home insurance

[jasmin26]

my partner was made bankrupt in May, our home and contents insurance needs renewing soon and i am having a problem getting qoutes because of his bankruptcy. does anyone know who i could try ?

[Ethel]

I suggest you try your local insurance brokers.

Most online insurance policies are for 'standard' insurance, but a broker should be able to help.

[themas]

Do as Ethel says. If you still have problems it might well be worthwhile taking one (or more) of the companies who are refusing to quote to the Insurance Ombudsman.

I cannot see why the fact that someone is bankrupt should be a reason for declining to provide insurance - unless perhaps fraud has been involved.

[gouldc]

Working on a fraud investigation unit for a motor insurer, I think the main problem you have here is the possibiity of fraud.

Whilst I am not suggesting that you would, people who are on the verge of bankrupcy, or who are bankrupt, have a higher propensity for commiting fraud for financial gain.

As for taking the insurers to the Ombudsman, you may have some difficulty here - it's like with car insurance, different companies have different criteria - where I work, we will take on someone wit ha DR10 (drink drive), yet refuse someone with an IN10 (no insurance). This is strange to me as the drunk would seem a bigger risk.

Equally, some home insurers may not want to take you on due to the bankruptcy because their pricing analysts suggest you are bigger risk - the ombudsman would only get involved if they can;t give you a valid reason for refusing to take you on.

In our case, if we don't want someone (as do most insurers), we simply inflate the premium to a stupidly high amount so you go elsewhere. They may end up giving yo ua quote, but could you affored say �500 a month?

The ombudsman can't rule how much they charge at the end of the day.

It's unfortunate, but that's the way it works - it's getting worse due to the increased level of insurance fraud we are detecting, and so people are being penalised - mainly the bad one's, but occasionally the good un's too.

[jasmin26]

thanks for all your advice, i can understand about the fraud aspect of things but its a bit frustrating when my partners bankruptcy had nothing to do with me yet i am now penalised for it. i work for the government and have never done a dishonest thing in my life. annoying really !