A Question of Money

However, despite numerous attempts on your part to settle over seven months, you had got nowhere. At one point your father (who is nearly 80) accepted a deal from Capital One to pay back the debt at £10 a month - which he could not afford. This was ironic as it would have made far better commercial sense for the card company to accept what you were offering.

Once I brought the matter to its attention, the company evidently agreed. It has asked you to pay £500 in full and final settlement of the debt, which you have agreed to. You believe, strongly, that the lenders were downright irresponsible in allowing him to get into debt in such a way, and I can only agree - with the proviso, mind you, that there are duties on both sides: responsible lending by the banks, yes, but responsible borrowing by customers too.

Axa won't pay out over travel illness

TD writes: We booked a two-part holiday in Morocco last summer. The first part was in Marrakesh, booked direct with the hotel. The second part was in Essaouira booked through a travel firm called Fleewinter. Shortly after our arrival in Morocco I was taken seriously ill. I was unable to travel anywhere and the Essaouira section of the holiday didn't happen. Our travel insurance was with Axa and we claimed a total of £910. The insurer has refused to pay.

This is yet another instance where "travel insurance" does not live up to its name. You clearly suffered a loss while on holiday but the terms of your travel insurance policy - which you have as part of your Lloyds Platinum bank account service, and which is underwritten by Axa - simply do not cover this eventuality.

You could have claimed for cancellation if the whole holiday had been cancelled, or for curtailment if you had had to return to Britain due to illness - or if you had been an in-patient in a local hospital for 48 hours or more. However, none of these situations applied to you and, as it is, I'm afraid there is nothing I can do.

New share details failed to register

OA writes: I wrote to the share registrars, Equiniti, in January 2009 listing shares in 13 companies in which I have holdings, and informing Equiniti I had changed my bank account from Abbey to Lloyds. During the following eight months, some dividends were sent to my Lloyds account but some to Abbey. Despite chasing Equiniti I am getting nowhere.

Your original letter had included full details of Equiniti's reference numbers for all these shares so the changeover should have been relatively trouble-free. It was inevitable that some dividends would initially have been sent to your old bank account as the process for payment takes some time. This doesn't excuse your subsequent troubles, though.

Equiniti has now written to you with full details of what has happened in respect of all your holdings. Four of the companies, in fact, had paid no dividends during the period in question. Most have now made it into your new bank account and Equiniti is sending you £30 as an apology for your inconvenience.

Hounded by the Co-op's silliness

PG writes: I run a fundraising scheme for a sports and leisure organisation. The annual subscription is £12. In May, I spotted one credit of £12 on the bank statement which had no reference. The bank told me it came from the Co-operative Bank and provided me with the branch code and account number. I contacted the Co-op asking if it could tell me who the money came from. It replied, refusing to give me any details due to the Data Protection Act and adding, bizarrely, that it "hoped I found this helpful".

Oh dear, oh dear. You would think the Co-op might have realised that this was a silly letter. As you pointed out, it wasn't the slightest bit helpful. You were almost convinced that the Co-op was deliberately stonewalling you thanks to its disapproval of your organisation: the Basset Hound Hunt Limited Odds Drawer.

Fighting the temptation to tell the bank you were going to set the dogs on it, I appealed to it for help, at which stage it did the sensible thing: contacted its customer directly, who then got in touch with you, so now all is resolved.

Contents policy cases mount up

Before Christmas I highlighted the case of an elderly couple who had stuck with the same company for house and contents insurance for many years. After the husband's death last year, his son-in-law helped his widow to sort out her financial situation and was astonished at the premium they had been paying: more than £1,700 a year for a three-bed bungalow near Dover. With a minimum of fuss, he was able to buy a new policy, offering more or less the same cover, for a mere £250 a year. The company concerned was More Than.

I said at the time I thought this was probably an extreme case. Now two more readers have told me of very similar experiences.

EE's father-in-law was paying More Than approximately £1,600 a year for buildings and contents insurance for his three-bedroom semi in Cardiff. After his death aged 96 last year, EE received a fresh quotation from the same company for a mere £200 a year. "My father-in-law was a very astute man but once he had taken a decision and placed his trust in a company, he stuck with it," said EE.

DB's house insurance had originally been arranged through Burnley building society (long since taken over by Abbey, now part of Santander). A year ago, when his premiums had risen to £1,036, he started to ask questions and re-insured elsewhere for £206.

Companies do not force their policyholders to renew policies - they do not refuse to provide better quotations, if asked. The ombudsman service will not uphold such cases where complaints are made, as it is outside its remit. But, to my mind, none of this stops such behaviour from being morally reprehensible, betraying the trust of loyal customers, who are also likely to be the more elderly, the most honest and the least likely to be able to afford these cynically inflated prices.

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