Single trip travel insurancePackaged bank accounts may not be such good value
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published their 2011 Retail Conduct Risk Outlook. The report hi-lights concerns for 2011 and one concern is the rise in packaged bank accounts being sold. Packaged accounts are fee-bearing current accounts bundled with a number of other products, such as travel insurance and other consumer benefits, and are usually designed to target as broad a range of consumer as possible. The FSA estimate that approximately a quarter of all current account customers have been sold a packaged account, and they are concerned whether the products offered the consumer value for money.
Insurancewith has long been concerned about the level of travel insurance cover in packaged bank accounts for people with medical conditions. Travel Insurance for pre existing medical conditions can be complex and relying on a travel policy as part of your bank account to fully cover your condition can be a false economy. The customer must fully read the documentation provided by the bank with the packaged account to ensure that any insurance they will be relying on actually suits their needs. Because the customer does not ask for all the benefits the packaged account offers they don’t always check it to see if it is suitable for them, and only realise that it does not fit their needs when they come to rely on it.
Banks have heavily marketed packaged accounts in order to increase fee income from current accounts after profits from traditional bank activities like lending were hard hit by the financial crisis.
The FSA also voiced concerns about banks bundling deposit accounts with investment products which it warned could lead to poor outcomes for consumers because of the complexity of the products and higher switching costs.‘We believe a desirable outcome would be one where firms do not bundle products with disparate appropriate target markets or product risk profiles. It is crucial that where the bundled investment product poses an increased risk of mis-selling, firms put in place strong point-of-sale and other controls that ensure that consumers purchase products that meet their needs,’ stated the FSA.
Packaged accounts are fee-bearing current accounts bundled with a number of other products, such as travel insurance and other customer benefits, and are usually designed to target as broad a range of consumers as possible. The volume of packaged current accounts has grown sharply in recent years and these have been sold across all age groups, income brackets and socio-economic groups (Figure 75). Based on figures provided by some banks, we estimate that approximately a quarter of all current account customers had a packaged account at the end of 2009.
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I was diagnosed with cancer
I was diagnosed with Breast cancer 5 years ago, and since then finding travel insurance has been a nightmare. After being diagnosed, spending time with my young children and enjoying family holidays has become even more important to me. However, the shine can be taken off making what should be happy holiday plans by trying to find reasonable, but adequate holiday insurance. The process inevitably involved intimidating health screening questions and extortionate insurance premiums.Thankfully those days are behind me - I’m so pleased to have found Insurancewith. I have just arranged my holiday insurance through Insurancewith last week - and found it so easy and painless. A completely different experience! The health screening questions were short, to the point, easy to answer and appropriate. I paid by card over the phone, and the documents were emailed to me within minutes of putting the phone down.
The whole process took less than 20 minutes from dialing the number to receiving my documents - and the icing on the cake was the reasonable premium!!! At last, thanks to Insurancewith, I can enjoy planning holidays again. I would not hesitate to recommend Insurancewith to anyone who needs travel insurance following a diagnosis of cancer.
Miss J S from Sussex
My wife and i went to Cyprus for two weeks
Two years ago, to be able to say the above would have been simply routine, in fact not really worth mentioning. But like many others, my wife was diagnosed with Breast Cancer 2 years ago and while thankfully she is now doing just fine, we found that a holiday for us now, something that we previously had been able to save and look forward to, had been all but closed off to us in so far as being able to find affordable insurance cover.
In some ways this was almost as big a shock as discovering my wife’s illness.
Quotes of £2000 and more for insurance for a couple of weeks break were commonplace.
What hurt most was that despite my wife’s courage and the marvellous recovery she was making, many insurance company’s were all but telling us that holidays were something that we should no longer consider we were entitled to.
Then when we had all but given up hope of being able to go on holiday, I by pure chance discovered Fiona Macrae’s company Insurancewith.
