www.iva.co.uk

Can anybody advise please???

My house and contents insurance renewal is due, I`ve entered my details on the usual price comparison sites and they ask `Has anyone living at the property ever entered bankruptcy`
Now, I clicked `NO` as I`m in an IVA and not bankrupt, am I correct? or would there be an issue if I took out insurance and needed to make a claim?

If they specifically ask about BR, you can honestly say "No", if they follow it with something along the lines of ..." ... or entered into any arrangement with your creditors", it would have to be a "yes".

You were right to say no, as they are 2 different things.

You answered right but it wouldn't hurt to double check with the insurer that being in an iva doesn't invalidate the insurance. x

correct. you are not bankrupt

There was an interesting thread on the forum lately about this issue, and our resident insurance expert, John Tegg, expressed concerns that insurers may try to wriggle out of paying claims if they discovered their customers were subject to IVAs. Hopefully John may pick up this thread and comment further - John??

Copy of posting by CoverItAll

Every insurance policy in the UK is a legal contract between the Policyholder and the Insurer. The insurance contract is based on “utmost good faith” – the Insurer is legally obliged to disclose to you everything about the policy, and equally you are legally obliged to disclose to the Insurer any fact that is “material” to the contract. Unfortunately the insurance industry has for years refused to define “material”, and simply says that if you are unsure whether a fact is material or not, then to be safe you should disclose it.

What is not in doubt is that being in an IVA is a material fact – as is still the fact that I was bankrupt from October 1995 to October 1998.

Not disclosing a material fact does not mean your claim will not be paid, but it does mean you will never know whether a claim will be paid until you submit it. You are left with the worry that if the Insurer finds out, you have given them an easy way to avoid the claim, to cancel the policy, and to keep the premium ! You are simply gambling that they won’t find out.

There is a way to be absolutely safe - TELL THE INSURER. If then they won’t cover you, that’s the proof that they wouldn’t have paid the claim anyway - and you’ve established this without losing your premium and ending up uninsured.

The very worst scenario is for this to happen to your car insurance, because if your motor insurance policy is cancelled by the Insurer, not only are you left with a potentially huge bill, YOU ARE ALSO IN TROUBLE WITH THE POLICE, because driving whilst uninsured is an offence.

Although it is now 17 years since my discharge, every time I complete an insurance contract I DECLARE MY BANKRUPTCY TO THEM IN WRITING, and insist that they confirm back to me that this does not impact on my policy in any way.

Why do I go to all this trouble ? Because I have worked in the insurance industry for 46 years, and I know what it can be like.

Do yourself a huge favour, don’t gamble on the Insurer not finding out about your IVA, make sure your insurance protection PROTECTS YOU, not the Insurer. It took my firm five years to persuade an Insurer to allow us to endorse our Insurance Certificates with “The Insured has disclosed to us that they are currently in an IVA, and we confirm that this does not impact on this policy in any way, it does not increase the premium, it does not change our Underwriting decision, and it certainly does not impact in any way on our claims settlement”.

If your Insurer won’t give you this confirmation, WALK AWAY, and find another that will.
John Tegg
john.tegg@dms4asu.co.uk
http://www.paymentcover.co.uk
 

Very informative posting John, many thanks, the sad fact is that we're probably a better bet as the allowance has been made for insurances!

Many thanks for the replies.

When I looked for car insurance quotes a few months ago I never saw the question regarding bankruptcy asked, only now whilst looking for building and contents insurance quotes have I come across it.
John, are you saying that it`s best to inform insurers during enquiries for ANY insurance of any arrangement with creditors even if the question isn`t asked during quotes?


I wonder if any of our forum posters who are, or have been in an IVA have had any problems with insurance claims.

Hi goosed i think there have been the odd poster who has encountered problems with renewals, i haven't even tried to change my insurers to be honest and have just paid the premiums, next year when my renewals are up i'm going to pay it in one lump and be done with it. Maybe it would be an idea that if you have chosen to go with someone, give them a call and tell them at that point. Good luck hope you get a reasonable quote without too many problems. x

Having located the previous very informative thread regarding insurance and material information disclosure, I have emailed the company I wish to purchase my house insurance through asking them if they will insure me and honour any claims as I am in an IVA.

I will post details of their reply.

just another way for the insurance companys to put up the premium,what differance would it make if you are bankrupt or in an AVI,i cant see any way that you are more of a liability than someone else,if youve paid the yearly premium up front,
I HATE BANKERS BANKS AND INSURANCE COMPANYS BUT MOSTLY I HATE CREDIT CARDS

Today I received an email from the customer services dept of the insurance company I wish to insure through.

`To assist us further with your enquiry, please could you inform us of what an IVA is?`[:0]

This insurance company is one of the largest financial companies I know of, and their customer services dept need to ask me what an IVA is !!!

I replied with the description of an IVA and await their response.

Good luck Goosed, let's hope that common sense prevails here and you are not seen as a high risk. It is silly that we seem to be tarred with a risk factor when in an IVA, it gives you the impression that they think we are more likely to falsify claims because of the IVA, fgs! Hope you get the answer you want and are allowed to renew without any penalty.

All the best hope your insurance isn't affected, when John's original post was on the forum it did give a lot of us food for thought so worth checking. x