News & Views

As part of our Renewal Commitment, we have undertaken to publish the average premium increases our customers are seeing at the policy renewal.  We have now prepared our renewal notices for February and the result is available.

The average renewal increase for February 2010 is 1.94% which equates to £0.44 per month.

Don't forget, as part of renewal commitment we will not increase your customer's premium by more than 5% at their annual review including those customers who have been premium matched to other providers.

We're delighted to welcome Lemma Europe Insurance Company to our panel of home insurance providers from the 8th January 2010.

Whilst Lemma will be replacing AXA as the third provider of home insurance for new business, any existing quotations provided by Jubilee on the AXA rates will remain with Jubilee so that existing customers are not affected.

The new Lemma quotations are available on the quotation engine now.

All 3XD underwriters write policies on the same terms and conditions with all claims handled by 3XD - this means that you can select the best price for your customer without affecting the level of cover the customer will receive.

We'd like to thank all our intermediaries who have supported up during 2009 - it's been our pleasure to be of service to you and the thousands of customers you've introduced to us this year.

We've got some exciting plans for 2010 including new products, new insurers and new services initiatives.

The first of these kicks off at the beginning of January when we transfer our intermediary support from Southend to our head office in Clitheroe - which we hope will allow you to get through to the people who make decisions quickly and easily.  We know many of you have a great relationship with the team in Southend and they will continue to look after our customer and claims helplines.  We'd like to thank everyone involved in the team for all of their hard work assisting our intermediary partners over the last two years.

You can check out details of our opening hours over Christmas and the New Year by clicking here.

We wish you all a very happy Christmas and best wishes for a successful 2010.

As part of our Renewal Commitment, we have undertaken to publish the average premium increases our customers are seeing at their policy renewal.  We have now prepared all our renewal notices for January 2010 and the result is available.

The average renewal increase for January 2010 is 3.91% which equates to £0.82 per month.

Don't forget we've extended our renewal commitment to match Paymentshield's commitment not to increase premiums in 2010.  Any policy previously matched to a Paymentshield product will also not see a price increase this year.

As we continue to see price increases the market, we're getting enquiries about what price increase 3XD customers will see when their policies fall for renewal so we've decided to let you know how we're doing by publishing the increase rate on our website.

We're delighted that our insurers share our commitment to long term customer satisfaction by maintaining prices - and protecting your long term renewal income into the bargain.

To see how we've done over the last six months, click here.

3XD opened for business on the 1st November 2007 and we'd like to thank all our intermediaries and customers for their support over the last 2 years.  We've always believed in sharing success so we're delighted to announce that 3XD is now offering 6 months indemnity commission on our Lloyd's home insurance product.

We're making this option available for any new business submissions, backdated to the 1st October 2009.

If you're already receiving indemnity commission for the other insurers you do not need to do anything and you will receive the new 6 month indemnity commission automatically.  If you have opted for monthly commission you can change your commission preference at any time by emailing commissions@3xd.co.uk to make the change.

From 1st October 2009, our Lloyd's underwriter is changing from Heritage to Jubilee. This change involves only minor changes to the ratings including a reduction of the charge for accidental damage cover and also provides a continuation of our valuable premium beating guarantee.

Any quotations provided by Heritage will be honoured with any cases submitted after 1st October automatically switching to Jubilee when the case is submitted. There is no need to provide new documentation to your customer as both insurers trade under the Lloyd's name.

Commenting, David Fulluck, Managing Director says "We are delighted that we have secured underwriting with Jubilee which includes the continuation of the Premium Beating Guarantee. We would also like to extend our thanks to Heritage for the support they have given 3XD over the last two years."

Existing customers underwritten by Heritage will continue to be underwritten by Heritage until their next renewal date when their policies will switch automatically.

Lloyd's enjoys a rating of A+/Stable from Standard and Poors and has an international unblemished reputation for paying claims.  In addition to the protection offered by the FSCS, all Lloyd's members contribute to a central fund, offering a extra level of protection for your customer.

As we head towards autumn there has never been a better time for customers to consider the home emergency extension to the 3XD home emergency policy.  In addition, every time you sell a home emergency extension during September 2009, we'll enter you in a draw to win a Virgin V Joyful Experience Day.

