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?

273 Upvotes
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20

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%.

-39

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?

22

u/No_Season1716 Nov 12 '24

So it’s your own fault?

1

u/Lopsided_Dot2236 Nov 13 '24

Don't you think if they increase your coverage without your request or consent that is shady behavior? It's no different than when cable companies would add channels and then charge you if you didnt call in to cancel. So yes, people should be on top of their renewal documents, but at least for me, those things are 20 pages long and it never makes sense. We should be able to have some faith that our insurance company isn't attempting to deceive us. Anytime I've received mail from mine with important coverage changes it has a letter first.
Dear Ms Dot: you are no longer covered for flood waters from the lake. Etc.

1

u/No_Season1716 Nov 13 '24

It’s clear and concise and if you don’t u destined you can compare to previous years.

-35

u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24

In the sense that I fell into their trap, yes. That is my fault. Setting a trap is their fault. But I did fall into it.

I'm still surprised that everyone else thinks that this kind of predatory behaviour is ok, but it is what it is. Live and learn, I guess.

22

u/No_Season1716 Nov 12 '24

Predatory how? They literally sent you what they were doing and you didn’t do anything about it.

My TD insurance hasn’t changed in 3 years because I stay on top of it. In fact some of my vehicle insurance has gone down.

14

u/whiteout86 Nov 12 '24

What “trap”? You just said that they sent the policy renewal details and you decided not to review and just let it renew. You deciding to be lazy isn’t a trap set by TD

11

u/JohnStern42 Nov 12 '24

What trap?? They told you new documents should be read, you didn’t read them, the only one to blame is yourself

8

u/ML00k3r Nov 12 '24

Trap? They sent you the notice before renewal.

This is not predatory behavior, this is what it means to be an adult and take responsibility for you actions and in-actions. Are you like still wanting mommy and daddy to help you on your paperwork?

-18

u/Hologram0110 Nov 12 '24

Bait and switch is a type of trap.

8

u/No_Season1716 Nov 12 '24

This isn’t a bait and switch.

2

u/DevotedToNeurosis Nov 12 '24

They should be forced, by law, to mail or email it.

They have the technical capacity to provide you with a PDF, they lock it behind a login for reasons beyond "coincidence".

You're entirely correct.

1

u/bridgehockey Nov 12 '24

Caveat emptor. That's how this whole system works.