Pay Now, Die Later: Funerals Uncovered
With the cost of dying skyrocketing for no reason, many are opting to purchase their funeral before they pass away. But are pre-paid funerals a good investment or a waste of cash? What happens if your funeral plan company goes bust with your money.

https://www.itv.com/hub/tonight/1a9757a0083

Hi from the France forum!
I couldn't open the link, but IMO funeral plans are a waste of money, unless they cover family travelling costs from the UK or repatriation of the deceased to the UK. My former British neighbour paid into a basic French one for a long time until her daughter calculated that what she had paid in over the years exceeded by far the average cost of a funeral. She managed to cancel the contract, but a "fine" for early repayment was deducted from the reimbursement. In the end, my neighbour returned to the UK where she died, and I'm wondering to this day whether the French Funeral Plan would have participated in her UK funeral expenses....
Best to keep an adequate sum (my OH's recent funeral cost less than 3000€) in a Savings Account and make sure that it, and current accounts, are in both names. In France, bank accounts are frozen upon death and the surviving spouse can find themselves in a financially delicate position if they don't have access to the account....

It does seem strange why people fall for these risky plans. Perhaps they don’t understand them. They are unregulated and there is no compensation scheme if the company goes bust. Only a part of what you pay goes towards your funeral costs and a substantial amount goes in the plan provider’s pocket. When the sad day arrives the relatives only become aware of all the restrictions, what is not covered and all the extra costs they will have to fork out. They are not the same as a death insurance policy where if you make one payment and die you get the full amount insured in most cases.

You would be safer setting up a protected bank savings plan and paying xyz into it per month, or taking out a low cost death only life insurance policy.

I did a one off payment to Golden Leaves some 13 years ago,cost around 2400 euros.They are still going strong & have branched out into other financial areas now.From comments I have heard,I am told that it is what it says on the tin & it is one phone call to them & they do everything.My daughter has lived in Spain since she was a young child,married to a Spanish man so no language barrier for her but I can't imagine what is like for a person needing to do all the arranging in such a short time & being a complete stranger to the process.I am very independently minded & I wanted to do this in readiness just for peace of mind.But it is a personal choice obviously.

Hola
A friend who is fluent in Spanish lost their mother in law; She was glad that she didn't have to speak Spanish and could simply grieve. Another Spanish friend arranged everything at super low cost. No matter how good your Spanish is, if you have lost a loved one, then it becomes much more difficult.

Davexf

We have been looking at the one off payment plans here for a 95 year old. So far we have established that locally the undertakers charge 4,400 and the other one over 3000 euros. if you turn up wanting their basic service following a death. The one with flash premises is predictably the more expensive.

My dad took out a one off payment plan in the UK some years ago. I was sceptical but it appears to be underwritten should the undertaker go bust. They haven't yet but prices of "turn up" have increased .