So my wife and I would like to say a huge thank you to Fiona Macrae and her staff for all the help and the sensitive way in which they have been able to provide us with realistically priced Insurance to cover our trip.
Thanks again Fiona, and we look forward to contacting you again for our next holiday.
Joan and Roy from Kent
Our trip was problem free
I suffer from myeloma (bone marrow cancer) and my husband has high blood pressure and an irregular heart beat. In both cases the conditions have been under control with medication forseveral years. Our daughter and her husband live in Singapore andlast Christmas offered us the air fare for a three week visit this year after my latest chemotherapy treatment. We never dreamed that our plans would be thwarted by problems obtaining insurance. We couldn't get anything we could possibly afford; quotations were in the region of three thousand pounds!The article in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, March 30th, "Too sick to insure..?" came to our attention and we contacted insurancewith. The rest is history: we have recently returned from a wonderful three week holiday. The insurance cost us just £480, and as our trip was completely problem free we did not need to claim anything, so everyone was happy. The company's risk paid off and they made their profit, and we had that peace of mind which meant we were free of those worries which would have spoilt our holiday if we had been forced to risk travelling without insurance. Now that I am on my next course of treatment, I have all those wonderful memories to cheer me up and also able to visualise my family in their own environment as well as being able to chat face to face with Skype.
We are exceedingly grateful to insureancewith and have already written to the Daily Telegraph and sent notices to our GP surgeries and my hospital unit advising other patients of our experience. If we are lucky enough to have another chance to travel, we shall know where to go!
Yours, very thankfully,
SC
Speedy efficient and sensitive
I just wanted to thank you for Insurancewith's speedy, efficient and sensitive handling of my request for travel insurance to America. As I'm sure you know, many so-called 'specialist' insurers are unwilling to consider quoting for people with secondary cancer. I had actually given up on the plan to visit friends in America, after being given a starting price of £1000 by the one company who would consider insuring me - that was over twice the cost of my flight!After hearing Fiona Macrae from Insurancewith talking on "Womens Hour", I decided to have one last try, and to my absolute delight, not only did Insurancewith agree to provide cover, but quoted £300. I have now returned relaxed, brown and happy and I have already recommended you to friends in the same situation as me, so thanks again.
Annie
We were amazed
I was diagnosed with cancer last year and the only thing to keep me going apart from my loving family and friends was the holiday we had booked for Sorrento in May this year. It wasn’t until I was talking to other members of my family that I realised that our yearly travel insurance wouldn’t cover me since my recent operation and current illness.We never thought that our plans would be ruined by ridiculously high insurance quotes until we were recommended Fiona Macrae’s Company Insurancwith. We were amazed that for a single trip it only cost us £26.00. The health screening question were easy to answer and within no time the insurance details were forwarded to me.
The holiday was a good tonic for us all especially knowing I was adequately insured if I should have a relapse whilst away. I am doing well and have recently booked another holiday for April next year and will of course be getting in touch with Insurancewith again.
A big thank you to Fiona and her staff at Insurancewith for making it possible for us to enjoy and afford our holidays again.
Mrs L. Suffolk
What would cancer sufferers and others with medical conditions do?
What would cancer sufferers and others with medical conditions do without the help of people like Fiona Macrae and her wonderful staff. I tried for several months to get a reasonable quote for holiday insurance with the usual stress of either being told that I could not have cover for my condition (Bladder Cancer) or the quote was high enough to cause me to think that I should just stay at home.After reading an article about Fiona I got in touch and was surprised that she personally replied back. I contacted her staff and was delighted to speak with someone who made me feel that I had the right to travel insurance even with my medical history.
The questions were exactly for my condition and the quote was really great, that I booked straight away,and I have two days later received all the necessary paper work. Well done insurancewith long may we have contact and I hope you soon will be able to offer clients Annual Trips as well. I will certainly recommend your Company with pleasure.
Yours, very thankfully,
Mrs J G