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Platinum Financial Consulting, 14 Mildmay House, Foundry Lane, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, CM0 8BL
Telephone : 08450 55 95 65 Fax : 0871 277 1422 Email : help@platinumifa.co.uk |
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Frequently Asked Questons |
In this section we attempt to answer many of the common questions we are continually asked. These questions appear in a list below. Simply click the question you are interested in and you will be taken to the answer. If you feel there are other questions that would be of interest to yourself and other customers, please let us know. |
| If I have a criminal conviction or a criminal record, do I have to declare it on a home insurance application form? |
If a criminal conviction is 'spent' you do not need to disclose it to household insurance companies. However if you have multiple criminal convictions, you may need to disclose older convictions that would otherwise be 'spent', since later convictions may increase the disclosure period for older offences. |
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| Can I have too many claims on my home insurance policy? |
| Yes - Most household insurers have a strict limit to the number of claims they will allow within a certain period, maybe 3 or 5 years. If you make too many claims, then your home insurance company may no longer be prepared to insure you. We have insurance companies who specialise in offering household insurance to people with a number of claims. |
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| What counts as an insurance claim? |
| Just asking your household insurance company if you would be covered for a claim, can be counted as a “claim”. For example, if you call your home insurance company and ask whether you’d be covered on your home insurance if your washing machine flooded your kitchen, even if you never put in a claim for it, some insurers will class this as a claim. They believe it gives an indication of your likelihood to claim. Also if you do make a claim, but the insurer decides for whatever reason not to pay your claim, then this still counts on your insurance record as a “claim”. We have specialist home insurers who will consider your application for household insurance, even if you have been turned down elsewhere. |
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| Is it worth claiming on my home insurance policy? |
| Insurance is really there to cover the big disasters that could financially cripple you and not the small mishaps that leave you slightly out of pocket. This is because most household insurance companies will have strict limits on the number of claims they allow within a certain timescale. If you make too many claims, your home insurer may refuse to renew your insurance. We will be able to help. |
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| Do I really need buildings insurance? |
You need to seriously consider what would happen to you and your family if the worst was to happen to your home, such as a fire. |
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| How will my insurer know about my previous claims history? |
| Most household insurers will consult databases that keep records of claims, even simple enquiries, whether they're paid or not. Originally used primarily for fraud detection, home insurers now consult these databases about legitimate claims. The number of claims to trigger non-renewal will vary from insurer to insurer, but it can be as little as two claims over three years. We have insurers who will consider your application for home insurance, whatever your claims history. |
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| How can I find out if my home is liable to flooding and whether that will affect my home insurance? |
| The Environment Agency website is working with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) to ensure continued provision of home insurance policies to people in areas prone to the risk of flooding. The link below also includes a Flood Map. www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods Our specialist insurers offer home insurance cover to people whose homes are liable to flooding. |
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| Why do I need special insurance for a listed building? |
| English Heritage will usually insist on a full reinstatement of the property if more than 40% of the historic fabric survives in the event of a disaster, such as fire. You must therefore ensure that your listed building home insurance policy covers the full reinstatement cost (including like for like methods and materials), as well as the rebuilding of the interior, not just the exterior. Most standard home insurance policies will not include this level of cover, and therefore you need specialist listed building home insurance. We can help provide specialist insurance. |
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Can you get Life Insurance for overweight people? |
| The majority of standard insurance companies may not consider offering life insurance if your BMI or Body Mass Index is above a certain level. Each insurer will have a maximum BMI that they will consider. In the UK, people with a BMI between 25 and 30 are categorised as overweight, and those with an index above 30 are categorised as obese. People with a BMI of 40 or more are described as morbidly obese. We are usually able to obtain Life Insurance for overweight people with a Body Mass Index of up to 55, sometimes higher. We specialise in finding life insurance, critical illness cover, income protection insurance and travel insurance for overweight people. Just give us a call and we can help. |
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| I am setting up a home-based business. Will my household insurance still cover me? |
