Life Existing Life Policy on redeemed Mortgage

I had a Life Policy including Critical Illness Cover on my 20 year term mortgage. I'm not well versed on Life Ins but I believe the policy benefit was to reduce in line with the mortgage outstanding. I moved home, redeeming that mortgage and taking out another, 5 years ago which at that point was 9 years into the mortgage & life policy.
I've only just realised I'm still paying the original life premiums, approx €40 / pm. I assumed this would have been cancelled when the initial mortgage was redeemed and thought the €40 monthly direct debit was in relation to my current mortgage but alas, no!
My question is whether this policy is of any benefit to me seeing the initial mortgage is no more.
If not, do these policies have any surrender value?

Many thanks.

Hi SeanK,

Thanks for the reply. I took the mortgage with IP and at the same time took the policy from Irish Life as arranged by them.

My concern is that since the policy was never cancelled by either me or IL, has it been affording me any form of cover over the last 5 years since the mortgage was redeemed? If not it seems like I've paid out €2.4K in premiums for zero benefit.

Many thanks.

Hi Bocht,
You would still have been covered over the past number of years assuming the policy was being paid and remained in force. That said if you continue to pay the premium you will continue to be covered for say 5/6 years (remaining term).

The questions you need to ask yourself are 1) what level of cover have you got on this policy now? and 2) do you really need this policy?

In general you wouldn't have a surrender value on term assurance/mortgage protection but it wouldn't hurt to check with Irish Life either way. If you decide that you don't need/want this cover anymore then you should contact Irish Life to cancel it. In general they will need the original policy document and a letter stating that you wish to cancel it. If you don't have the original policy anymore you will need to complete a "lost policy Declaration" and return it to them along with the letter. They will be able to provide you with this as it is a standard form that they use. It is also likely that it may still be assigned to PTSB as in many cases they don't seem to release the assignment on the mortgage when it is cleared. If this is the case you will also have to contact PTSB to get them to release the assignment over the policy. Alternatively you can just cancel the direct debit with the bank - this is what I would recommend. They may send you a couple of letters saying that you have missed a payment and that they will cancel the policy - which is what you want.

Either way I would make sure that you don't need the policy before you go and cancel it as once it's cancelled there's no going back and it may be more expensive to get the same level of cover today. I hope this helps and if you have any more questions let me know.

Bocht, you should contact the person who sold you the product or phone Irish Life on 01 7042000 and ask customer services to explain exactly what you are paying for. You need to gather information on what you have and the reason you have it before you consider what heritage 'would recommend'. Seank tried, but you see you just haven't posted enough information for anyone to be able to help you.

If IP insisted you took out the Policy with IL and you redeemed the mortgage they should have had the manners to tell you to stop paying for it, especially when they were marked as the beneficiaries of the Policy. Sounds like another case for the Financial Services Ombudsman.

An insurer cannot make an assumption and cancel a policy because they assume the loan now cleared means the policy is no longer required. The insured could have changed their mind and earmarked the proceeds for some other financial requirement. If a person needs to cancel a policy then the person(s) insured must do so in writing. There are many cases where a direct debit or the wrong policy was cancelled in error. For instance in a marriage break up case you'd be getting yourself in deep water if one person cancelled the direct debit and the policy lapsed without the other persons knowledge. The list goes on..

You need to gather information on what you have and the reason you have it before you consider what heritage 'would recommend'.

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The questions you need to ask yourself are 1) what level of cover have you got on this policy now? and 2) do you really need this policy?

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I think this is exactly what I said in the first place???

Heritage you said " Alternatively you can just cancel the direct debit with the bank - this is what I would recommend. They may send you a couple of letters saying that you have missed a payment and that they will cancel the policy - which is what you want." Are you happy with that???