Playbook, insurance broker
The clock that starts when a premium instalment fails
In most trades a failed payment produces a reminder. Here it produces a sequence: the collection is re-presented, the lender issues a notice under the credit agreement, and if that is not put right the policy can be cancelled for non payment. At the end of it the customer is uninsured, and on some classes that is a problem well beyond the money. The assistant can see none of it, which is exactly why it has to describe the sequence and move quickly.
Why this is not the general answer
The handling pattern for failed payments holds across every trade. What follows is the part that does not.
- The payment that failed is usually owed to a finance provider rather than to the broker, so the customer is often chasing the wrong firm and the first useful thing the assistant does is say which one.
- Non payment does not suspend a service, it can end cover, and the gap that leaves is not filled retrospectively when the arrears are paid.
- Reinstatement after a cancellation for non payment is a fresh underwriting decision, and the cancellation itself is something the customer may have to declare on future proposals, which is a cost far larger than the instalment.
- For cover held to satisfy a legal or contractual obligation, being uninsured for a few days is a separate problem from the money, and it begins on the date cover ended rather than the date anybody noticed.
How it arrives
- my premium direct debit bounced what now
- will they try to take the payment again
- i missed a payment am i still insured
- can i just pay the arrears and carry on
- what is a default notice from the finance company
- i changed banks and the payment failed
What has to be indexed for this to work
| The sequence after a failed collection | Re-presentation and when, the notice the lender issues, the period to put it right, and the date cover ends if it is not. Write it as a timeline with the actor named at each step, because the customer needs to know who is about to do what. |
|---|---|
| Who to contact for which half | The finance provider for the collection and the arrears, your own team for the policy. Somebody who rings the wrong one loses days out of a short window, and days are the only thing that matters here. |
| What a cancellation for non payment means afterwards | What it does to the cover, whether reinstatement is possible and on whose decision, and whether it has to be declared later. Uncomfortable to publish and considerably worse to discover. |
| How to change a payment date or a bank | The route, the notice needed, and what happens when a change is asked for close to a collection date. A large share of failed payments are simply somebody who moved banks and told nobody. |
The reply
Do not leave this. Monthly premiums are normally collected by a finance provider under a separate credit agreement, so the missed payment sits with them and their contact is on that agreement [1]. What follows is a sequence rather than a reminder: the collection may be re-presented, then a notice is issued, and if it is not put right the policy can be cancelled for non payment [2]. I cannot see your payments or your policy and I cannot tell you whether cover is still running. Leave me your name, an email and your policy reference and somebody here will pick it up today.
It opens with an instruction rather than a greeting, because the reader is against a clock and may not reach the third sentence. Naming the finance provider as the holder of the payment is the redirection that saves the most time. And it refuses the one thing the customer most wants confirmed, whether they are still insured, because a wrong reassurance there is the worst outcome available on this page.
Where it stops
The trigger. The visitor says a payment has failed, bounced, been missed or been returned, or asks whether cover is still in force.
I cannot check a payment or tell you whether cover is still running, and this has a clock on it. Leave me your name, an email and your policy reference and a broker will look at it today and ring you.
It stops answering before it guesses, says who will pick it up, and asks for the one thing that makes a reply possible. Nothing about it reads as a dead end.
Never say this here
Out of bounds
- Never say cover is still in force, because the assistant cannot see the policy and the customer will act on the answer.
- Never tell somebody that paying the arrears puts everything back as it was, since a cancelled policy is reinstated only if the insurer agrees to it.
- Never describe a missed instalment as a late fee or a small charge, as the consequence runs to the cover rather than to the account.
- Never confirm whether a collection has been re-presented or a notice sent, because those happen at another firm and nothing here can see them.
Questions
- Can it check whether the payment went through?
- No. It has no access to any payment system or account and cannot look anybody up. Its value here is speed: naming the right firm, describing the sequence, and putting the enquiry in front of somebody the same day.
- Is it too alarming to spell out that cover can be cancelled?
- The alarming version is the one where somebody finds out after a loss. Written as a sequence with a way to stop it at each step, it reads as a warning with an exit rather than as a threat.
- Should the fallback message carry a phone number here?
- Yes, on this intent in particular. An email handover is fine for a query about a fee and much too slow for a payment that failed four days before cover ends.
Keep reading
- Everything for a insurance brokerProduct information is safe ground. A personal recommendation is regulated, and no assistant may confirm whether a loss is covered.
- Handling failed payments in generalThe reason usually sits with the card issuer and is invisible to you. The useless reply, the useful one, and why card details never belong in a chat.
- Getting into the portal, and who is entitled to be in itAccess to a broker's document portal is an authority question first, especially when the named contact on a commercial policy has left.
- Why the reset link goes to an address nobody readsA portal used annually collects stale addresses, so the reset link arrives somewhere the customer can no longer read.
- The assurance form, and the certificate that arrives with itThe form and the request for the broker's own cover arrive together and are different documents. Neither is answered in chat.
Try it on your own material
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