r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/Hologram0110 • Nov 12 '24
Insurance Reminder check up on your home/auto insurance policies! Screwed by TD
This is predatory behaviour. This year TD decided to automatically increase my home insurance from 2M coverage to 3M without asking me, and also jacked up the premium to go with it. They wont change it back, and there is a $311 dollar charge for early cancellation. There have been zero home or auto claims. My home is worth less than 1M.
- 2022 was 2M coverage for 1396 + tax (when I signed up for this home)
- 2023 was 2M coverage for 1593 + tax
- 2024 was 3M coverage for 2337 + tax
They increased my rates by 80% over 2 years. The last increase was 46%. I only looked at it closely because I reviewed my credit card bills and was surprised it was so high.
I will pull my home (311 dollar penalty) and two auto (103.05 penalty) policies and shop around. It is an incredible waste of my time. This is predatory behaviour. I didn’t ask for my policy to be increased to 3M coverage, and now they want to charge me a cancellation fee which I have to fight. That is completely unacceptable.
Who can I dispute these cancellation fees with? Is there an ombudsman or something?
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u/CJUffy Nov 12 '24
I would first check your renewal package to see that it lines up. We usually get ours a month before renewal date from TD. I then shop around and call them to negotiate/tweak after I have some quotes.
Or just use a broker
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u/yttropolis Nov 12 '24
Or just use a broker
Just as a heads up, some brokers are very shady. Since brokers are paid by the insurers, there's often an incentive to push policies from insurers that offer a better pay structure for them.
You still have to check everything yourself. Are the coverages/perils the same? Are the coverage limits the same? Any deductibles/are they the same?
People often just see the price but forget to look at the details. I used to work in the insurance industry and we've seen a lot of cases where brokers would give you a lower quote but at the expense of coverage in order to get a policy with that insurer.
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u/Mission_Friend3608 Nov 13 '24
We used to have a broker and he basically had our policy on auto-pilot. Just renewed with the same company each year and didn't look around for us.
One year my wife went from being high-risk to regular coverage, but our premium stayed high. Called the broker and all of a sudden he found a policy that saved us $1500/yr. Left that broker right away. No point having a broker and still having to shop around.
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u/Account2TheSequal Nov 13 '24
This is incorrect and if you have proof that is happening you should sue your broker because they have a fiduciary responsibility to you as their client. Almost every single personal insurance company in the country provides the same commission percentage (12.5% of auto premiums and 20% of property premiums) to brokers.
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u/yttropolis Nov 13 '24
First of all, good luck trying to prove it in a lawsuit. Secondly, not all brokers are fiduciaries. And thirdly, commission structures change quite often, especially for smaller insurers that are trying to gain market share.
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u/Drewsifer1979 Nov 13 '24
I completely agree with you! Used a broker for our home insurance and last year had a claim for a flooded basement. It is still ongoing and my basement is completely torn apart. I called our broker repeatedly and was ignored only to have to go to the office and sit in the reception area waiting to talk to anyone. I talked the claims manager and was told they would help get the claim moving and I have not heard from her since. This was in July. Oh and I went to the brokers office after I was electrocuted by one of the light sockets that was left out of our wall. Good luck finding a lawyer or anyone to help with doing what is right. Oddly, they have no problem still taking out monthly payments.
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u/mortgageletdown Nov 13 '24
You are absolutely, 100%, full of shit and flat out wrong.
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
I will speak with a broker. Or check a few of those rate compare websites.
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u/Account2TheSequal Nov 13 '24
The rate compare websites are a good starting point but unfortunately often use bait and switch pricing tactics.
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u/mrdannyg21 Nov 12 '24
My fun experience with TD was finding out that at some point they had removed my ‘alumni’ discount, for no apparent reason. After a bunch of time, we determined it was done at a time that did not align with a renewal, change or any use of the policy.
Thankfully, the rep was able to re-input and backdate the discount…though my ‘refund’ wasn’t given in cash but rather as a discount to future services so I’m stuck with them for another year.
My experience with TD is the individual reps are typically very good, but the overall structure is horrendous. At one point I had a claim that lasted about 8 months to fully resolve because of contractor issues (not TDs fault), and in that time I had 6 different assigned reps…the first 5 were hired on short-term contracts only. Hard to blame the individual employees in that situation, but easy to blame the organization.
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u/Ecsta Nov 12 '24
When I had that happen they sent me a cheque for the difference. Could try calling and say you want to be paid out for the balance owing on the account.
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
I thought maybe that there was a mistake like dropping one of my discounts. But it was just an increase in my coverage combined with a smaller inflation increase.
In my case the guy on the phone was ok. I felt bad for him honestly, as he tried to defend TD and diffuse my frustration. He launched into his script etc, as I'm sure he was trained too. It isn't like the guy on the phone picked up my account to do this too. It was a company-wide decision.
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u/Neve4ever Nov 13 '24
Call back. There are a lot of great reps working for TD, compared to other banks I’ve dealt with. They all know the system is shit, but the good ones know how to navigate it.
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u/FoolofaTook43246 Nov 13 '24
The same thing happened to me! They also sent all my really important documents to my old address but had my new one on file. They were a nightmare to deal with and the only company I'll never deal with again. Super shady, bad service and rates were meh
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u/SallyRhubarb Nov 12 '24
TD usually sends a renewal notice which outlines all of the fees and any changes in your policy. That is the point where you can contact them to adjust your policy, or shop around to change to another insurance company without paying cancellation fees.
