disclosure or advanced disclosure you have to effect "give permission" for the check to take place (from what I remember when I had to have a CRB for a contract I did years ago).
Unless insurance companies are allowed...
I suppose the answer "Google" is the most likely way someone would be found out I guess.
With regards CRB - I wasn't aware that anyone could perform a CRB check on anyone else. If you apply for a job which requires disclosure or advanced disclosure you have to effect "give permission" for the check to take place (from what I remember when I had to have a CRB for a contract I did years ago).
Unless insurance companies are allowed...
A CRB check cannot be done without consent, and an insurer would only request one if they suspected foul play.
Even if foul play was expected, an insurer would have to be potentially saving a lot of money for it to be worthwhile as it would damage their brand.
Imagine if you were asked to complete a CRB check during a claim when you never had a criminal record, and the insurer then paid out? Depending on how the claim was handled aside from that, if it was me, the mostly likely outcome is that I would not want to use the same insurer again for having me under suspicion initially. Ok, it wouldn't be as straightforward as that but I'm sure you'll understand what I mean.
Even if foul play was expected, an insurer would have to be potentially saving a lot of money for it to be worthwhile as it would damage their brand.
Imagine if you were asked to complete a CRB check during a claim when you never had a criminal record, and the insurer then paid out? Depending on how the claim was handled aside from that, if it was me, the mostly likely outcome is that I would not want to use the same insurer again for having me under suspicion initially. Ok, it wouldn't be as straightforward as that but I'm sure you'll understand what I mean.
Stoofa said:
Thanks for the replies.
I suppose the answer "Google" is the most likely way someone would be found out I guess.
With regards CRB - I wasn't aware that anyone could perform a CRB check on anyone else. If you apply for a job which requires disclosure or advanced disclosure you have to effect "give permission" for the check to take place (from what I remember when I had to have a CRB for a contract I did years ago).
Unless insurance companies are allowed...
They get you to request your own CRB check and pass it on to them.I suppose the answer "Google" is the most likely way someone would be found out I guess.
With regards CRB - I wasn't aware that anyone could perform a CRB check on anyone else. If you apply for a job which requires disclosure or advanced disclosure you have to effect "give permission" for the check to take place (from what I remember when I had to have a CRB for a contract I did years ago).
Unless insurance companies are allowed...
Your policy will have a clause requiring you to provide any reasonably required information to support your claim.
They can also find reports in local papers of convictions via google.
As another poster has mentioned, are you aware that most of the Insurers you requested a quote from will now have noted their records that you a conviction. This could result in some of them refusing to provide a quotation or if they offer cover and you make a claim they may look into the possibilities of you having a conviction
Thanks for the information on CRB - I thought that was the case.
The posts have answered a general interest I had in the procedure. As for there now being a "mark against me" well firstly no, I do not believe I've got a mark against me at all.
People constantly "check the effect" of different things on insurance quotes and I've never ever heard of a story where somebody has then subsequently had quotes increased because of this.
Secondly - as a post above said. If I ever made a claim and the insurance company decided I needed to get my clean CRB at my own expense to prove that there was nothing untoward going on..well I'm sure there would be potentially bad press about the situation.
Anyway, I guess we'll see at renewal time next January
Cheers all.
The posts have answered a general interest I had in the procedure. As for there now being a "mark against me" well firstly no, I do not believe I've got a mark against me at all.
People constantly "check the effect" of different things on insurance quotes and I've never ever heard of a story where somebody has then subsequently had quotes increased because of this.
Secondly - as a post above said. If I ever made a claim and the insurance company decided I needed to get my clean CRB at my own expense to prove that there was nothing untoward going on..well I'm sure there would be potentially bad press about the situation.
Anyway, I guess we'll see at renewal time next January
Cheers all.
The Spruce goose said:
Red Devil said:
I assume you used a comparison web site. You do realise I hope that the biggest of them is owned by an insurer - Admiral Group. So if ANY of the data you entered can be matched to you, that 'conviction' is on record and may come back to haunt you.
biggest laugh I have heard..davepoth said:
Maybe not through the comparison site, but you have just done a quote with the majority of motor insurers telling them you have a conviction. They keep that information, and I know that for a fact because one of them asked me about a speculative quote I had done.
Does anyone use their real details for these speculative quotes? I always use a made up name, made up number and an address a few doors down.Correct.
This link is to the NACRO site which explains it all:
http://www.nacro.org.uk/what-we-do/resettlement-ad...
"Spent offences
Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, individuals do not need to disclose any spent convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings when applying for insurance. This applies regardless of the questions they may be asked by the insurance company and even if the offences are relevant to the risk that the insurers will underwrite. For example, spent motoring convictions are not required on a proposal form for motor insurance.
If an insurer is asking individuals to declare ‘any convictions’ or is indicating that they need to know about spent convictions, individuals are still entitled to declare that they do not have any if their convictions are spent. If an individual accidentally discloses a spent conviction when applying for insurance, the insurer is duty bound to ignore this disclosure when making their decision."
This link is to the NACRO site which explains it all:
http://www.nacro.org.uk/what-we-do/resettlement-ad...
"Spent offences
Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, individuals do not need to disclose any spent convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings when applying for insurance. This applies regardless of the questions they may be asked by the insurance company and even if the offences are relevant to the risk that the insurers will underwrite. For example, spent motoring convictions are not required on a proposal form for motor insurance.
