Mis-sold life insurance? Suspend payments?

[Fastpedeller]

I understand no case is black or white, but I'm hoping some legal eagles here can guide me on one aspect of this.

We took out a Life Insurance policy 16 years ago to cover us both, payment term 35 years.
Circumstances
Mortgage paid off
One dependent 5 years old as time
3 moderate personal pension each in place (ie 3 for me 3 for wife)
This was just to provide a little extra when either of us departs our mortal coil.
We now find (as an aside of going through all our paperwork for my pension about to mature) that the life policy only pays out if one of us dies during the payment term. We think we have been missold on the basis that it wasn't necessary (nobody would have been left homeless or starved without it if one of us died) . The product was sold online (through a 3rd party) and no advice was given, so the seller (who actively took over the selling eg arranging medicals) didn't ensure the policy was right for our circumstances.

All the above is 'our case', but the immediate questions I have are should we continue paying the premium? will it prejudice our case if we stop? or is there a way of 'putting on hold' the premiums whilst the matter is in dispute.
Thanks in anticipation.

[anonymous-user]

When did you expect the policy to pay out?

[Meoricin]

Did you think insurance policies were savings accounts?

[sparkythecat]

Fastpedeller said:

I understand no case is black or white, but I'm hoping some legal eagles here can guide me on one aspect of this.

We took out a Life Insurance policy 16 years ago to cover us both, payment term 35 years.
Circumstances
Mortgage paid off
One dependent 5 years old as time
3 moderate personal pension each in place (ie 3 for me 3 for wife)
This was just to provide a little extra when either of us departs our mortal coil.
We now find (as an aside of going through all our paperwork for my pension about to mature) that the life policy only pays out if one of us dies during the payment term. We think we have been missold on the basis that it wasn't necessary (nobody would have been left homeless or starved without it if one of us died) . The product was sold online (through a 3rd party) and no advice was given, so the seller (who actively took over the selling eg arranging medicals) didn't ensure the policy was right for our circumstances.

All the above is 'our case', but the immediate questions I have are should we continue paying the premium? will it prejudice our case if we stop? or is there a way of 'putting on hold' the premiums whilst the matter is in dispute.
Thanks in anticipation.

See if you can convert it into a 'paid up' policy.
You stop paying premiums and get a severely reduced payout when you do eventually die.

[Fastpedeller]

desolate said:

When did you expect the policy to pay out?

It says on the proposal paperwork

Joint life cases - Sum assured to be paid on the first death

[syl]

If you no longer need it, stop paying. You may able be able to find fixed-term policy cheaper now, given increasing longevity.

I have a policy that will pay out up to my 60th birthday. It goes up 5% or RPI (whichever is higher) each year - the payment also goes up (by slightly more). I no longer need increasing cover, so will cancel the yearly uplift. I will probably cancel it altogether by the time I'm 55. I hope it doesn't need to pay out.

[anonymous-user]

Fastpedeller said:

It says on the proposal paperwork

Joint life cases - Sum assured to be paid on the first death

I see.
So we're you told it would payout after the 35 years was up?

[Fastpedeller]

sparkythecat said:

Fastpedeller said:

I understand no case is black or white, but I'm hoping some legal eagles here can guide me on one aspect of this.

We took out a Life Insurance policy 16 years ago to cover us both, payment term 35 years.
Circumstances
Mortgage paid off
One dependent 5 years old as time
3 moderate personal pension each in place (ie 3 for me 3 for wife)
This was just to provide a little extra when either of us departs our mortal coil.
We now find (as an aside of going through all our paperwork for my pension about to mature) that the life policy only pays out if one of us dies during the payment term. We think we have been missold on the basis that it wasn't necessary (nobody would have been left homeless or starved without it if one of us died) . The product was sold online (through a 3rd party) and no advice was given, so the seller (who actively took over the selling eg arranging medicals) didn't ensure the policy was right for our circumstances.

All the above is 'our case', but the immediate questions I have are should we continue paying the premium? will it prejudice our case if we stop? or is there a way of 'putting on hold' the premiums whilst the matter is in dispute.
Thanks in anticipation.

See if you can convert it into a 'paid up' policy.
You stop paying premiums and get a severely reduced payout when you do eventually die.

Reading the key features (for that type of policy) at the present time there are statement such as "If you stop paying the policy the cover ceases". Which to us seems reasonable. Our understanding (at the time we started the policy) was that (as long as we paid for the full 35 years) it paid out on death. It did not explicitly say it only pays out if you die within the 35 years. There was (we now understand because the pensions would provide for those left) no need for the cover, and this should have been discussed with us at the time we took out the policy.We were never sent either the key features of policy details. Yes we've been foolish, but these are professionals who are legally obliged to consider our circumstances (it seems from an online search), but failed to do this, although they invested time/effort to ensure we both had medicals.

[Fastpedeller]

desolate said:

Fastpedeller said:

It says on the proposal paperwork

Joint life cases - Sum assured to be paid on the first death

I see.
So we're you told it would payout after the 35 years was up?

we weren't told it wouldn't pay out after the 35 years was up - is that your question?

[anonymous-user]

You specifically say that the policy was sold without advice.

