www.iva.co.uk

hi

i took up insurance of a bike i saw on ebay because the guy "found me a really good deal." he said that i could always cancel it at another date but the deal wouldn't hold. anyway i never bought the vehicle in the end and tried to cancel the insurance by post the same week. they must have ignored my letter because i never had any responce. i have canceled my direct-debit so they can get no more money from me and have since moved house (new job).

i phoned to cancel and they said that i had to pay a £40 cancellation fee and now i have a demand for £70? i was never informed of this £40 cancellation fee, infact i was told that it would be easy to cancel the insurance if i didn't get the bike so i am not happy with them. they have threatned me with debt collectors by letter to the old house. they dont have my new address but do have my phone number and email and some bank details.

my question is should i pay them?

is the sum of money so small that they would not be-able to sell my debt over ot a collector? i had an experience with a housing agentcy who tried to demand money from me and i managed to get out of that so why not this too?

or could this £70 snowball into something much bigger if i don't pay?

Hey ivamonster, I presume you are already in an IVA. I really have no idea about that, maybe your IP could advise you or hang on and someone on the forum may be able to advise you. Viki X

Its quite normal practice for insurance companies to charge a cancellation fee. Is there any mention of it in the small print of your doccuments?

how can you be charged insurance for something you haven`t got seems over the top tell them you are getting in touch with trading standards and maybe a trip to the citizens advice would help[8]

there are companies that the insurance company can hire to track you down pretty easily! I think there is a company in Heathrow that will find anyone for £25, so just cause you have moved doesnt mean the end of it. they can also get a CCJ against you,as all the court papers would go to your old address, you wouldnt object,and the CCJ would be granted!

could be easier to pay up...I know I have paid cancellation fees on car insurance before!

Isn't there a ten day cooling off period for insurance ... did you cancel within this time? Otherwise, I would agree with some of the others which is that it may be easier to pay up to shut them up ... life's to short for the stress.

Debbie

Hi Greenflag did the same to me, I took a policy with them and got a better deal through AA for maintenance insurance, so I cancelled Greenflag, and they demanded £37 for cancellation, I just informed my IP, and they added it to the IVA, (Prior to IVA proposal), Greenflag wherent happy and tried to take me to court for £37.

So if you are prior to an IVA, inform your supervisor, if its after an IVA, again inform your supervisor as you should be able to add it to your IVA.

how would costs snowball, in what order, and would i be informed about each increment before it happened? or would a letter just turn up one day saying that i owe a collection agency £500 for their "services" and i had to pay?

im thinking about leaving it to see what will happen because i don't thing its justified.

cheers

i can still receive mail from my old address.