The home emergency extension provides cover for emergency events around the home and is available as an extension to our household product for just £2.10 per month.

For more details about the home emergency extension, click here.

For the full terms and conditions of the September incentive, click here. 

3XD are pleased to announce their new NO admin fee guarantee, complementing their existing commission guarantee and premium beating guarantee.

This new guarantee commits 3XD to never adding administration fees to our products saving customer's up to £36 per year on equivalent policies elsewhere in the market. 

For more information about our guarantees, click here. 

We are receiving reports on our helpline that one of our competitors is directing customers who want to cancel their cover because they have taken out a new 3XD policy to a website which compares product features.  This comparison does not detail the cover under our buildings and contents policy correctly.

For example, one customer who has insured buildings and contents insurance was directed to the buildings comparison which showed no cover for lost keys.  As the customer had insured buildings and contents there is cover of £750 for this event, compared to £500 of cover on her previous policy.

The 3XD business is built on trust and integrity - if you have any concerns about the cover under your policy ask your intermediary for more information.  In order to become a 3XD intermediary you need to commit to giving fair advice, including not making unfair comparisons of our competitor's products.

We have asked the provider of this information to change the comparison as soon as possible.  In the meantime, you can download an overview of our terms (in the same format as the website concerned) here.

Our intermediary partners should note that we take all attempts to undermine your professional advice very seriously. We are compiling a file of comments from customers and will present this to the Financial Services Authority should the need arise.

From 24th July 2009, AXA will cease to be a panel member for the 3XD household insurance panel, shortly to be replaced by a new underwriting partner.

In the meantime, the prices provided by AXA will continue to be made available with policies being underwritten by Heritage at Lloyd's.  When quoting you should select the best price for your customer from the two Heritage options.  All quotations in progress will automatically be transferred to Heritage at Lloyd's on the 24th June 2009.

In addition, we are extending our premium beating guarantee to include the Assurant product underwritten by AXA Insurance.  For more information about our premium beating guarantee click here.

Existing customers underwritten by AXA will continue to be insured by AXA until their next renewal date, when cover will be transferred to our Lloyd's underwriters.

This decision does not affect our relationship with Lawshield and AXA Inter Partner Assistance who will continue to provide our legal expenses and identity fraud cover.

More details of our new underwriting partner will be made available soon.

On Monday, Rick Riding, drew the winner of our Payment Protection incentive for May 2009 which was won by Paul Chappell of Chappell & Company in Clevedon.

Paul has won a V Joyful Virgin Experience day.  Commenting Paul said "I was thrilled to hear that I have won the Virgin Experience Day, the prize from 3XD's recent Payment Protection competition.  I am thoroughly impressed with the way in which 3XD operates, from the excellent Price Beating Guarantee to the way in which nothing is too much trouble for any of the 3XD staff.  It's very refreshing to have 3XD on our side to help our company continue to grow.  3XD's competitors should sit up and take notice of how things should be done."

3XD will be running a further incentive on household policies in August 2009 with details to follow on our web site soon.

The comments made by Paul have been reproduced with permission.

The results now show the new First Assist product available through Select & Protect comparing full accident, sickness and unemployment cover and the unemployment only options.

For more information visit www.3xd.co.uk/twentyquid

We've done the research to see how 3XD compares to Assurant, Paymentshield and Select & Protect by looking at how much payment protection cover your customer can get for £20 a month.

To see the results click here.

Following changes to the product range offered by Select & Protect, we have extended our Premium Beating Guarantee to include the new Essentials product.

When beating the price quoted on the Essentials Product, we will endorse our standard product to reduce the sums insured to £250,000 for buildings and £30,000 for contents. However, we will continue to offer our standard policy wording in all other respects.

We also understand that Select & Protect's Median product no longer includes the 14 months cover for the price of 12 offer. However, when price beating this product, we will allow intermediaries to continue adjusting the premium for this previous offer until the 31st May 2009.

There is more information for registered intermediaries in our Premium Beating Guide.

As part of our March upgrade, we have introduced a home emergency extension to our buildings and contents insurance for homeowners.