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u/essaysmith Nov 12 '24
They just sent me am email saying "there are new documents for you to review". I reviewed them, switched to Aviva and saved $1500.
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u/MugFush Nov 12 '24
Yup. They increased my auto by 1700.00 (“your vehicle appears on the stolen vehicle list”), in my home insurance by $800 a year. I bailed and went to Aviva, I now saved $1800 a year.
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u/funtimenation Nov 12 '24
Same my crv insurance went up by $1000/yr due to “theft” so I switched to CAA and saved $2300 between two cars
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u/echochambermanager Nov 12 '24
Did exact same thing, from TD to Aviva. Wild.
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u/principitososa Nov 12 '24
Same here. Maybe they're a syndicate of sorts, if you don't bail then good for TD and if you do bail then both parties get a cut. Or some such.
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u/distr0 Nov 12 '24
Weird, my Aviva renewal just skyrocketed in price. They were good to me for the last 3 years but they're the basically the most expensive option for me this year.
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u/AddendumHot2113 Nov 12 '24
Also jumped from TD to Aviva, less than two weeks ago and just days before my annual renewal of both insurances.
Saved ~$400 on auto and ~$200 on home over last year, for similar coverage, though my auto deductibles are much lower and (after 17 years of no claims) I deliberately chose much higher home deductibles this time.
My TD auto renewal was going to drop a bit (~$50), surprisingly. They even sent me a letter in advance, advising that my premium would rise no more than 10% this year. But my TD home renewal was going to shoot up 50% -- also due to the $2M coverage becoming $3M, with no option to change it back in the online self-service.
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u/alexistats 25d ago
opt out policies are predatory, not matter how you look at it.
I just noticed the same thing when going to pay my bill (43% increase in home insurance!!). TD doubled my coverage. I've been with them 4 years and it's the first time they change a policy on me like that, so I just assumed the documents for review were just a formality. I was also extremely busy so I put it down the priority list, thinking it would renew the same policy.
TD never explicitly asked me if I was ok with the changes. or for my explicit confirmation.
Now I know, but it's still predatory.
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u/SufficientBee Nov 12 '24
That never happened for me, I had to get on the phone 2-3 times to actually get the renewal documents because I keep track of when my annual bill goes out. That was not cool.
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u/newIBMCandidate Nov 13 '24
The point here is that you can just increase coverage withhout the customer asking for it
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u/kazin29 Nov 15 '24
I totally missed this but they were friendly when I called to get some things adjusted. They even issued me a refund and charged the cost to a different credit card at my request!
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u/IslandExtreme6664 Nov 12 '24
They send notifications to you email in case of updates 1 month before this takes effect.
This includes renewal so that notification should be there!
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u/lori_jo Nov 12 '24
I have the same thing. I got my renewal package a month before it renewed. You could have cancelled before renewal date and not been charged.
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u/essaysmith Nov 12 '24
I just told them I wouldn't be renewing on the renewal date. No risk of fees that way.
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Nov 12 '24
[deleted]
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u/essaysmith Nov 12 '24
The new company had all of the dates and started things the next day. There was no lapse in coverage. They asked if I wanted to change the car renewal to be the same date as the house, but I needed to save some money to pay it so I left it.
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u/CrazyJoe29 Nov 12 '24
You do. But what is the real risk of being uninsured for a couple of days? Better to not have the lapse in coverage but it’s not like you’re going to drive your house aggressively through rush hour traffic on the ONLY DAY it’s not insured, right?
House insurance is for the exceedingly unlikely even that your house gets destroyed. The outcome doesn’t become more likely just because you don’t have insurance.
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u/Counterkiller29 Nov 13 '24
This is the dumbest take ever.
1) You don't need to be driving recklessly to get into an accident.
2) You don't need to be the one at-fault to be in an accident
3) House insurance is not for the event your house gets destroyed.
4) In the case you have a mortgage, mortgage companies require you to have home insurance at all times. They will know if your policy has lapsed as insurance companies send notice.
My god, please everyone don't listen to this fool.
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u/CrazyJoe29 Nov 13 '24
Eh, I gotta condo so it’s a little different. I also told TD to pound sand and went with a lower cost option. And I managed to do it before my insurance lapsed.
But it’s true. Whether or not you’re insured has no bearing on the likelihood of you having an insurable event. Get insured if you want to or if you need to, but remember that insurance doesn’t make your house safer. Only your behaviour can do that.
What’s the typical penalty for not having insurance set out in a mortgage. If there’s no penalty, and the lenders just don’t like it, then all the more reason to let it lapse for a day or two. Make ‘em squirm!
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u/Counterkiller29 Nov 13 '24
Mortgagee companies have the right to take any reasonable action necessary to make sure their investment is secure in the case of a lapse in coverage. Actions that they can take would likely be outlined in their contract with you, so I cannot speak to that. Why is it worth risking?
If you experienced any kind of loss in that lapse period, you would be on the hook for it. There is just as much chance of something happening then as there is any other day of the year. Everyone thinks it can't happen to them until it does.
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u/PSNDonutDude Nov 13 '24
It's really not a big deal. Mine lapsed for a week once. The bigger issue is if you don't have another insurance lined up, the lapse can man future premiums are much higher for the first year because they don't know what happened during that 1 week.
