Can bank reinstate Cancelled Mortgage Protection Policy without giving me notice?

Hi,

I recently switched my mortgage protection insurance - cancelling a Zurich policy and starting a policy with friends first on april 1st. At the time I did not inform the bank of these changes - as I was not fully aware of what was required.

Was away on holiday for a few weeks and on my return opened a letter stating the the bank had asked Zurich to reinstate the policy for April and May and I was subsequently charged the direct debit for 2 months. Can the bank do this without notifying me? If they got in touch I would have provided them with info of my new policy.

I have now posted the bank with the new policy details and am will follow up with them to make sure all is in order and I can cancel my Zurich policy...again.

Red tea ,

I am fairly sure You have 2 months to recall the extra DD on your mortgage protection policy that Bank took under Sepa rules..ie get your money back.
So put it in writing , get stamped confirmation you want the extra dd recalled.Take no excuses.

In fairness Bank might only have been protecting you and them since you hadn,t informed them.(in this brave new banking world you must sort things)
In any event its your money.

RedTea said:

Was away on holiday for a few weeks and on my return opened a letter stating the the bank had asked Zurich to reinstate the policy for April and May and I was subsequently charged the direct debit for 2 months. Can the bank do this without notifying me? If they got in touch I would have provided them with info of my new policy.

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No. The bank should have written to you first requesting that you either re-instate the existing policy or supply them with new assigned cover. As the old policy is assigned to the bank they are entitled to pay the premiums but not to take the premiums from your account without your permission. You need to ensure that these premiums are refunded to you!

44brendan,

I thought that Bank could pay the premia and debit the ac , indeed in many cases they would be doing everyone a favour.
I learn every day!

Yes they can Gerry, but not without giving the customer adequate notice to re-instate a cancelled policy. Bank's ability to debit a clients account without permission is far more curtailed now than in the past

Hi,

I have forwarded the new policy to the bank...and have confirmation they received it. Now they also need me to fill and return a doc to them to assign the new policy to them and they will release their interest in the old one....on my initial conversation with them they said nothing else was required other then the policy itself...hard to get a straight answer from them :-(

with regards to a refund - the bank seem to be putting the blame on Zurich - that Zurich should have contacted me asking if it was ok to reinstate the policy. I have a letter from them stating that the policy was reinstated..but not asking IF they could reinstate it..

At this point I am not sure if my problem is with the bank or Zurich. From what 44brendan says above - Ulster Bank should have requested I reinstate the policy rather than doing it directly themselves, whereas the bank are saying Zurich should have contacted me before the reinstated the policy.

Either way I plan on going down the SEPA route to request a refund and will discuss with Zurich later...