Troublesome IFA

Nov 26, 2003 2 Replies

I have been with the same IFA for some years now and have built up a bit of a relationship with him, so that I do feel quite comfortable with him dealing with all my matters in a satisfactory manner.



About a year back, I was advised by him to ditch my current Life Assurance/Critical Illness policy in favour of another. Fine, I thought, and let him deal with all the paperwork as usual.



Anyway due to this "trust" I have with him and with it being a manic year, I did not carefully check my financial records until last week. In doing so I find that he did set up the new policy but did not cancel the old. So in effect I have been paying twice for the same cover over the past year.



I phoned him today, a little confused, and explained the situation. (Not confrontational or accusingly, just wanted to know what had happened.) He commented that he wouldn't cancel a policy until the other had been set up. Fair enough, I thought, but waiting a whole year to do it is a little bit excessive?!



Now, who should have had the responsibility of cancelling this policy? Him or me? Do I have recourse over having paid out for a whole year of a policy I don't need? What can I do, as I do feel I have just wasted about 800 pounds!



I would be very grateful for any feedback.


You yourself should cancel the policy. He cannot cancel a DD, only you can, and the life company might not accept his authority to cancel the policy, only yours. However, he should have remineded you to do this.

Rob Graham

Whenever I have had to cancel a policy before though, he has done all the contacting the institutions involved. I agree that he couldn't cancel a DD, but he could cancel the policy itself. Even if he couldn't for some reason and they did require me to write a letter, I would have expected him to have let me know the situation? Is there any grounds for a complaint to the FSA?

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