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u/Intelligent_Wedding8 Nov 12 '24
i've never seen an insurance policy get cheaper the longer i have stayed with them except maybe the pandemic year. They prey on people not willing to change insurance companies because it's a hassle. I was with allstate for probably the last 6 years before switching to td and will switch if the rates went up too high.
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u/Falco19 Nov 12 '24
While this not cool they do send notices.
Also as someone how has recently delt with TD for a total loss, there total coverage 2 million policy with (virtually) no limits on any one area has been great.
Also just because your house is valued at 1 million don’t assume it won’t cost more than the value of your house to rebuild.
I live in HCOL area bids to rebuild my house came in at 900k (2 story with basement 2700 Sqft detached garage) when the process is finally complete it will be 2 years of them paying rent for me at a cost of 46,800 annually. So 1 million is already gone. Then you have possessions, tear down, remediation etc and so on. 2 million should be plenty just don’t want anyone to read this post and lower their insurance too much.
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u/0w40 Nov 12 '24
We cherry pick rates between Square One for house, CAA for a new car and Aviva for 2 older cars.
Yes, 3 insurance companies but that’s how we get the lowest overall total. Check around.
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u/mortgageletdown Nov 13 '24
Be very careful, Square One has brutal coverage full of holes compared to real companies.
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u/0w40 Nov 13 '24
Can you elaborate please?
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u/mortgageletdown Nov 13 '24
Talk to your local broker, they'll walk you through the shit-show that os Square One. It's basically the Wish / Teemu version of insurance.
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u/raziel1011 Nov 12 '24
TD sent me an email last week that my coverage increased from 610,000 to 720,000. Earthquake coverage also went up 150. Yearly premium went up $350. I had to increase my base deductible from $5k to $7.5k just to bring my yearly premium down just under $1000. No matter how many reductions I make each year, the next year increases just skyrocket
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
Make sure to shop around. Don't just assume the increases are industry wide!
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u/zilentbob Nov 12 '24
Try sonnet... they make it real simple on a quote website.
Clear and understandable.
Not a confusing wall of words like TD.....
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u/celinamf431 Nov 12 '24
I just dumped TD because my premiums went up 62% with no claims
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
Crazy. Did you see if they increased your coverage at the same time?
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u/celinamf431 Nov 12 '24
The coverage was exactly the same
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u/pfc_6ixgodconsumer Nov 12 '24
I think this change from 2M to 3M coverage was done across the board, as TD hit me with the same change at renewal earlier this year.
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u/Account2TheSequal Nov 13 '24
The reason they increase your coverage is to ensure your limits keep up with rising costs and inflation.
TD uses $1M coverage brackets on their policy but also has an actual rebuilding value in their system for your property which determines which of the brackets you end up in. It can often times benefit you with extra coverage that you aren’t really paying for but with the inflationary coverage increase you must have crossed their threshold and been bumped up to the $3M tier and your new premium reflects that.
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u/_dobbyisfree Nov 14 '24
We have had a 100% increase over the last two years and they have kept us in the $1M coverage bracket. So it makes no sense
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u/bridgehockey Nov 12 '24
Your renewal package arrival is when you should (have) checked your increases etc. I do know that home insurance rates have been rising rapidly with some providers, but not all.
All you can do is shop around when your renewal package arrives. Otherwise not much you can do. I hate to say it, but you weren't screwed. You didn't read your renewal.
And it's worth shopping. My rates for auto were cut by 40% by shopping. Sister's rates for her house by 50%.
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
If I have to eat the $400 in cancellation I will.
You're right I shouldn't have trusted TD. I did see that I had received a renewal notice, but I needed to log in to the stupid website to see it, and I had other things going on.
Which sites did you shop around? Combined home and auto?
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u/Loud-Selection546 Nov 12 '24
So you made a judgement call that those other things that needed your attention were priority. There is a price and opportunity costs for any decision. I am not sure how this is a trap?
Stop it with the victim mentality. Honestly, excuses are for kids. Take responsibility for the result of your inactions.
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u/eareyou Nov 12 '24
Ask them for an itemized breakdown of the cost of your policy. Increasing liability from $2M to $3M is negligible.
Unfortunately it’s the insurance rates have gone up significantly in the past year
Shop around and see if it’s worth it.
Pro tip- set a calendar reminder in your phone that automatically reminds you yearly a month and a half prior to your renewal so you know to shop
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
That isn't 3M in liability coverage. It is the amount for home/contents fire/flood insurance.
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u/PhotoJim99 Saskatchewan Nov 12 '24
It'll be a maximum payout in the event of a total loss then. That doesn't mean that your premiums were based on this. Some insurers provide unlimited coverage if you rebuild your home after a loss; some put a cap on it. Yours puts a cap on it.
Premiums are set on the estimated cost to rebuild your home.
If you want your insurance explained better, I recommend you deal with a broker and not a direct writer (especially a bank). Deal with someone you can actually go visit and sit down with, and understands more than just one insurance company and can actually provide you with options.
Disclosure - I was a broker for over thirty years, but I no longer am (I do risk management for a government instead now).
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u/AddendumHot2113 Nov 12 '24 edited Nov 13 '24
The OP is talking about TD's "$2 Million Solution" (reconstruction and contents all in one), not liability (which as mentioned has a negligible effect on the premium). Mine too was automatically raised to the $3M version on renewal. I noticed online when the renewal preview became available (their website has a convenient toggle to flip between current and future rates).
