Some of you may already know that I had tried to activate the insurance cover on a loan that I took out in February. After paying the monthly repayments for the first few months after starting this roller-coaster journey I realised that I would not be back at work for a longer time than I had anticipated so rang to activate this. I was asked why I hadn't done so earlier and said that ever the optomist I had hoped everything would have been sorted out and I would have been back at work by now!
So forms were sent to me and my GP (had to pay £25 for the honour of him filling in a yes/no form!) and I duly filled them in and sent them back. My work was contacted too it seems. This was back in August by the way and they put me on a payment 'holiday' for September while things got sorted out. I was beginnng to get a bit anxious as the next payment is due on the 20th of this month. I then received a letter from the claims dept on Friday to say that as my GP said I was "aware in January of this blemish that this is seen as a pre-existing condition and therefore due to their terms and conditions they would not be covering the repayments"!
After the red mist had decended before my eyes I grabbed the phone and my diary and phoned the dept. I told them that I was not medically qualified to know that my 'freckle' was cancerous!! I saw my GP a whole 4 months after taking out the loan and only because of the insistance of my Physio at work to have it looked at. I wasn't officially diagnosed with a malignant melanoma until 12th August so how was I supposed to know in Jan???? I also told them that these insurance covers are taken out in the real expectatyion that you will never have to use them but that they are there as a 'safety net'. To now be told when I NEED to have that safety net that it's not there was cruel and disgusting. I explained that I was on SSP of £330 and if they took their £210 out of that then I would be destitute. At this the man who I was talking to asked if I would 'hold' while he spoke to his supervisor! He then came back and said that he would be reffering my case to their Customer Service Department who would be in touch within 5 days.
That letter came yesterday but said it would take a while to investigate and to continue paying my premium! I rang again but the person I spoke to was nothing to do with the actual payments so advised me to speak to my bank. I went down to my local branch of Lloyd's TSB and saw one of their advisors who was appalled at what I had been told and said that when I took the loan out all questions relating to my health would have been asked and she agreed that no one would have known that a freckle then would turn out to be cancer. She couldn't request another payment holiday as you can only do that once every 6 months so she upped my overdraft by the amount needed to cover the payment so I would not go into the red. That took the pressure off because it gave me a further 5 weeks before payment needed to be made again and I was hoping this would all be sorted out by then.
Just now I had a call from the Customer Service Dept and a really lovely lady said that she has looked at my complaint and has over-ruled the original decision!! She agreed that there was no way I would have known. She also asked did I know that the Critical Illness part of my insurance covered malignant melanoma which meant that the whole loan will be paid off in one go now and I won't owe anything at all ? I nearly cried with relief when she said that. It would have been a great help to have the payments covered but to have the loan wiped was a miracle!!
So, for anyone else out there who have been told 'no' to claiming insurance on loans etc it's worth contesting it to see if a mistake has been made.
Love and hugs to you all
pheonix xxx
FormerMember
Hi P,
That must be such a weight off your mind!! A little bit of a silver lining to one of the many clouds. I have critical illness cover in work, but never benefited cos it was bestowed upon us way after my initial diagnosis, so now I'm not covered for any form of cancer whatsoever, which seems a bit unfair. Although I don't pay for the benefit, if I cancelled it I could have a slight increase in pay, but I keep it on knowing that with my bad luck, if I did cancel I'd probably have a stroke or heart attack, the only two things I appear to be now covered for!
Keeping fingers crossed that this is the start of an upturn in your fortunes!
Way to go Phoenix! Well done! Its amazing to me that when I have adversity such as yours, I can often end up meeting the most amazing people in the course of sorting it out. Looks like you found an Angel! So happy for you! L0RI
I would never have thought I could have cancer. I took a loan out about a year before I imagined any illness could have been brewing. I was still a blood donor then. I was irritated because being over 60, I couldn't prove unemployment, and I was only able to get temping work.
I had started a complaint against Lloyds for overcharging bank charges, and had begon another about short term unemployment or sickness cover not being provable for pensioners or seasonal workers or any casual workers. Then bam! First my blood donation was refused, then I was diagnosed with cancer. I made a claim under critical illness cover and eventually my doctor signed the form and let me have it back. In the meantime, I had a number of very aggressive phone calls from Lloyds "service department" trying to take over my critical illness claim, and suggesting that "at my age they might have to look at it again". Since I had been 60 when I took out the loan and I am still less than 65 now, and was trying to work then, they had no grounds to withhold critical illness cover. I even spoke to this woman's supervisor, but if anything she was worse. My husband made me put the phone down and refuse to take any more of their calls. I sent the form to the Claims department and it went through without any problems.
So yes, I'd agree that you really have to persist to get fair treatment sometimes. I resolved the short term question, because it has to be 3 weeks absence, and I had only been away with the hamstring injury for a fortnight. If I hadn't been offered work, I wouldn't go back so soon. The first day was very painful.
So yes, make sure you get everything you are entitled to. If the banks are in trouble, it is only their own fault and they aren't passing on the interest rate cuts to their customers yet.
Well Phoenix, you sent me a really nice message when I posted my first blog, and wanted to say I'm so glad you've scored a personal triumph; hope you're treating yourself to a glass of something/bar of chocolate/whatever you fancy tonight. There's not a lot worse than the horrible feeling of panicking about matters financial, and good for you! -you've taken the bull by the horns, put your case forward clearly and got the right result.
