Norwich residents urged to ensure home insurance up to date

Residents in the Norwich area of the UK are being urged by officials to make sure that their home insurance is up to date and adequate. The warning comes after several break-ins in the area, which took place at the end of May and the beginning of June.

Whilst most people are well aware of the importance of having home insurance in place many forget to get their policies renewed or fail to ensure that the policy is amended to provide adequate coverage. This can cause big problems in the event of a break in, as the homeowner may find that he or she is unable to make a claim because of lack of coverage.

Residents in the area are being warned to check both their buildings and contents insurance to make sure that it is all up to date and provides adequate coverage. Officials are now stressing the importance of having home insurance policies in place for residents in Norwich, particularly given the spate of break ins that has been seen over recent weeks.

Police are still appealing for information with regards to the break ins, and in the meantime are warning residents in the area to be on their guard and do as much to protect themselves and their homes as they can.

Consumers that are looking for affordable home insurance coverage are able to choose from a range of options these days, and it is therefore possible to get a low cost policy that provides adequate protection. Police have confirmed that a number of high value gadgets and cash were taken in the recent break-ins, so consumers could save themselves a fortune in the cost of having to buy replacement simply by ensuring that they have insurance cover in place.

Tags: claim, insurance cover, police, protection, norwich, home insurance, business, Insurance

Warning issues over bank fraud committed by phone

Consumers are being warned to be careful about calls that they receive claiming to be from someone at their bank, stating that this is a common way for fraudsters to get information from accountholders and use it to commit fraudulent transactions. Read more

Tags: losses, Banking Services, doubt, Advance-fee fraud, police authorities, bank fraud, police, Highlands

HMRC offers huge reward for return of sensitive data discs

Following the huge blunder where two discs containing the bank and personal details of 25 million people were lost by HM Revenue and Customs a huge reward has been offered by official for the safe return of the information. The discs were lost some weeks ago by HMRC, and although there has been no indication that they have fallen into the wrong hands everyone affected has been contacted in writing and urged to be extra vigilant to ensure that nothing is amiss when it comes to their bank accounts. Read more

Tags: security, identity theft, interest rate cuts, fraud, safe return, police, data, bank account

Uninsured drivers “think they can get away with it”

With as many as 350,000 uninsured motorists on the roads last year, there is concern that people do not view driving without insurance as a serious crime, believing instead that “they can get away with it,” says the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA).

One reason for this may be that the government has never come out with a campaign condemning uninsured driving and whilst people are aware that they should wear seatbelts, tax their cars and not drive after drinking, this issues does not seem to be on “everybody’s radar”.

Graeme Trudgill, technical and corporate affairs executive for BIBA, said: “People just don’t see it as a serious crime, they think they can pay £500 in insurance, or drive without it and if they get caught, they pay a £100 fine and that’s not too scary.”

According to MoneyExpert, 18 to 24-year-olds are the most likely to drive uninsured and 11 per cent of uninsured drivers say they can’t afford the premiums

BIBA says a new enforcement agency is going to be launched next year which will make uninsured driving more difficult and police now also have the power to seize vehicles if the driver is not covered.

Tags: Driving, whilst, government, everybody's radar".graeme trudgill, power, police, finance, british

Urban vehicles “less likely” to be insured

The Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) has pointed out big regional variations in the number of uninsured vehicles on the road.

MIB records show that the “hotspots” for this illegality occur almost exclusively in urban centres, with London alone accounting for around a quarter of the nationwide total.

Head of communications at the MIB, Susan Beck, said that the higher urban rates were “probably a reflection of inner city life where if you look across all levels of crime – not just those who drive without insurance – you would probably see higher incidents in large cities than in smaller towns”.

She also slammed those drivers who remained illegally uninsured, calling them irresponsible and selfish in the extreme.

“Uninsured drivers are putting their own life at risk and also the lives of other road users ,” she said.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) also revealed this week that 78,000 uninsured vehicles were seized by the police last year for not having insurance.

Tags: number, police, Insurance, big regional variations, association of chief police officers, week, hotspots

Insurance policyholders could be paying out million to compensate for fraud

According to industry professionals holders of UK insurance policies could collectively be paying out millions upon million of pounds simply to compensate for fraud levels losses.

Experts claim that policyholders could be shelling out four million pounds everyday simply to make up for the financial losses that are caused by fraudulent claims that are made to insurance companies.

The data comes from the Association of British Insurers, and the ABI states that over one and a half billion pounds is paid out by honest policyholder each year to make up for the cost of fraudulent claims made by millions of others. Around five million people have admitted to making a fraudulent insurance claim in the past. This adds an average of forty pounds a year to the cost of cover according to the Association of British Insurers.

The insurance fraud relates to different types of claims. Some people cheat their insurance company by making a valid claim but inflating the amount that they are claiming for. Others actually take out insurance cover for the sole purpose of making a fraudulent claim so that they can cash in their cover – this is known as ‘planned’ insurance fraud.

Around £8M had to be paid out in extra premiums by honest policyholders last year to make up for claims where the amount had been inflated by the claimant. Around fifty percent of fraudulent claims relate to home and contents insurance cover.

One spokesperson from the ABI stated: “These figures highlight that greater deterrents, such as criminal prosecutions, are needed to discourage fraud. This is why we are calling for police forces to be given more resources so that fraud can be treated with the seriousness it deserves.”

Tom Smith
23rd May 2007

More Information:

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Tags: Insurance, cover, increase, claims, fraud, abi, fraudulent, contents