It costs nothing to complain to the ombudsman but I'm struggling to see your case.

[craig1912]

Not sure what you are complaining about.

Did you want a joint life second death policy?

Life assurance generally only ever pays out during the payment term- it was probably dirt cheap anyway. What exactly is the issue

[Fastpedeller]

syl said:

If you no longer need it, stop paying. You may able be able to find fixed-term policy cheaper now, given increasing longevity.

I have a policy that will pay out up to my 60th birthday. It goes up 5% or RPI (whichever is higher) each year - the payment also goes up (by slightly more). I no longer need increasing cover, so will cancel the yearly uplift. I will probably cancel it altogether by the time I'm 55. I hope it doesn't need to pay out.

I'm 60 already. I'm reluctant to stop paying until the complaint raised has run its course, in case it ruins my case. ie. provider just says "there's no case because they've stopped the policy"

[anonymous-user]

Fastpedeller said:

I'm 60 already. I'm reluctant to stop paying until the complaint raised has run its course, in case it ruins my case. ie. provider just says "there's no case because they've stopped the policy"

If the policy was sold without advice who are you complaining about?

[Fastpedeller]

craig1912 said:

Not sure what you are complaining about.

Did you want a joint life second death policy?

Life assurance generally only ever pays out during the payment term- it was probably dirt cheap anyway. What exactly is the issue

£50 per month. Didn't want a second death policy. The limited paperwork we have didn't explicitly state it wouldn't pay out after 35 years. It did however state" sum assured to be paid on first death". It wouldn't have cost much ink to add "if it occurs within the 35 year period"
I add that we haven't lost any paperwork, we keep it all.
We now understand what TERM INSURANCE is, but didn't then. The professionals did, but didn't choose to inform us.

[anonymous-user]

Fastpedeller said:

We now understand what TERM INSURANCE is, but didn't then. The professionals did, but didn't choose to inform us.

You specifically said that the policy was sold without advice.

[Fastpedeller]

desolate said:

Fastpedeller said:

I'm 60 already. I'm reluctant to stop paying until the complaint raised has run its course, in case it ruins my case. ie. provider just says "there's no case because they've stopped the policy"

If the policy was sold without advice who are you complaining about?

From compare the market....
Mis-sold insurance is when a policy is sold by an insurance provider to a customer, without the customer receiving accurate information (and advice) about how the policy works. A provider has a duty to ensure the insurance they're selling is suitable for a consumer's needs and circumstances.

Our policy was sold online by a supermarket, so I could ask the provider "why did you sell it via a 3rd party?" Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[anonymous-user]

The ombudsman will rule pretty quickly but you specifically chose not to take advice when you quite literally didn't know what you were buying.

I have no idea if you will win or not, nothing surprises me anymore

[tighnamara]

Fastpedeller said:

Reading the key features (for that type of policy) at the present time there are statement such as "If you stop paying the policy the cover ceases". Which to us seems reasonable. Our understanding (at the time we started the policy) was that (as long as we paid for the full 35 years) it paid out on death. It did not explicitly say it only pays out if you die within the 35 years. There was (we now understand because the pensions would provide for those left) no need for the cover, and this should have been discussed with us at the time we took out the policy.We were never sent either the key features of policy details. Yes we've been foolish, but these are professionals who are legally obliged to consider our circumstances (it seems from an online search), but failed to do this, although they invested time/effort to ensure we both had medicals.

What would your pensions have paid out 16 years ago when you started the policy, are you saying you had ample life cover at this time if one of you had died.

I don’t want to sound a tt but did you really think you paid a policy for 35 years and it would pay out any time after the policy period expired. That would mean in your mind every policy would pay out at some point.

When did you think that the payment on death would cease,if not within the 35 years ?

If you are well covered now, just stop the payments. Personally I think your clutching at straws with being miss sold the policy.

[Fastpedeller]

desolate said:

The ombudsman will rule pretty quickly but you specifically chose not to take advice when you quite literally didn't know what you were buying.

I have no idea if you will win or not, nothing surprises me anymore

But is it that simple? I didn't refuse advice, and thought I knew what I was buying. Would you consider it ok for a car dealer to sell a punter a car without an engine and say "well he didn't ask if it had one or not". There are regulation to protect the consumer. They also apply (it would seem) to insurance policies. I'm not looking for a fight, just constructive advice.

[anonymous-user]

Fastpedeller said:

But is it that simple? I didn't refuse advice, and thought I knew what I was buying. Would you consider it ok for a car dealer to sell a punter a car without an engine and say "well he didn't ask if it had one or not". There are regulation to protect the consumer. They also apply (it would seem) to insurance policies. I'm not looking for a fight, just constructive advice.

You didn't refuse advice because you didn't ask for any - you will have been told there was no advice.

The best advice now is that you should follow the complaints procedure outlined in the documentation and when that fails escalate to the ombudsman.

Life insurance was pretty heavily regulated 16 years ago so I would be surprised if the documentation didn't spell it all out BUT it's possible and the ombudsman may decide the paperwork was unclear.

I would think you would lose but nothing would surprise me. Paying the premium during the complaints process won't affect the complaint.