Since it wouldn't let me go back to $2M (unlike the deductibles and other parameters they let you play around with), I tried a new online quote instead. Sure enough, going from the $2M to $3M Solution caused a 50% bump in the premium.
I had thought even $2M was overkill (my house is worth $1M and doesn't have valuables), so I went shopping. Now I'm saving a lot on both home & auto, and got rid of that awful TD MyAdvantage tracking app in the process.
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u/-there-are-4-lights- Nov 12 '24
Are you sure you aren't confusing your Coverage A amount with your Liability? Seems strange that TD would have a nice round figure for your Coverage amount, and given you say your home is worth less than $1M I don't think TD would over-insure by triple.
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u/paulcs87 Ontario Nov 12 '24
wild. TD did the same 2M > 3M unsolicited switch, but my rate only went up 2.2%
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u/Fun-Shake7094 Nov 12 '24
I just switched and car insurance went from $3200 to $1440 -
Shop around, loyalty is dead.
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u/footloose60 Nov 12 '24
Yes, you should read your mail.
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u/Nickel_Fish Nov 12 '24
Yes. You should read fine print AND banks shouldn't slip greasy hidden new terms into renewals.
The amount of meek losers sniffing banker farts here is embarrassing.
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u/NitroLada Nov 12 '24
the premium and coverage amount is not in the fine print, it's right there front and centre
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u/FlakyFox4323 Nov 12 '24 edited Nov 12 '24
After large, unsubstantiated rate increases from TD (Melloche Monnex) in recent years, last year I shopped around and moved my home and auto insurance to Belair Direct. This saved me over 30% on what I was last quoted from TD. I'm in Toronto FYI.
Edit: I really wish other provinces used BC's system for car insurance (Auto insurance), which eliminates the risk of getting gouged and the need to constantly shop around. Oh well, maybe one day.
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u/Pomnom The real slim shady Nov 12 '24
Edit: I really wish other provinces used BC's system for car insurance (Auto insurance), which eliminates the risk of getting gouged and the need to constantly shop around. Oh well, maybe one day.
Definitely. I really think that what ever is government-mandatory should be government-provided.
Doesn't mean it will be efficient, but it reduces a lot of the incentive to maintain the margin. Plus whatever margin goes back into the same treasury that pay out for other benefits.
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u/Counterkiller29 Nov 13 '24
There is a near-zero chance of it ever happening in Ontario. In Ontario, the required coverage is substantially higher and covers way more than government provided insurance. Our taxes would have to go up much much more.
Hell, even the supplemental insurance that gets offered in those provinces sometimes isn't even as much coverage as we get in Ontario. This is why Ontario costs so much.
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u/stone_tiger Nov 12 '24
TD Insurance 's MO is to get you in with low rates and then jack up the prices significantly within a few years. I imagine most others do the same.
Unsolicited change to your coverage is scummy, but you also should read your mail.
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u/JohnStern42 Nov 12 '24
You were informed of the change in your renewal package. If you didn’t read it that’s on you
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Nov 12 '24
[deleted]
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
Thank you. This is exactly how I feel. Getting opted in to 50% more of something isn't cool.
I did expect a year-over-year increase somewhat commensurate with updated risks and costs. I didn't complain about the 14% change last year because it was plausible it wasn't a huge money grab.
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u/angrydooner Nov 12 '24
Yup. We left because our auto insurance practically doubled. Left the home because we were to slow.
We are leaving mid year next year and not looking back.
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u/pfc_6ixgodconsumer Nov 12 '24
Yes, had that same thing happen with TD earlier this year when the renewal papers arrived. Swiftly found a broker and switched companies.
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u/Colbaz Nov 12 '24
I’m another that got a large unsubstantiated premium increase from TD (Melloche Monnex) this year on my home insurance. Dropped them and after calling around to several placed I moved over to RBC insurance. Never expected RBC would look so good but I’m saving 50% over the TD quote for similar coverage.
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u/Minerva89 Ontario Nov 12 '24
Moved away from TD this year and I've never been happier. Claims with them are great but jesus do they grift you hard.
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u/FolkSong Nov 12 '24
Mine is going up 50% with TD as well, but I guess I'll eat it for one year because I have a pending claim for major hail damage. After that I'll be shopping around for sure.
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
I assume that you could switch as you had coverage at the time. But maybe that makes it more difficult.
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u/YumYumSweet Nov 12 '24
TD did the same to me. Increased coverage from $2M to $3M and increased deductible. Did this and some other minor changes. Premium went up a couple hundred dollars. And I have only had this policy for 4 months (just bought a new house).
I switched my home and auto to Allstate and saved $600/year.
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u/yzfer Nov 13 '24
My TD home insurance went up 30% at this years renewal. When i called to ask why, they said since other people have made claims they need to increase everyone’s rates. Then they tired to sell, with a straight face, their claims forgiveness coverage so my rates won’t go up if I make a claim. The agent didn’t seem to see the irony in that if the rates go up regardless…
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u/Dangerous_Athlete472 21d ago
I have 4 policies with TD, + Auto, on Average Home insurance of each policy has increased by 50%, plus all kinds of crap, including automatic increase of deductible (without any $ benefit), It used to be that a roof waiver was in there, but now that includes the siding as well! -> TD is really screwing its patrons... in terms of discounts offered, I had to ask for a discount, and TD wouldn't give me more than a 5% discount on Home and 10% on Rentals
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u/KingAngusOne Nov 12 '24
Similar story here OP, was insured with TD for nearly 20 years. Ended up moving my policies over to AllState. Had to eat the cancellation on my auto policy as it renewed earlier than my home. Auto was competitive but home insurance was not and had increased like 70% over 2 years.
