Monitum - Caledonian Mortgage Protection

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emily_moss

Registered User
Messages
55
Hi

I need some help. Last year I took out a mortgage protection policy for Caledonian through Monitum Ltd. It was a special offer reduced rate.
I took out the policy this time last year which would mean it is due for renewal.
My problem is Caledonian have automatically taken the premium from our account without contacting us, and now I cannot contact them.

I have been ringing Monitum, maybe I should contact Caledonian directly.

I am really annoyed by this. Has anyone had a similar experience?
 
if you signed up for mortgage protection then you signed up for the period of your mortgage e.g. 25 yrs or 30 yrs etc. Its not like home insurance or motor insurance where you just sign up for 1 year at a time. Unless you cancel your policy then the company will assume that you are with them for the full term of the policy (usually the term of your mortgage). You will have signed a direct debit mandate presumably as they have taken funds from your account?
I take it you went for a 50% off deal for year 1 and intended going to another discount broker, switching your cover and repeating the discount offer? - otherwise why would you have an issue with continuing your existing cover?
 
What you said seems to be the case. I did sign a direct debit mandate and I was unaware that I was signing up the the protection for the life of the mortgage. I must have know this at the time but got a bit of a surprise when I saw ver €700 go out of our account.
And yes my plan was to move to another discount broker this year.
I spoke to Caledonian directly who explained everything to me. I do have an option to cancel so I need to wait for Monitum to come back to me to go through the options and see if I will lose money.

Thanks for the info.
 
If you arrange alternative/cheaper cover and then tell the lender about it you can then cancel the original policy and get a pro-rata refund of premiums otherwise "unused".
 
Have you had any luck trying to contact Monitum? I have been expecting a cheque from them for the last two weeks and haven't been able to get them on the phone. I've left messages but haven't received a call back.
 
OP - were you going to switch to a different broker to get the discount again? If so, which one were u thinking of switchinng to?
 
just be warey of changing policies, as if your medical circumstances have changed (what u may think is slight, a life office might require more info). Don't forget about disclosing all medical info (incl info last provided on your previous application - non disclosure is an offence and one could potentially could be caught out as there is a common register between all life offices. You may be required to have a medical or get a GPs report, on the new proposal of insurance etc, which could potentially delay things considerably. My suggestion is that you should apply for new policy elsewhere (say 123.ie or any of the brokers currently running offers) meanwhile inform caledonian that you have changed your mind and wish to pay monthly direct debit (refund the balance to you) which of course you can cancel when you please, but you won't have "lapsed" your cover" - meaning that you can pay for what you actually want to be covered for.

If you still have trouble contacting your existing broker/agent or even caledonian, you should inform your new agent/broker, who, on the signature of a authorisation by you would be more than willing to pass on an instruction on your behalf (and effectively be paid to chase it up until the request is completed). This should save you a lot of time in the long run (particularly if they think you are going to take out a policy through them).

Best of luck.
 
I got my life insurance through Monitum. I think it's a one man shop. I've never tried to ring them and did everything via email. It took a while to get a refund on the first premium and I started getting a bit nervous, but it did arrive eventually. I enquired with every single insurance broker under the sun, and he definitely offered the best deal at the time.
 
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