Refundable Limited offers two life insurance products:
- £3,000 Accidental Death for a 10 year term for £25 per month
- £10,000 Employed Life for a 10 year term for £25 per month
The premiums and sum assured are fixed. The Employed Life policy has more restrictive eligibility criteria, hence the higher sum assured and not being restricted to accidental deaths only. The Accidental Death policy is open to anyone aged over 18.
Refundable promises to refund the entire £3,000 total premiums paid at the end of the 10 year term, which it describes as “unique”.
The company is currently promoted via unsolicited emails (i.e. spam) and via an affiliate programme which promises to pay “£69 and £115 commission on all sales you generate each month” for websites which link to Refundable.
Who are Refundable?
No details of Refundable’s management are provided on the website.
Originally Refundable was incorporated in September 2016 by its founders Lee Plaister and David Brennan. Plaister left as director in October 2017, but then returned in November 2019 when Brennan left the company. Plaister is now the sole owner and director.
David Brennan also runs a company called The Tax Repayment Agency, which has been the subject of numerous negative reviews from consumers claiming they were duped into using the agency to make tax refund claims, and never saw the tax refund. The Tax Repayment Agency Ltd is currently due to be struck off by Companies House for failure to file accounts and details of its ownership.
As for Plaister, not much about him appears on the web other than some local news stories relating to a planning dispute and a £200,000 loan his other business Beyond Comparison scored from a Government investment fund.
How safe is the insurance?
Effecting contracts of insurance in the UK requires authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority.
Refundable’s T&Cs are upfront about the fact they are not regulated by the FCA and there is no mention of any regulated insurer they use for their contracts. This means that Refundable are operating illegally.
The illegality of Refundable’s contracts isn’t even the most fundamental problem.
The last accounts for Refundable (September 2018) show no assets other than a nominal £100. If even a handful of Refundable’s clients die and claim on their policies, how is it going to find the money to repay everyone’s premiums back at the end of the term, while funding its running costs and the commission it pays to affiliates?
As an unregulated business, Refundable is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. This means that if it goes bust, its policyholders are almost certain to have lost any premiums paid to date, and any unfortunate enough to die aren’t going to get their claims paid either.
Should I take out life insurance with Refundable?
Effectively anyone who pays premiums to Refundable is not buying insurance, but lending their money to a small business operating illegally, for nothing in exchange but the hope that Refundable will somehow find £10,000 from somewhere (or £3,000 for the Accidental Death policy) for their loved ones in the event of their death.
If you want to protect your loved ones in the event of your death, lending money to a small obscure business operating illegally is a lousy way to go about it.
If you want life insurance, it’s best to forget the “we’ll refund your premiums (if we’re still around in 10 years) gimmick and just go with a conventional life insurer.
£25 per month in premiums for a 40 year old will currently buy around £300,000 in life insurance for a 20 year term if they are in good health.
And if at the end of the term you would be whinging about not getting your premiums back, i.e. whinging about the fact you didn’t die, life insurance really isn’t for you. Nor frankly is money.