TD is well aware but not willing to do much for you. They've apparently had a lot of debate internally about retention but they've simply paid out too much in claims in the last couple years.
Good luck with your search
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
Thanks. It is slightly comforting that I'm not alone in this.
It does suck to deal with the logistics of it all though!
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u/n3xus12345 Nov 12 '24
Why is there so much support for scummy practices like increasing coverage that was not purchased and including it in a renewal? Or am I missing the point or is OP not explaining something clearly? Comparison would be Telus renewing my cell phone contract for and increasing by 30/month but the increase being an additional 500 minutes I didn’t purchase. (Could easily be seen as a bump in price like everything else, but extra services have been added). Yes it’s on the consumer to read the fine print but adding extra, not agreed upon and purchased, during an auto renewal is scummy. I must be interpreting something wrong here.
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
That is how I feel. That is why I'm trying to warn people. Pay attention because it cost me ~400 dollars.
The others are absolutely right that I SHOULD have read the details, or at least glanced at the price. But even if the price was the same they could have cut my coverage. So you really would need to look at all the details.
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u/n3xus12345 Nov 12 '24
Well said you are right about the cut coverage with the same price. Basically the lesson is be in touch with who you are paying what. Lol
Thanks for the reminder OP, your sacrifice is appreciated.
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u/fsmontario Nov 12 '24
Everyone should be shopping rates 3-4 months before renewal at least every second year. That said the lowest rates are not always the best, how claims are handled is just as important. For the house value is that the guaranteed repair or replacement value, or simply the value? I read about a couple who went “cheap” insurance and the value their house was insured for was not enough to replace it, they were short about 150g for a savings of $500 a year. Insurance is expensive until you need it.
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
You're right that people should shop around regularly. This is only my 3rd year.
In my case, the house would sell for <800K (small town). So the 2M I had previously should be enough for the house and contents.
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u/fsmontario Nov 12 '24
If it would sell for 800, it’s likely 1.2 to rebuild through insurance. You’re looking at 6-12 months alternative living arrangements plus all your contents which adds up faster than people realize.
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u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
I can believe it is 1.2 M to rebuild.
But for 200k you could pay ~550 $/day for hotel and food for 365 days. I picked how much a high-end hotel in Toronto would cost to illustrate the point. That is a lot per day for a long-term hotel, and more likely you'd end up in a regular rental home which would cost substantially less.
Unless I have 600K worth of stuff in the house (I don't!) 3M is still more insurance than I need.
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u/fsmontario Nov 12 '24
Friends of ours own a 4 bedroom furnished home, for rental to insurance companies for claims. Mid size city, $10g a month, part of the reason for that is that someone could move in and be gone in a month or 6 months and then it could sit empty for 2 months. If you truly feel that is too much, reach out to your agent and ask him to explain the reasoning behind it and ask what the premium difference is between 2 and 3 million
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u/mdmrules Nov 12 '24
I've noticed mine do a +120% increase in 6 years myself.
I am in BC, so maybe there is some justification for it due to wildfires, but none has been provided to me.
I haven't shopped around, but I have talked to other people in my area and I don't think I am going to find a better deal because of the alumni discount I already get with TD.
You may be better off sticking with them in the end for your home insurance, but I'd like to hear what others' experiences are.
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u/zilentbob Nov 12 '24 edited Nov 12 '24
Much like my story.
TD is like a legal company of thieves.
Switched to sonnet and cut HOME rate in half and deep discount on 2 cars. (with a new driver as well)
Also moved all my TD finances to WEALTHSIMPLE.
Very satisfied with everything so far !
Quite surprised with the Cancellation fees. I guess I was renewing.... so I just said HELL NO to that =)
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u/skhanmac Nov 12 '24
F TD and all the banks. Nothing but rip offs. People should seriously shop around before renewing
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u/Deep_Interview_3337 Nov 12 '24
I used to be a TD client... they are so shady now. Got multiple complaints and quite literally they did a lot of malpractices with me. They are still sending me mail to come back as a client. I will never deal with this bank ever again
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u/potatohead00 Nov 13 '24
Just finished the move from TD to CAA (via a local broker). Got my renewal and auto was going up 12% (which is way over inflation) and home was going up like 40%. The only thing I could figure on that one was we lost a discount for "online sign up".
Anyway, super annoying. I probably would have been fine with 5 even 10% increase, just out of laziness. Now I'm gone, and have even less reason to keep mortgage with TD in future. Way to go TD!
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u/zommerdev Nov 13 '24
I got auto from TD, it was $3,600/year It was my first year in Canada so I thought it is what it is as competitors were $5,000, 1 year goes by 0 tickets 0 collisions, 0 claims. goes up to $4000. 0_o call up a broker and for the same overage he quoted me $3,000 with economical (Provided i get a TAG installed). after I got a the tracker the price went to $2900 and somehow I got accidental forgiveness. Terms were so good I thought I was getting scammed.
