Life Assurance renewal

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Newbie!

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Hi,

I took my life assurance out via a broker recommended on this site last year. I knew it was up for renewal during July and had expected a letter stating same but i have just noticed that a direct debit went from my account to the insurance company directly. I remember giving my bank details last year but i thought i had asked if i would be contacted before renewal and was told yes. Is this allowed ie. should i not have been told the renewal price first?
 
Life assurance isn't usually taken out over a year. If this is to cover your mortgage, then it has to be taken out for the same length of time as your mortgage, ie. 20 years or 30 years. There may be an option to review the premium every 5 years, but it would be very unusual to have a review after a year.
 
I understand. Will try root out the original documents tonight. I just thought it odd that a payment would be taken from your account without prior notice.....maybe not odd at all!
 
This is standard practice - like it was mentioned to you previously, you entered into a 20 or 25 year policy and if it was term assurance or mortgage protection term assurance, then the premium would be guaranteed for the duration of the term.
 
Newbie! said:
Is this allowed ie. should i not have been told the renewal price first?
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The premium for mortgage protection life assurance generally does not change each year and is fixed from the outset. The only time it might change is if you were on an introductory special offer and you reverted to the normal premium after a year or whatever.
 
With any life assurance policy, if you choose to pay by Direct Debit the company does not send you a renewal notice.
 
Could I include my issue under this topic - it appears it is the best place?

Our Mortgage Protection provider adviced us that our direct debit did not come out for our renewal after year 1, (as my partner had changed his bank).

As my partner is slow to get things sorted, our policy has been lapsed (2 notifications) which he never got around too.

Therefore we now have to re-apply. My issue is that we are without cover - and my concern is (I assume) our legal obligation to our Mortgage provider; and the idea of having no protection at this time.
 
sulo said:
My issue is that we are without cover - and my concern is (I assume) our legal obligation to our Mortgage provider; and the idea of having no protection at this time.
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I am surprised that your lender didn't get onto you about this since they are named on the policy and should presumably have been notified once cover lapsed (see here). Having no protection means that if a mortgage holder dies then the mortgage will not be cleared. Best to get cover in place again ASAP just to be sure and (most likely) in compliance with the terms & conditions of your loan agreement.
 
Thanks Clubman.

This is only quite recent. I expect that they (mortgage provider) will write to us. We have re-applied for mortgage protection and our application forms our with the broker. I expect the next stage is the health check with doctor etc - so it will be a few weeks before anything is in place. But we are doing our utmost to get it in place asap.
 
Clubman, we did with Hibernian.

So hopefully when we re-apply they may take the existing Medicals into consideration!! That should hopefully rush things along.

(we changed our broker from the last time)
 
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