| The majority of home-based business owners, and people who work from home, assume that their home insurance will also cover their home-based business activities. This is not true – your home-based business activities can actually void your home insurance. If you use your home to operate a home-based business, or for other purposes that your insurer is not aware of, then this may invalidate your policy. You should ensure that you take out a buildings and contents insurance policy which is specifically aimed at people with a home-based business, and we can help you find an appropriate buildings and contents insurance policy to meet your needs. |
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| If I am buying or selling a house, when do I need to start my buildings insurance? |
| The responsibility for insuring a property starts the minute you exchange contracts. If you are buying a property, you should insure the property from the day that contracts are exchanged. If anything happens to the property between the time you exchange contracts and the date you move in, you will be expected to cover the loss. If you are selling a property, you still have a legal responsibility to look after the property until the sale is completed and you have moved out. You should therefore keep your buildings insurance in place until the sale has completed. As well as specialist insurance, we also offer “standard” buildings insurance, so please contact us for a quote. |
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| If my property is repossessed, can I cancel my buildings insurance policy? |
| Even if your mortgage lender repossesses your property, you are still responsible for it until it is sold. However, most buildings insurance policies will not cover your property if you are no longer living in it. You should explain the circumstances to your insurer so that they can change the terms of the policy. If your existing insurer cannot continue cover, please contact us as we offer buildings insurance for properties which are unoccupied. |
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| My property is unoccupied for more than 30 days at a time, do I need special insurance? |
| Yes - Most buildings insurance policies will not cover your property if you are away from it for more than 30 days at any one time. This is because when a property is unoccupied, the insurance companies feel that the likelihood of theft or damage can increase. You can however buy a buildings insurance policy which is specifically for properties which are unoccupied, so please get in touch. |
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| I am renovating my property, and so can’t live in it at the moment. Can I get buildings insurance? |
| Yes – although most standard household insurance policies will not cover your property if it is not occupied on a permanent basis, there are some insurance policies which will cover a property whilst it is unoccupied and being renovated. We are able to offer a property insurance policy which will cover exactly this scenario. |
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| Do I need buildings insurance for my flat? |
| It is usually recommended that a flat or maisonette is insured together with the other flats that make up the block, on a single insurance policy arranged for the whole block. This is sometimes known as a block insurance policy. This is the best option because it avoids complications which may arise if the flats are insured individually, for example, your floor may be someone else’s ceiling. Please get in touch to discuss your situation. |
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| Can I cover my personal possessions away from home? |
| Most household contents insurance policies do not include cover for personal possessions away from the home as standard. It is usually an optional extra on your policy, but by taking out this insurance it means that you will then be covered if you take your personal possessions outside of your home. Personal possessions include such items as jewellery, laptops and cameras. Even if you have a high value of personal possessions which you want to cover outside your home, we can help find an appropriate contents insurance policy for you. |
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| What comes under my household contents? |
| Your house contents are anything that you would reasonably take with you if you moved, so for example beds, rugs, clothes, sofas. Your fitted wardrobes or your bathroom suite would not be considered to be your household contents, as you would not normally take them with you. Another way of thinking about it is to imagine picking up your home and shaking it – everything that falls out is considered to be your contents! |
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| What does New for Old mean on my home insurance policy? |
| New for Old means that the insurance company will replace the item you're claiming for with a brand new one of the same make & specification. If your home contents insurance policy has this feature, it will usually applies to all contents claims, apart from claims for clothing or household linen / bedding, where a deduction is normally made for wear and tear. |
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Too Many Claims
To many people it can come as something of a shock to have their insurance cancelled or not renewed. One of the most common reasons for this is that they have had too many insurance claims. Every insurer will have some estimates about how many times somebody is likely to claim, of course some people are less fortunate than others but if you start to incur lots of insurance claims, the insurer may consider that you are too extreme a risk. If you reach a situation where an insurer believes that you have had too many claims then they will take action to remedy this situation, which typically means that they will either not offer you cover beyond the renewal date or in more extreme cases cancel the policy immediately.