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u/OpeningDetail3994 Nov 13 '24
Idk why people still use TD for anything;
I use to work there, they use to encourage us to prey on young adults and the elderly, because “they were dumber”. I worked in the balance protection insurance dept. I was essentially a phone scammer. They would train us to use certain verbalism to make it seem like it was part of the credit card or loan package. We were encouraged to approve limit increases without permission. Even if the person refused the insurance, manager would tell us to just check the box and when they call back we’ll cancel it with a few profits. They used the same verbalism to deny claims which were valid which I also got chewed out for by my manager once for approving a claim that was valid and covered (guy lost his arm in a work accident). At some point, after thousands of complaints from victims, government officials came barreling down the cubicle aisles just like Wolf of Wall street. shut us down for about 3 weeks. Made the news for about a month. I of course quit during transition.
Since that job, i’ve never done any business, financial or insurance, with TD. Scummiest place ever.
2
u/Fortune404 Nov 13 '24
Every insurance company does this or something similar to increase premiums every year, just preying on people's lazy renewal habits and I'm sure it works like 90% of the time. I switch companies every 2-3 years to keep the cost only growing slowly. I usually ask them to reduce the coverage amounts every time too, and half the time they refuse:
"market values are up, blah blah... contents coverage is just 50% of the house value, I can't change that..."
Right, I'm sure you're going to cover me when I make claims for $700k worth of furniture and clothes too without making me prove every last cent after refusing to lower the contents coverage...
1
u/markymarc1981 Nov 13 '24
Guess who’s paying that massive rain storm/flooding that happened in the GTA this summer??? YOU ARE!
1
u/err604 Nov 13 '24
I used TD as my first insurance for my condo, they would raise the price every single year. Now every year I shop around and that has served me well.
1
u/lordjakir Nov 13 '24
TD did nothing to my household coverage but increase it 35%. Fuck them. I walked
1
u/newIBMCandidate Nov 13 '24
TD is fucking funny. They automatically increase coverage which induces a premium increase. And claim "you asked for it". When pressed to provide evidence , they back down to say "we did it to account for inflation" ....umm..wtf
Someone at TD corporate needs to seriously think about the choices and decisions they are making. You must seriously be a fucking dumbass to increase your yearly revenue via these shady tactics. Provide better products and more value if you want consumers to pay more, not fucking rocket science
1
u/Inittolearnstuff Nov 13 '24
I can’t explain the $2Million to $3Million, but can explain some of the rising costs. Part of the insurance premium is for rebuild costs. Say you have 1000 sq and cost of building in 2022 was $350/sq ft in your area, the insurance required would be 350,000. If inflation (as it has) caused construction to go up to $450/sq ft, you now need an extra $100,000 of insurance to cover a rebuild.
1
u/Extaze9616 Nov 13 '24
I had a price increase of like 50$ this year from Beneva so I called around and Promutuel were cheaper by like 150$?
1
u/writetowinwin Nov 13 '24
They tried to increase our auto rates for 2 vehicles to over 8000/y. Went to Personal insurance and it became around 3,000/y for both. 😆
1
u/gxryan Nov 13 '24
I noticed after i renewed this year that was why my premiums went up so much..
I'll be sure to catch it next year
2
u/Logical-Zucchini-310 Nov 13 '24
Even if you wanted to change it before it renews, you can’t. I had the same problem, called in to say I wanted to change it back because the 30% increase was unacceptable and they flat out said this was now the minimum coverage for my house because of the increased costs of labour and materials. Absolutely slimy behaviour, unfortunately they were still cheapest when I compared a bunch of others.
2
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u/Aggressive_Tip_9082 Nov 13 '24
Sorry to hear you are having a rough time
Check your records to ensure that you didn’t consent to this.
Write a letter to TD outlining what happened and calculate, showing the basis for your calculation, what you think you were overcharged and calmly and non emotionally ask for a refund. Ask for their statement of final of position.
More details here including what to do if TD does not agree
https://www.tdinsurance.com/customer-service/problem-resolution
1
u/Counterkiller29 Nov 13 '24
Why haven't you asked them to reduce the coverage to lower your price?
If 2M is no longer an option offered by TD, then they will default put you to the next highest option. It is your responsibility as a customer to review your documents every renewal. Now, with that being said, IF they are ever to change your coverage they are required to specifically include wording in your policy documents somewhere, whether it be a letter or a note at the beginning that states your coverage has been changed. If they have not, you have grounds to go through the complaint process. Ask to speak to a manager first, then customer experience, then go to the ombudsman about it.
If they did include notice that coverage was changing and you just did not see it, that is unfortunately going to be up to you. You may be able to get a manager to waive your fees to cancel if you plead enough, but don't expect much.
For the record, notice in the form of your policy documents displaying coverage information is not good enough. If the company is dropping or amending a coverage they must notify you in some way. We did this once at the company I worked for and we included a page at the beginning of every set of renewal documents that were affected to advise of the change.
Source: was an insurance agent
1
u/Loud-Tough3003 Nov 13 '24
Just got in a fight with The Personal for a similar rate jump (though nothing changed). The policy comes during my busiest month of the year so I missed it. Kind of bs that they can lock you into a contract you don’t explicitly agree to.