This extension covers customers for up to £500 (including VAT) for an emergency call out and repairs for the most common home emergencies.  The product is provided by DAS Legal Expenses Insurance Company Limited and is available for a flat monthly premium of £2.10 per month.

Other system improvements includes our new online stationery order form and underwriting service, where intermediaries can refer cases if there is any doubt these would be acceptable to underwriters.

The other day, I spoke to a contact who I knew had written a large number of mortgage related general insurance policies because I wanted to find out if the recession was having a detrimental affect on his existing business retention levels and, if so, what steps he was taking to protect his book.

He told me that cancellations had increase and that this had reduced his income from renewal commissions but, unfortunately, he had no chase up system in place so that was no way of knowing whether clients simply could not afford to pay the premiums or if they had transferred cover to another broker or insurance provider.  He also mentioned that some providers do not let him know what the renewal premium would be leaving him not in a position to respond to any price increases.

Given that renewal commission is an important income stream for his business, I asked him how he would react if he thought someone had stolen £100 from his wallet - of course here he would take whatever steps were necessary to find out who the culprit was and recover the money.  As the average renewal commission on a £30 premium is about £100, every time you lose a policy to one of your competitors, this is just the same as letting them steal the cash in your wallet.

The morale of the story is very simple; spend some time to put into place a proper chase up system to protect your existing policies - you wouldn't let someone come along and steal directly from your wallet without putting up a fight, so don't let someone else come along and steal your renewal commission.

Due to changes made to the Payment Protection offerings by 3XD competitors, we have seen an increase in demand for this product offering.  We share the market's concern that the product is not taken out by customers who know they are likely to make an immediate claim.

Rather than taking the decision to exclude all existing borrowers, we are increasing the unemployment initial exclusion period (applicable to existing mortgage borrowers only) as follows:

1. Where the insured amount is £500 or less, we will continue to impose an initial exclusion period of 90 days.

2. Where the insured amount is between £500.01 and £1000, we will increase the initial exclusion period to 120 days.

3. Where the insured amount is £1000.01 or over, we will increase the initial exclusion period to 180 days.

There are no changes to the initial exclusion periods for disability and we continue to offer cover for new borrowers (where the policy begins within 30 days of the start date of the mortgage, loan or rental agreement) without an initial exclusion period. 

This change is designed to allow 3XD to continue offering protection to existing borrowers who are genuinely taking cover as a long term precaution, whilst protecting the insurers from the financial loss of insuring customers who are likely to make an immediate claim.

These changes take effect from all applications received by 3XD on or after 29th January 2009.

Following feedback from our intermediaries, we have made changes to the quotation engine and added new features.

These include:

- A commission sacrifice facility allowing intermediaries to discount the premium payable by reducing the commission. You can select options from 5% up to a full discount of 30% - useful when writing business for family and friends.

- An intermediary reference facility, allowing intermediaries to enter your own reference which will be quoted on all intermediary correspondence sent by 3XD.

- The facility to request confirmation that a case has been accepted by the underwriters before the start date is known.

We have updated our quotation guide to incorporate these new features, available in the documentation area.

In addition, new guidance from the FSA relating to the sale of monthly payment protection products comes into force on the 15th January 2009.  From this date, to meet these requirements, the statement of price intermediaries receive when a case is acknowledged will include the cost of cover over a 1 year, 3 year and 5 year term.

Although this guidance is primarily aimed at Payment Protection insurance, we have replicated this on the household insurance statement of price which will now also confirm the cost of cover for the first annual term.

For more information about the changes to quoting monthly payment protection, click here. 

Following a review by our underwriter, there are some changes to the charge rates for new applications for Payment Protection Insurance.

These changes only affect customers who elect to take out unemployment cover with a 24 month benefit period, allowing us to increase the claims fund for an expected rise in the length of an average unemployment claim.  There are NO changes to the rates for disability (accident or sickness) cover or for customers who elect to take out unemployment cover with a 12 month benefit period.

There are also no increases for existing customers.

Whilst 3XD regrets the need to increase the charges on any of its products, we are pleased that our offering with Brit Insurance remains highly competitive in the market.

For more information about the new rates, please see the product information section of the site.