In such circumstances you will now have to find a new insurer who again will want to consider if your claims history is satisfactory. Most insurers will have a maximum number of claims that they will expect you to have made within a certain time period, typically this is no more than 3 claims in 5 years, more than this then in their view you have had too many insurance claims and they are likely to decline you application for insurance.
Poor Claims History
All buildings and insurance insurers share data with each other about all insurance claims, this means that each of us has a claims history which can be examined by the insurer if and when you make a claim. If you have a poor claims history you could be declined insurance if the insurer checks it out outset, however most insurers don’t do this. All of them will expect you to declare all the claims you have made over a certain period. You are therefore expected to declare if you have a poor claims history and if you don’t it could have further financial consequences for you. If you fail to disclose the fact that you have a poor claims history or even do not mention a claim that you have had, the insurer could consider that you wilfully failed to disclose previous insurance claims and therefore they could not only refuse to pay your claim, but they may not be obliged to repay any of your premiums. Therefore having too many insurance claims could result in you being branded as having a poor claims history which in turn could cause you problems with your current and future insurer.
Too Many Insurance Claims
Besides the inconvenience of having insurance policies cancelled and claims rejected having too many insurance claims can have far more serious consequences. It could be that the insurer considers that your poor claims history is a conscious thing which you have managed to maximise the benefit you received from your insurance policy. In other words you knowingly had too many claims as you were trying to obtain money from the insurer, besides the situations above the insurer might take legal action to recover money which they believe you obtained fraudulently. This could result in you having a criminal conviction which in turn will make it harder for you to obtain insurance. Therefore having both a criminal record and a history of too many insurance claims, could make it difficult for you to obtain insurance again. If you have your buildings insurance and contents insurance in one policy then you could have even greater problems. Imagine that your insurer considers that you have had too many insurance claims which results in you now having a poor claims history. Your current insurer may decide to cancel your existing policy. It could be the case that your poor claims history means that no other insurer will offer you cover, this could now cause you problems with any mortgage lender and could cost you your home.
All mortgage lenders make it a condition of the mortgage that you must have building insurance in place. If your insurer cancels your policy because you have had too many claims and your poor claims history prevents you from buying alternative cover you are obliged to inform your mortgage lender. As being without insurance technically places you in breach of the mortgage agreement your mortgage lender has a number of options open to them from increasing your monthly payment through to requesting you repay the mortgage immediately. Remember all the while your poor claims history prevents you from getting buildings insurance you will also be prevented from taking out a new mortgage or secured loan.
Even if you don’t have a mortgage if you can’t get buildings insurance due to a poor claims history, if your property suffers sufficient damage to the extent where you cannot afford the repair then you could find yourself homeless without a property to sell.
Some people have a poor claims history even though they believe they haven’t made too many insurance claims. Perhaps claims in this sense is a misleading term, as insurers count potential claims. If you contact your insurer and say “I’ve spilt milk on the carpet, can I claim for it” the insurer will most probably say yes, although it may affect your no claims discount. After this you decide not to submit a claim, here is the bad news…… the insurer will most probably still count it as a claim. This is because you have declared that an insurable event has occurred, the fact that you didn’t claim to the insurer is irrelevant, it demonstrates to them that you may be a higher risk. Now assuming at annual renewal you switch insurer and after a few months you have a claim. They decide to check your claims history and find that on your application you didn’t declare the spilt milk. You didn’t think you needed to, you didn’t claim on it after all !!! Unfortunately it could be that your insurer takes a different view and your claim and future insurability is again at risk.
While inevitably some people will be unlucky and incur too many insurance claims, it is prudent to consider whether some claims are worth making. This is not to devalue the insurance you are buying, but if an insurer feels a customer is to regularly claim for small items at £30 - £40 at a time, buy the time the £5,000 claim comes along it may be too late as the insurer has cancelled your policy as you have had too many insurance claims.