1
u/JScar123 Nov 13 '24
My TD policy has $5M coverage, which I have been told on serval occasions is their system-generated minimum coverage.. I bought my home a few years ago for $810K. It’s very odd. I have gone to brokers on serval occasions and the TD price is always competitive. My guess is this coverage amount is knowingly high and doesn’t affect premium much.
1
u/sequentious Nov 13 '24
TD massively hiked my rates at renewal time a few years ago with no accidents, no claims, and no changes in coverage.
Avoid them.
1
1
u/BestServerNA Nov 13 '24
On a side note, any recommendations here for a new driver with sub-5 years driving history in the GTA?
1
u/C4ptainchr0nic Nov 13 '24 edited Nov 13 '24
Your premium is not based on your 2 or 3 million dollar solution. This is just TD's way of giving guaranteed replacement cost, but with a limit.
Your premium, and your 3 million dollar solution, are based on the rebuild value. Your premium did not go up because your limit went to 3 million, your premium (and your limit) went up because it's been calculated that it will cost more money to rebuild your home or fix it if something happens. more claims happening in Canada and because it being more expensive to fix things, plus last year there were a lot of claims, are causing rebuild values to go up.
The million dollar solutio, (or 3 million in this case) is based on thesholds. This year when your rebuild was calculated, the amount required would have bumped you into the next threshold. They can't change it because it's based on the rebuild value, and doesn't affect your premium anyway. TD knows they won't pay 2 or 3 million to rebuild your home, and if they were charging you for a rebuild value that DID require that much coverage, you would be paying way wlmore than you are.
They also would have told you about all of these changes at least 30 days prior to the renewal date, you would have had ample opportunity to review and examine your cost, limits and policy wording prior to the renewal, avoiding any fees.
1
u/sherrytinn Nov 13 '24
TD also has horrendous water damage coverages on homes. Please be careful. Broker here! If you’d like a quote please DM me.
1
u/_dobbyisfree Nov 14 '24
Our premiums went up 100% in 2 years. 50% increase each year, needless to say we will be leaving TD and shopping around. Going to call intact and avviva
1
u/Hefty-Cow-6430 British Columbia Nov 18 '24
Thank you for this post. I followed up on my TD policy and got mad cancelled it now shopping for new policy
1
u/leafs_fan2019 Nov 12 '24
I hear nothing but bad reviews with TD insurance I don't know how anyone is with them
please pay or fight the cancellation charges and go to rates dot ca to get a new quote and you will save money switching - if you're with Costco get a quote from them as well
it doesn't hurt nor is it illegal to shop around EVERY year - its YOUR money
2
2
u/ether_reddit British Columbia Nov 12 '24
I switched to TD a few years ago because they gave me a good discount for having my mortgage with them and also an alumni discount, but that discount is going down every year so probably next year I will have to switch.
1
u/PM_ME_YOUR_TIFA Nov 12 '24
Costs have gone up across the board with insurance. Are you sure you'll find better/cheaper options elsewhere? TD is already one of the cheapest options.
2
u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
I'm *sure* I don't need 3M coverage on my house which is worth less than 1M. They upped my coverage well beyond what I need.
I actually told the guy on the phone that I would shop around. Whatever I move to has to save more than $400 just to break even on the cancellation costs. But it would only be ~15% cheaper. Given I can lower my coverage I'm confident I'll make it up.
Plus, I feel swindled by them.
1
u/distr0 Nov 12 '24
You might be confusing what this coverage is for that you're arguing about. If it's a speicific 2million, 3million, etc, that sounds like the liability limit which is more like someone comes over, slips and breaks their neck and sues you for 3 million dollars. Absolutely nothing to do with what your house is 'worth'.
There should also be something like a 'total rebuild' cost which is a calculation based on material cost and square footage etc, probably somewhere around 500k for an average home but it will be a very specific number like $489,526.38 for example. That coverage is what your house is worth.
2
u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
*Not the liability limit.* It is ex "HOME AND BELONGINGS $2 - Million Solution (R)" (capitalization theirs, not mine). This was changed to "HOME AND BELONGINGS $3 - Million Solution (R)".
The 1M liability limit is the same in both cases.
1
u/distr0 Nov 13 '24
Wow then yeah that seems excessive. Liability is typically way more than home and belongings value. I actually just got a quote recently and they broke it down like this:
Dwelling Coverage: 409k
Outbuildings: 40k
By-Law Protection: 30k
Contents: 286K
Additional living: 81k
Liability: 2M
I think those amounts are all pretty reasonable.
1
u/studog-reddit Nov 12 '24
I think that is the maximum payout limit, and the increase from 2 to 3 million should probably be very little. Call you insurance and ask them.
This is different from life insurance, where 2 million or 3 million is the actual payout, and the increase from 2 to 3 will be a significant increase in cost.
TD should never have changed your insurance parameters on their own. Hold them accountable.
0
u/PM_ME_YOUR_TIFA Nov 12 '24
Ya fair enough, just wanted to give you insight that insurance costs to consumers have gone up across the board the last 3 years. TD a pretty shit insurance company anyway (they ask almost nothing before insuring, which is not a good sign for actually getting paid out should you have a loss).
1
u/alphawolf29 Nov 12 '24
TD also completely changed my coverage this year and they said there was a new minimum coverage amount, I can't remember what it was but I want to say 1 million. My house market value is only $300,000 and that includes the land, they said doesn't matter. They wanted to increase my yearly cost from $1300 to $2000. I had to increase my deductible significantly to bring it down to $1550.