If an insurer is asking individuals to declare ‘any convictions’ or is indicating that they need to know about spent convictions, individuals are still entitled to declare that they do not have any if their convictions are spent. If an individual accidentally discloses a spent conviction when applying for insurance, the insurer is duty bound to ignore this disclosure when making their decision."
Stoofa said:
Thanks for the information on CRB - I thought that was the case.
The posts have answered a general interest I had in the procedure. As for there now being a "mark against me" well firstly no, I do not believe I've got a mark against me at all.
People constantly "check the effect" of different things on insurance quotes and I've never ever heard of a story where somebody has then subsequently had quotes increased because of this.
Secondly - as a post above said. If I ever made a claim and the insurance company decided I needed to get my clean CRB at my own expense to prove that there was nothing untoward going on..well I'm sure there would be potentially bad press about the situation.
Anyway, I guess we'll see at renewal time next January
Cheers all.
Insurers do indeed record different versions of quotes you've made and some will increase their subsequent quotes if they feel you've omitted information you declared in an earlier quote, some will decline to quote and some Insurers will increase the premiums of any customers who obtain differing quotes on various information.The posts have answered a general interest I had in the procedure. As for there now being a "mark against me" well firstly no, I do not believe I've got a mark against me at all.
People constantly "check the effect" of different things on insurance quotes and I've never ever heard of a story where somebody has then subsequently had quotes increased because of this.
Secondly - as a post above said. If I ever made a claim and the insurance company decided I needed to get my clean CRB at my own expense to prove that there was nothing untoward going on..well I'm sure there would be potentially bad press about the situation.
Anyway, I guess we'll see at renewal time next January
Cheers all.
It's called quote "massaging" in the industry.
Think about it, an Insurer would be incredibly stupid not to keep hold of the information customers use on other quotes and possibly use it to ensure the customer has declared the correct information. The software to do this is very very simple so most Insurers use it to some extent
I'm sorry but no, I still don't believe that I'm suddenly going to have issues getting competitive insurance quotes because of "speculative" requests via a price comparrison site.
As I said before, with the exception of the one post above, I've never heard of anyone doing such a quote and then suddenly find they are being asked about it later.
There is just nothign to indicate that will happen - there is no evidence, anicdotal or otherwise to indicate this is the fact.
Of course as I said earlier, it might come and bite my arse in January next year - in which case I can eat my words and you can all tell me "told you so". But I'm more than confident that situation is not going to arrise.
Thanks for all the responses. I'd read about the Rehabilitation of offenders act - so expired records need not be mentioned. The person I'd been chatting to has a "live" conviction and told me a claim he'd made went through without issue. However I've got nothing at all to prove that what he tells me is the truth - hence asking for opinion here.
Ta
As I said before, with the exception of the one post above, I've never heard of anyone doing such a quote and then suddenly find they are being asked about it later.
There is just nothign to indicate that will happen - there is no evidence, anicdotal or otherwise to indicate this is the fact.
Of course as I said earlier, it might come and bite my arse in January next year - in which case I can eat my words and you can all tell me "told you so". But I'm more than confident that situation is not going to arrise.
Thanks for all the responses. I'd read about the Rehabilitation of offenders act - so expired records need not be mentioned. The person I'd been chatting to has a "live" conviction and told me a claim he'd made went through without issue. However I've got nothing at all to prove that what he tells me is the truth - hence asking for opinion here.
Ta
Stoofa said:
I'm sorry but no, I still don't believe that I'm suddenly going to have issues getting competitive insurance quotes because of "speculative" requests via a price comparrison site.
As I said before, with the exception of the one post above, I've never heard of anyone doing such a quote and then suddenly find they are being asked about it later.
There is just nothign to indicate that will happen - there is no evidence, anicdotal or otherwise to indicate this is the fact.
Of course as I said earlier, it might come and bite my arse in January next year - in which case I can eat my words and you can all tell me "told you so". But I'm more than confident that situation is not going to arrise.
Thanks for all the responses. I'd read about the Rehabilitation of offenders act - so expired records need not be mentioned. The person I'd been chatting to has a "live" conviction and told me a claim he'd made went through without issue. However I've got nothing at all to prove that what he tells me is the truth - hence asking for opinion here.
Ta
There's plenty of evidence on the internet from people who've been effected by this, there are also articles from consumer websites on the potential problems of quote massaging.As I said before, with the exception of the one post above, I've never heard of anyone doing such a quote and then suddenly find they are being asked about it later.
There is just nothign to indicate that will happen - there is no evidence, anicdotal or otherwise to indicate this is the fact.
Of course as I said earlier, it might come and bite my arse in January next year - in which case I can eat my words and you can all tell me "told you so". But I'm more than confident that situation is not going to arrise.
Thanks for all the responses. I'd read about the Rehabilitation of offenders act - so expired records need not be mentioned. The person I'd been chatting to has a "live" conviction and told me a claim he'd made went through without issue. However I've got nothing at all to prove that what he tells me is the truth - hence asking for opinion here.
Ta
If you don't think that Insurers compare information provided to take a policy against quotes they've provided then your under estimating Insurers.
Your friends claim probably went through as I assume it was an accident which Insurers tend not to investigate very thoroughly as they have a relatively low incidence of fraud as opposed to fire or theft claims which they tend to investigate more thoroughly.
As well as Insurers using their own databases of quotes they've provided, many will also access the Hunter database which allows members to compare the information declared to take out insurance against the information declared to other member financial institutions www.nhunter.co.uk
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