SunLife over-50s plan paid out £1,000 less than we were promised
MY HUSBAND died in December. He was 74, I am 70, and we were married and devoted to each other for 54 years.
I’d set up a SunLife Over 50 plan for him and, over the years, it contacted me to increase my premiums to keep up with inflation on the amount it would pay out.
I am now registered blind, so one of my sons called SunLife, which confirmed £4,500 would be paid out — the same sum mentioned in a letter I’d received several months previously.
The process took a long time, not least because it failed to understand the format of the Welsh death certificate, then lost the certificate and didn’t tell us until we phoned to chase it.
Today, £3,582.50 was deposited into my account — not the £4,500 it had previously confirmed. Mrs M. W., Rhondda Cynon Taf. Phoenix Life, which owns SunLife, sends its sincere apologies. it seems that the call handler made a mistake when they said the total death benefit payable was £4,500.
Also, these policies were not quite as you believed them to be. You had, in fact, taken out five separate policies over the years.
each time you believed you were topping up the first, you were, in fact, taking out a new one. This was how the total value rose in line with inflation.
The call handler failed to spot that the most recent policy, which started August 2017, was still within its moratorium period — this is a period just after a policy is taken during which time the insurance is not paid.
on this policy, you should have instead received one-and-a-half times the premiums you had paid. Phoenix accepts it has ‘undoubtedly delayed the claim’ and it has taken into consideration that you did not receive the amount you expected.
A spokesman adds: ‘Although we cannot find any proof of losing the first death certificate which was sent in, we agree that the claim has not reached the standards we aim to achieve.’
in light of this, it has offered to pay you £917.50 for loss of expectation, plus late payment interest totalling £8.81. it has also added compensation of £500 due to the delay and errors. I HAVE been trying for months to get Nationwide to pay me and my sponsor a bonus of £100 each after taking out a current account there.
First, the website would not co-operate, possibly due to a fault with my email address.
I also visited a branch, but staff seemed reluctant to discuss bonus payments. S. H., Nantwich, Cheshire. i wAS, at first, confused by your reference to ‘sponsors’, but i now realise that you mean the person who recommended you join nationwide.
The core of the problem is that your friend recommended your husband, but you applied for the account. when your friend submitted the request on May 30 last year, he should have received an email confirming that your husband needed to switch his current account within 90 days to be eligible for the £100.
in fact, you — not your husband — opened an account two weeks later. So, when you asked about the money, you were told that your friend had not made a recommendation for you to open an account. The branch provided you with a link to the form you could send to your friend so he could complete it. But he did not send this until november 2. You sent your part on november 5.
This was more than the 90 days after the switch — so too late to claim the incentive.
nationwide has, despite this, pushed the boat out and provided you both with a goodwill gesture of £100, plus a further £50 for failing to contact you to explain you had missed the deadline. MY FATHER took a lifetime mortgage with Prudential in 2009. When he died, I found papers showing an outstanding amount of £21,386.45.
I gave Prudential all the information I had and signed the papers it sent, so it could sell the house.
It was marketed at £60,000 and sold quickly, but Prudential said there was no money left.
I requested a final statement, but was refused, and its solicitor has been most unhelpful.
I had no contact with my father until a few years ago, because he left my mother in 1978, but, when he became ill, my sister and I helped as much as possible. He did not leave a will.
I have no interest in financial gain, but do not want the Pru to get more than they’re due. C. J., Paignton, Devon. iT SeeMS only reasonable that, as your father’s next of kin, you should be able to see an account from the sale of his property.
Pru’s solicitors accepted your authority when it came to expediting the sale, yet, when you asked for its co-operation in return, it turned bolshie.
You were supposed to accept a letter which merely said that there were no residual funds to be paid to the estate — all very snooty and unhelpful.
in your shoes, i, too, would want more details.
Prudential argued that you are not the estate’s executor and you had not sought probate. Yet, with no will, there could be no executor and you had not sought probate because the estate was trivial.
Common sense should have prevailed — and, finally, it has.
in fact, your father had taken a further loan against his home and, after the bills were paid, there was a £5,500 shortfall, which the Pru has absorbed, so that is the end of the matter. it has now written to you with full details.
Your letter shows how important it is to write a will, even if your assets are modest.
You might not have much to distribute, but it can make life a lot simpler for your children.