This is an interesting article about prélèvements and how they work…
and then…
So this is how they justify it. So if you cancel a contact and they don’t want you to, they can just go and debit your bank account, without your permission, and seemingly you can do nothing about this. Marvellous
Ashley,
I understand you might be cross … but… did you cancel the contract??? surely this is the crux of the matter in your case… 
… the fact that your contract was not cancelled (or not cancelled correctly)… 
@anon88169868 wife and I were listening to French radio on the way to the railway station this morning when we heard an ad for the BNP or some such announcing with great fanfare a cashback scheme for buying things with your debit card - my wife chimes in “Only had that in the UK since 1990 !” - banking innovation is definitely slower here.
Under normal circumstances, no, a creditor can not simply use your cheque data and convert it to a “mandat de prélèvement” - however, the devil is in the detail of the contract that was signed. Most people don’t, or rarely read the entirety of their insurance contracts (myself included), so these things can go unnoticed, but that doesn’t necessarily make them illegal. FWIW, contract formation has recently been made even easier than before, with a loosening of the law of contract. Fortunately, there are still consumer associations out there fighting the good fight.
Possibly not a bad thing seeing the entire UK economy is based on personal debt - 75% of the total EU credit card debt is from the UK.
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The way financial institutions are structured under the law has also been a contributing factor, it was only relatively recently that the banking sector regulation was opened up.
It looks like i didn’t check the small print of my contract. When they sent me my renewal, I said that I was reviewing their quote and others. However, i didn’t specifically cancel the contract, nor did i say i wished to renew.
I hadn’t realised that insurance contracts enjoyed preferred creditor status that enables them to extract the money from your bank account without your agreement or authorisation.
As far as making such payments in future are concerned, my view is that I ma going back to cash payments and physical receipts in France.
Whatever you decide… it will be best to thoroughly read all small print in future … and do not accept anything/sign anything… until you are sure you fully understand all the implications.
(most of us will have missed something along the way…)
best of luck
My advice would be certainly to arrange your insurance through @fabien through the associate link at the head of the page.
He is a quality broker and will always guide you properly through the process. We pay our premiums through arrangements made by him for our health, house and car and I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that, in the event of any query, he will look after our interests very well.
There is no need to pay cash for insurance policies.
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Actually I think there is a lot to be said for insurance renewing unless you cancel it, rather than lapsing unless you renew it. A friend of mine in the UK once got pulled up out of the blue for driving without insurance. She is the most law abiding person you could wish to meet but for several months she’d been staying with her aged mother who was dying at the other end of the UK, so she hadn’t received the renewal notice in the post, and being distressed about her mum she hadn’t been keeping tabs on things like that. She got pulled up about a week after it expired and was totally devastated to discover she’d been driving without insurance, at a time when she really didn’t need any more bad news in her life, and she got a large fine and six points on her licence.
The French system protects you from your own absent mindedness.
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I agree @anon27586881 I love the French system. Everything is done for you couldn’t be any easier.
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Absolutely agree…
@fabien even sent us a cancellation letter model to use… and checked that we had done the necessary in the correct timescale.
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The US is just as bad, or worse.
Whether you think this acceptable is a philosophical point, I’ve discussed before the fact that something like 80% of the money supply comes from creation of debt in the modern “western” economies because banks can create loans without capital to back them - just adding numbers to a record on a computer that corresponds to your balance.
I think a few people had a lot of difficulty grasping the concept.
Is it a good thing - well, it enables people to buy goods which drives the economy so you might argue that it is desirable. Unfortunately when someone notices that the castle built on little more than clouds has no foundations things do tend to come crashing down disastrously.
I will contact Fabien.
Many thanks
Hi Ashley, actually, in order to make sure they were (or not) in their right term to trigger the direct debit simply ask them for a copy of your signed “Mandat de prélèvement SEPA” (SEPA direct debit order). Failure to deliver say document would prouve them wrong and vice et versa of course. In the meantime you can also inform your bank that you contest the debit so that they’ll also double check with the debitor that their claim was legit. As you’re into double checking, also ask the insurance company for a copy of your signed policy which should clearly state both the automatic renewal (99% of French insurances will auto renew) and the “installment” (one-off debit - to be taken out directly from your bank account). If anything is missing you can file an official complaint through the legal procedure as this is a regulated business but first double check on the signed paperwork they have from you which should contain at least that SEPA mandate and the policy. Let me know how it goes 
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Hi Fabien
Many thanks. i have requested this information from them. Best Wishes
Just in case, if they don’t answer you or don’t want to comply, send the same request with the word “reclamation” in the email’s subject and also request the details of their “mediateur” (only do that if they don’t comply but this would put some legal pressure on them to make sure they’ll send the documentation).
Excellent.
Will do.
Many thanks
