insurance company canceled a policy without notifying

by Guest » Thu Mar 23, 2006 06:05 am
Guest

Guys !

This is a peculiar case, where in I need to pay a sum worth my six months premium to my insurance company with no fault of mine. My husband and me had been perfectly maintaining our life insurance policies with this company for over a period of time. Everything seemed alright till the time I realised that my husband's policy did not get activated. This was quite evident in my checking account statement as I viewed the amount withdrawn as premium.

As I called on my insurer, I was informed that
everything has been straightened out. Since that time I have been observing the amount of withdrawal each month, which suggested that both of our premiums were being collected regularly. Now that a year has passed and we are planning to shift in to another city, I had to call our insurer and inform them to switch their way of collecting to our new bank.

All to my dismay, they could only figure out my husband's account. It merely suggests that my policy got cancelled without any information being conveyed to me. Now they are forcing me to pay for my last six months premiums which they haven't withdrawn to get my policy reinstated. Now, my question is- can they ask me to pay for their fault ? Is it not unlawful for them to cancel my policy without any notice being served to me ? Or is that the only way to get my policy reinstated ?

I would be back soon.
Rhonda

Total Comments: 14

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 04:29 am Post Subject: Pay premiums

Hi,

There is no real reason why you should look for a cash value policy. Incase you are merely looking for a death benefit, its better if you opt for a term life policy but that too not from your present insurer. Assuming you are still healthy, I feel you are still capable of getting insured by a new policy from a new company.

You would only need to reimburse your missed premiums if you wanna reinforce your policy with a serious health condition. It is more important for you to understand, that incase there were no mistakes from either side you would have paid your premiums. So, any fault committed either by you or your insurer does not alter the pricing structure of the policy.

Regards,
Evan

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 04:32 pm Post Subject: insurance policy

our insurance company has cancelled our buildings insurance with no notification and we have found out we have not been insures.

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 09:10 am Post Subject: Policy cancellation

Hi keren,

Your situation is no doubt strange. The insurers are required to give an intimation (normally of 30 days) before canceling any policy. Please speak to their customer care executives. If they fail to provide satisfactory explanations, talk directly to the concerned official. But, before that, please check that there was no violation in terms of policy rules from your side and all the premiums were paid on a regular basis.

Regards,
Juanita

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 06:12 pm Post Subject:

Cancelling of a policy is really rarer than you'd think, now non-renew different story. A policy will immediately cancel for non-payment of premium, but that is one of those 'duh' things.

I'm with Jaunita, contact the policy services dept of your carrier directly. And see what the trouble is. They would've had to send out this information prior to cancellation and will be able to tell you where they sent it...and when, and what it said. Have you moved? Another avenue is to contact your bank and check on the debits, come to think of it on a policy that is set up on a monthly direct withdraw from your account, (EFT), can cancel (I think agents correct me if I'm wrong), if the debit 'bounces' in otherwords, if the go to pull the premium and your account doesn't have suffiencent funds to cover this, it can automatically cancel for non-payment. I'm pretty sure mine say this in the 'debit agreement' I have all of our premiums (house, boat, four wheeler and life) pulled on the 17th of each month. You might want to check that, your bank could tell you right away, that might explain this.

But in order to reinstate or keep your policy if the premiums have not been paid then of course you would need to pay them, but then you already thought you had, so that money is still there in your account right?

Good luck, I would be interested in the outcome if you are so inclined.

Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 06:19 pm Post Subject:

Lori- ours says the same thing- if there are not sufficient funds to cover the debit it can be cancelled..Karen

Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 01:49 pm Post Subject:

Reinstating your insurance means the insurance goes back to be reinstated from the time the insuance cancelled. This means all premiums not paid, must be paid up to date. Even if you decided to go with another company, you probably would pay more because the company would see you as currently uninsured which will cause you to pay a higher premium.

Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 05:47 pm Post Subject: insurance

I thought ( as well..) that an insurance company (reguardless of whether it's car, health, etc.) has to let you know BEFORE the policy is terminated.

Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 06:19 am Post Subject:

I thought ( as well..) that an insurance company (reguardless of whether it's car, health, etc.) has to let you know BEFORE the policy is terminated.



Well, SD the insurance company may inform you before the policy lapses, but it may not as well, and in such scenario you can't hold the insurer responsible for not informing you. You are responsible to stay current with your premium payment to enjoy the coverage and therefore are required to be pro-active.

Insurers allow a grace period for 30 days within which you can pay the premium and avoid policy cancellation without paying any penalty but once the grace period lapses the coverage will get terminated.

Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 12:08 pm Post Subject:

Insurers allow a grace period for 30 days within which you can pay the premium and avoid policy cancellation without paying any penalty but once the grace period lapses the coverage will get terminated.

Not so jeorge atleast in the P&C world..no ''grace'' period at all may be a 10 day forgiveness but thats about the max

Add your comment

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.