As some of you may recall I have said before that I am unable, for reasons medical, to buy life insurance. This is not strictly true as I can buy the sort of policy advertised by the likes of Frank Windsor and June Whitfield that usually come with a carriage clock or other tasteless "free gift". They require no medical history and guarantee a small payout in the event.
Now to insure your car with two companies and try to claim twice for the same accident is illegal. The same applies to your household insurance, holiday insurance etc. BUT it does not apply to life insurance where you can in fact have as many policies as you can afford and, in the event, your heirs can claim against all of them.
I saw this as a way of gaining some limited life insurance cover but did not wish to end up with a lot of carriage clocks or other "valuable gifts" because they are not really free so I started looking around some couple of years ago to find providers of such policies that would not be spending my first two or three premiums on my "Valuable Free Gift". I was, in fact, looking for Value for Money ~ and it is out there if you are prepared to hunt for it. Having purchased one such small policy, I bought another about a year later and recently thought, I have a little spare income ..... perhaps I should invest in a third policy so I started to look around again.
Last week I got an email from ASDA Financial Services ~ well we do shop with ASDA online so it is not unreasonable that they send me a weekly "Would you like to buy a XXX from us" email. This time the email was from their "Financial Services" and they were offering what looked like a reasonably priced life policy for the over 50s with NO "FREE" GIFTS so I called the Freephone number and asked for a quotation which turned up, as promised within two days. The policy on offer was perhaps not the best return on my investment that I could have got but in these straightened times it seemed not unreasonable. I was attracted to the idea that it was not a whole life policy but once I had paid in the sum assured I would need make no more payments. Some of these over 50 plans require you to pay until the day you die which could mean you pay in far more than your heirs will get back.
Then I noticed who was underwriting the plan. AIG. Well we all know that they are going down the tubes. US Government bailouts, questionable bonus payments to executives etc etc. Anyway I started to have second thoughts about the wisdom of getting involved with them. Last evening the phone rang and it was the sweet girl who had sent me the quote wondering if I had yet had chance to read through the documents she had sent and what did I think? I mentioned my reservations about starting a policy with AIG. She assured me that AIG in the UK was quite separate from the company in the USA. I pointed out that this was not the case, that they are two cheeks of the same arse so to speak and in the States they are blaming their "overseas" companies for their woes whereas in the UK they are blaming the parent company's "investment" arm in the USA for the problems. She then went on to assure me that my investment with AIG would be "Regulated by the FSA here in the UK" ~ "Would that be the same FSA that regulated Northern Rock, HBOS, The Royal Bank of Scotland and countless others and is that supposed to reassure me?" I asked ~ "Oh yes" she replied brightly "The FSA are very strict"
Smothering my chuckles I asked "That would be strict as in the way they have permitted countless fraudsters to escape justice, strict in the way they have failed to bring one successful prosecution against any of the many rogue traders, dealers and insurers over the years since Nulabour gave them the regulatory powers over all matters financial in the UK would it ~ surely not the same FSA that allowed Equitable Life and others to bankrupt themselves whilst selling insurance policies that turned out to be worthless ~ and is this supposed to give me comfort that my, admittedly small, investment will be safe for all time?"
She cried!
I suggested she find another job.
No I have not accepted their kind offer of insurance at low, low rates.