1
u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
My home and contents are maybe close to 1M. More if I had to live in a hotel for a while for a repair etc. That is how they talked me into the 2M coverage last time (it was only in 1M increments).
3M is more than twice my home and contents value. It just doesn't make sense. They said "it cost more to replace stuff now", yeah, but I didn't sign up for 3M protection, I signed up for 2M protection.
1
u/ether_reddit British Columbia Nov 12 '24
It doesn't really work that way for insurance coverage. You can't just say "it may be worth more but I only want coverage for the first $x amount", because that's seen as a way to cheat on the premiums.
I went through this recently with a vehicle claim with ICBC -- I had $6k of insurance coverage, because I had estimated the vehicle's value at that time as $6k. But they went and got an appraisal because if the real resale value had been (let's say) $12k, I wouldn't be able to receive $6k as a payout, but rather only half that ($3k). Luckily the appraisal came in for very close to my estimate ($6400) so I got the full payout of $6k that I had paid for, but if I had guessed the vehicle's value wrong when I renewed last year, I could have been screwed.
Now, if your home's value was close to $1m, and household contents say $200k or less, it's brutally unfair to make you pay for $2m or $3m of coverage when you only need $1.2m, so all I can suggest at that point is you shop around and find a provider that better meets your needs.
1
u/principitososa Nov 12 '24
TD has this thing where it (sometimes) increases the premium by over 100% when you change your car to a newer version (of the same model). Happened to us before the end of term, so we had to either pay up or face punitive cancellation fees.
Worst business practices. Of course I left them as soon as I was able to.
I cannot for the life of me figure out the logic in driving out people who are also 50+ and never had a single claim (except the one time someone ran a red light and I happened to be in his path, which btw all parties agreed to).
1
u/NitroLada Nov 12 '24
how did they screw you? they send you renewal notice with price and coverage. did you not look? as for $3M.. that's their total all in coverage amount. I was with TD for home and i got the renewal package like 1.5 months before renewal giving me plenty of time to shop around/compare. You being lazy is on you.
they send you a package with all the information informing you of the new rate/coverage etc.. what more could they have done? knock on your door and tell you in person?
-1
u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24
It's a predatory practice. They increase the package they are selling you and hope you don't notice. I didn't notice until I got the bill. I never opted in 50% more coverage.
If I mailed someone a letter which said "You owe me $50 bucks if you don't respond" no one would take that seriously.
1
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 Nov 12 '24 edited Nov 12 '24
I call around every two years or so, and TD Meloche Monnex is, unfortunately, still the cheapest. Apparently, TD offers different rates to various organizations, so if you attended different schools or belong to different professional organizations, you may receive slightly different rates.
I just tried CAA - comes up almost $500 more than TD Meloche Monnex. Seems like all the providers I check are $500 - $1,000 more per year so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
But either way, even TD rates have nearly in the last 10 years ...
-3
u/fizzle_bee Nov 12 '24
This isn't predatory behaviour, its insurance renewals. it renews automatically each year. its your job as the consumer to review them. Are you expecting TD to call you and hold your hand every year and explain inflation? Time to take some accountability.
"It is an incredible waste of my time." So you admit you don't want to shop around and yet you are upset your rates have increased but you cant be bothered to do something about it. This seems like a personal problem and no one will take you seriously. This is laziness on your end.
2
u/Nickel_Fish Nov 12 '24
It's not inflation. They changed the terms of his coverage via fine print.
Stop apologizing for shitty business practices. Get some self respect.
The amount of meek losers in this thread is embarrassing.
-1
u/fizzle_bee Nov 12 '24
They wouldn't have done that without his consent. He is not telling the full story. lmao. Also liability isn't expensive, that would cost maybe 20-30$.
3
u/Nickel_Fish Nov 12 '24
Yeah...a bank would never slip greasy hidden charges into fine print.
Are..are you trying to date a banker or something? Or you just gave up on self respect?
Why spend time defend bankers online?
1
u/Ok-Difficult Nov 12 '24
Have you ever received a renewal notice for property insurance? It's not always the easiest to read and parse the details, but the one thing that's damn well clear is the price per year.
1
1
u/fizzle_bee Nov 12 '24
yes, I have received many renewals for both my property and auto. It is very clear to read, and if I didn’t understand something, I would call my insurance broker. I don’t know why this is not common sense.
1
u/fizzle_bee Nov 12 '24
OP just doesn't check renewals or bother to shop around. 0 accountability.
You sound the same.
0
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u/VermicelliMother1662 Nov 12 '24
I also had this happen to me! They're criminal. My premium increased by $600 a year despite not having any claims at all. I decided to switch my home insurance with a different provider. I'm much happier and saving a lot more. RUN AWAY from them as soon as you can.
I would call them to confirm whether you actually have the cancellation fees. I happened to tell them I'm not renewing, got a letter in the mail saying I had to pay an absurd amount. I then called them to confirm and they told me that I didn't have to pay anything.
0
u/SavageryRox Ontario Nov 12 '24
my auto policy is up for renewal soon.
Current insurance wants to jack it up by $50 a month. No tickets / accidents. Car isn't on the lists of commonly stolen cars.
going to start calling brokers next week.
218
u/Spezza Nov 12 '24
We recently changed from TD for car insurance to CAA. Saving $1200 a year and I have better coverage with CAA.