Summary
Some of the ways in which the insurance industry is tackling mis-sold life insurance policies. The difficultiesassociated with payment protection policies are highlighted.
The mis-selling of Life Insurance policies by a significant amount of mortgage lenders has to be attended todealt with|tackled} by the Government. Steps have been taken by the DTI, who have almost finished their enquiriesinto the lock in of home and contents insurance with mortgages. A press releaseforbidding the practice is Mr Timescarries on that although providers may not insist that clients have life insurance , they can be convinced that they have no choice through the provider being ambiguous with the truth.
55 per cent of life cover is sold by mortgagelenders, however it can be bought through independent advisers or direct providers.
However a DTI spokesman has said that their enquiry continues into a large range of insurance tie-ins. A provider who met Jack Straw has said that life insurance has been glanced at, whereas more importance has been focused on home insurance.
The problem with consumers being forced to buy noncompetitive life insurance and home insurance policies is just as important for both products.
The problems are especially serious with payment protection insurance. As much as 1/2 of all consumers who have been swayed into taking out a PPI may have been provided with the wrong product. Plus the the greater part of people who bought one of these debatable insurances expect much more than they would in actual fact receive if they were unable to pay their bills.
A wide-ranging investigation has brought to light that approximately 26% of people are under the illusion that they will get a monthly wage from their Payment Protection Insurance policy, not understanding that the insurance would only cover their debts.
A further twenty per cent said they understood the insurance would protect them if they could no longer meet their repayment commitments for any reason, and 8 per cent said they believed tha| their medical bills would be paid for if they fell ill.
Several people thought the policy would go on indefinitely to meet their debt repayments, others thought their insurance would cover motor car breakdowns and household bills.
Yearly sales of Payment Protection Insurance policies are said to create premiums of about 6.4 billion pounds for the finance industry. However anincredible 4 billion pounds of this is said to be pure profit. Investigations suggest that a number of banks can charge up to five hundred per cent more than others for similar.
The OFT is examining the sale of Payment Protection Insurance preceding complaints from the National Consumer Council and Citizens Advice. It recently pointed out concerns that banks are enticing customers by advertising seemingly cheap loans and then hitting them with massive additional costs by selling expensive Payment Protection Insuranceas part of the agreement.
As a result, a loan which may appear to provide good value can end up being far more costly.
