How to cancel your life insurance

You can quite easily cancel your life insurance policy by speaking with your insurer.

In this guide we'll look at how to cancel your life insurance policy.

A step-by-step guide to cancelling your life insurance policy

It’s easy to cancel a life insurance policy and you should be able to cancel it at any time.

Follow our step-by-step guide below:

1. Find your insurers details. You should be able to find these online, if not you should find them on anything you've been sent from them, such as a statement or a welcome pack. You could also use our insurer directory.

2. Contact your insurer via phone or email, and explain that you would like your contract to end. You can't just cancel your direct debit as your insurer might not cancel the policy and you could end up in arrears.

3. If you’re switching to a different insurer or life insurance policy, be careful not to leave yourself uninsured. Don’t cancel your policy until a new one has been agreed and accepted so that you are continually covered.

Here are details from some of the most well-known insurers on how to cancel a life insurance policy:

How to cancel Vitality life insurance: call its customer service team on 0345 601 0072

How to cancel Legal and General life insurance: call its customer service team on 0370 010 4080

How to cancel LV= life insurance: call its customer service team on 0800 678 1906

How to cancel Aviva life insurance: call its customer service team on 0800 285 1098 if you bought your policy after February 2015, or on 0800 404 9538 if you bought it before

How to cancel AIG life insurance: call its customer service team on 0345 600 6820

How to cancel Royal London life insurance: call its customer service team on 0345 602 1885

I've accidentally cancelled my life insurance policy, how do I start it again?

Contact your insurer and tell them what's happened. They should reinstate the policy if it's within a certain time limit from your cancellation date. If you're outside the time period and it's not possible to restart your life insurance policy, they might be able to offer you an alternative policy, or you could compare life insurance policies yourself.

Make sure you do this as soon as you realised you're not covered.

Can you cancel life insurance at any time?

You should be able to cancel your life insurance policy if you are within your cooling-off period, usually a 30-day window from starting it.

However, if this has passed and you cancel a life insurance policy, you usually won’t get a refund for any premiums you’ve already paid.

If you’re looking to cancel your life insurance policy, it's best to check what the terms and conditions of the policy are first. There may be a fee applied if you cancel your life insurance when you’re mid-way through a policy.

Why would you want to cancel your life insurance?

There are many reasons why you might want to cancel a life insurance policy. They may include the following.

You no longer need it

The whole point of having this type of protection is to be able to leave a sum of money to anyone who’s financially dependent upon you. If you no longer have someone who’d need this money, your children have become adults for example, you may not need a policy in place anymore. You might also have it to protect your mortgage payments, but if you’ve managed to pay it off early, you won’t need this anymore.

Divorce or separation

Let’s say you have a joint life insurance policy with a partner but you are now separated or divorced. You might want to cancel this policy and take out a new single life insurance policy.

It’s too expensive

If you can’t afford your life insurance payments, you could consider cancelling. Insurers are aware of the current situation and so it’s always best to speak to your insurer first. They might be able to arrange a break from payments, rather than cancelling the policy altogether leaving you with no cover.

You’ve found a better policy

It’s always important to keep an eye on the insurance market to make sure you still have the best deal around. If you find a cheaper insurance policy, this could be a good reason to switch to a different insurer. Just make sure you read all the terms and conditions carefully first.

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Should you cancel your life insurance policy?

Confused.com life insurance expert Matt Harwood advises:

"The decision to cancel your life insurance policy is dependent on your own circumstances. If it’s a policy you no longer want or need, or one you’re paying too much for, then there’s no reason to carry on paying out for it.

However, it’s not a decision to make lightly. When it’s cancelled you no longer have this protection in place, unless you have a new policy set up. If you don’t need it, then this shouldn't be a problem. But if you do still want this protection, you might need to find a new policy"

The market is competitive but it’s worth remembering the older you are, the more expensive life insurance gets when buying a new policy. This is because the risk of you dying increases. So it could be harder to find a cheaper policy - although the only way to check this is to compare life insurance prices and see what different insurers are offering

Are there other options other than cancelling?

If you want to reduce the amount of cover you have, speak to your insurer. They could lower the lump sum available if you were to die and this should also result in lower monthly premiums.

You might want to do this if your life insurance covers your mortgage, but you’ve paid off a lump sum of the loan and therefore need to reduce your life insurance cover.

There may be a small cost for changing your life insurance but you should be told what this is before any changes take place.