I took out £2000 of cover for £33 a month one year ago. Within 12 months British Insurance have lifted the premium twice to now £122 per month. They seem unstoppable, and have me over a barrel as if I take up insurance elsewhere I have a 90-120 day qualification period.

Couple of questions:

i) Do consumers have any rights to expect some degree of stability on premiums within a "fair-play" framework?

ii) British Insurance are still advertising on line lower rates for new joiners whilst doubling premiums for existing policyholders. Is this fair? (Again short of cancelling, joining again and going through a new qualification period I cannot access these rates).

iii) Is British Insurance typical of the Mortgage insurance market, or are there reputable firms that I could trust to play fair with me?

Any help gratefully received!

Exactly the same has happened to me. I took out similar insurance for £35 in July 2008. In September 2008 I was told the premium had increased to £64 and just yesterday I heard it is to increase to £124.

I, too, would like answers posed to the above questions, but also would like to suggest the following.

1. This has presumably happened to a lot of people. We all need to complain to the relevant company.

2. We should all also complain to the Insurance ombudsman.

3. Copies of our complaints should be sent to BBC Watchdog.

4. MoneySupermarket.com should look at this and a) provide guidance as to how to complain and deal with this, and b) ensure the practice followed by these companies is noted on the website.

Comments appreciated.....

Thanks for your reply Denis. I spoke to th the FSA who said that as long as the Insurer had the right to increase premiums as part of the Policy Terms then British Insurance had no case to answer. The Financial Ombudsman was more helpful. A lady there I spoke to said that she would write a letter expressing concern for me, as whilst they would not normally get involved in such a discussion, the massive hike in premiums did not sound like I was being treated fairly. (Which is apparently the only real right we have as consumers).

Frankly I've been looking at others iProtect/ GetMY etc. . and as long as you can show your payments are up to date with British Insurance, you can join with no exclusion period. So I am jumping ship.

Companies like British Insurance give the industry a poor name. All effected should get onto the Financial Ombudsman as a first step (who were very helpful) and if enough people do, then perhaps people will sit up and look at such sharp practice.

On a final point, I joined May last year (£33 per month), in July they hiked the premiums to £64 month. When I complained they said that in May they didn't know prices would go up in June! This doesn't tie with you getting the lower premium in July! I think they are hooking people in, then ramping up premiums as a matter of course. Even today we can get quotes for premiums half of what we are paying!...

If Money Supermarket were serious about being independent it would steer people away from this outfit. Bizarrely British Insurance is claiming on its website "British Insurance has been a long time campaigner for consumer rights, particularly when it comes to payment protection insurance." and "British Insurance regularly commissions research into the industry, bringing to the fore many big names in the world of finance who are being, what we consider, immoral when selling payment protection insurance. Our aim is to both educate and warn consumers about the cover."

Get onto the Ombudsman by phone and I encourage others to as well. Insurance should offer peace of mind, not anxiousness!

I too took our MPP last Sept researched well and found British Insurance to be the best policy for me in the unfortunate event I could lose my job in the future. Its May and I've had 3 premium raises from £25 to the next one in June £81.00. The new administrators are now Adminicle. I have written a letter to both companies at my outrage that they could entice with a low premium and then hike up as much as they can and during the economic downturn I feel taken advantage of.

I have received two letter from both companies about my complaint and they are going to look into.I don't hold out much hope they informed me that increases are inevitable and the T & C state this. There was outrage by policyholders at the last increase as a result they refunded 2 months premieum and interest THEN send a revised T & C!

I have already taken a print out and filled in my form to the Financial Ombudsman in readiness in the hope that I have a satisfactory conclusion. Failing that I shall be cancelling my DD from June. Better a £1000 in MY pocket than theirs for something that or may or may not happen. I wanted peace of mind in these uncertain times. I suggest to all those who have policies send a letter of complaint in the strongest terms. If enough complain they can't ignore it.

As usual ALWAYS read the small print this is where they think they can get away with it. Other Insurance companies with this type of policy are unforutnately following suit.

I suggest you save this money somewhere else where YOU can get your hands on it when its needed.

Good luck and lets keep everyone posted.

NB