Will your claim be eligible?
- 22ND JUNE 2007
Any individual with an insurance policy assumes that he or she will be covered should the worst happen. If an individual were to have a car accident then motor insurance would cover them. If their home were broken into then home insurance would cover the costs. If they were to be made redundant and struggle to pay the bills then… they may well be let down by their payment protection insurance.
Consumer watchdog Which? has long labelled payment protection insurance unreliable as a result of the exclusions buried deep within the small print, as well as complicated policy documentation that makes the policy hard to understand.
For example, all payment protection insurance policies will have a clause within the small print stating that an individual must declare all pre-existing health conditions. A bad back would not be the first thing that sprang to mind but it would ensure that you were left unprotected.
Various publications have drawn attention to the fact that a simple headache could actually result in a rejected claim. If you visited the doctor for head pain then you should disclose it, but not everyone remembers their full medical history, and payment protection insurance providers tend to capitalise on that.
Payment protection specialist British Insurance’s Simon Burgess has made valid points concerning payment protection insurance and explains the policies of banks and lenders when he says: “The two most common reasons that people take time off work is down to back pain and stress. However, many payment protection insurance policies often exclude these afflictions. Therefore, check and double check as to what cover you actually have before signing on the dotted line”.
The moral of the story – always be fully aware of what you are signing before putting pen to paper!
