Essentials contents insurance

Our contents insurance allows you to specify the level of cover you need - this means that you don’t pay for cover you don’t need.

If you live in shared accommodation, you will know how difficult it can be to keep your room secure. So we keep it simple - we cover walk-in thefts, except for money.

We don't even ask you to fit a lock to your room door. Of course, the main exit doors and windows still need to be secure.

If your total annual premium is over £70, you could opt to pay monthly - at no extra cost (subject to status).

Individual items
What possession matters most to you? Perhaps it's a laptop or a piece of jewellery that's been in the family for generations? With NatWest, you simply add the items you want to cover - so you only pay for what you need.

Contents away from your home
With extra cover, if you take portable items - like cameras and MP3 players - outside your home, they're covered for theft and damage up to £250 in total. Need cover for more than £250? Simply add it to your policy.

Accidental damage
Don't let an accident in your home leave you out of pocket. You can choose to add this valuable cover to your contents (not including money).

Vandalism
Your possessions are automatically covered for vandalism.

Walk in theft
You’re covered for walk in theft (except money).

Downloaded information
Information you have stored on your Home Entertainment Equipment or mobile phone is covered up to £250 in total.

Cash and cards
You're automatically covered for up to £50 cash in the home and £500 credit card misuse.

• How much do I need to insure my contents for?
• What is a specified item?
• What is accidental damage cover?
• Do I need legal cover?
• Is a bicycle theft covered by my contents insurance?
• How do I renew my policy?
• Are my belongings covered outside the home or when I go on holiday?

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How much do I need to insure my contents for?

You need to ensure that your contents are covered for an amount that is sufficient to replace any belongings that mean the most to you, in the event of them being lost or stolen. Remember replacement is on a new for old basis.

Consider taking extra cover for:

• Laptop Computer Equipment and Other Portable Electronic Equipment
• Mobile Phone
• Pedal Cycles
• Specified Items
• Legal Protection

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What is a specified item?

Specified items are items that you require to be covered for accidental loss or damage in and outside the home valued up to £1,500 each. The maximum total value for all specified items should not exceed £3,000.

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What is accidental damage cover?

This is additional cover that you can take out under your contents section, which provides cover for damage caused accidentally to your personal belongings whilst in your property.

N.B. If you require cover for laptops / portable computer equipment, other portable electronic equipment, mobile phones or pedal cycles you will need to take out additional cover for these items, see below.

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Do I need legal cover?

This will provide you with peace of mind in the event of you needing to legally defend claims against you, for claiming against other people for damage or injury caused to you, plus employment protection such as unfair dismissal.

Cover provided is up to £50,000.

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Is a bicycle theft covered by my contents insurance?

In order to cover your bicycle both in and outside the home you need to select Pedal Cycle cover, which is an optional extra under this policy. A limit of £250 applies in respect of any one bicycle, subject to a maximum of £1,000 in total for all bicycles.

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How do I renew my policy?

Renewing your policy couldn’t be easier. You will receive your renewal notice 3-4 weeks before your renewal date. It will contain all your premium information and a breakdown of your cover.

Automatic Renewal:
If your policy is to be renewed automatically you will receive continuous cover, as long as your payments continue to be collected. All you need to check is that the information on the renewal notice is still accurate. There is no need for you to contact us unless you need to make an amendment to your renewal.

Manual Renewal:
If your policy is not on automatic renewal your renewal letter will ask you to call us to renew. In order to renew your policy you should contact us on the telephone number provided.

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Are my belongings covered outside the home or when I go on holiday?

You can take out our Laptop and other Portable Electronic Equipment Cover, Mobile Phone Cover, Cycle Cover or Specified Items Cover in order to cover such items for theft, loss or accidental damage in and outside your home within the Channel Islands, Isle of Man or UK. You’ll also be covered for these items for up to 30 days outside the British Isles in any one period of insurance.

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NatWest Essentials Contents Insurance is underwritten by UK Insurance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered Office: The Wharf, Neville Street, Leeds LS1 4AZ. Registered in England No. 1179980. UK Insurance Limited is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

Written quotations are available on request from any branch.

All NatWest insurance products are subject to acceptance of underwriting criteria.

Calls may be recorded.

Interest Free Monthly Instalments

Subject to eligibility. Credit is provided by the insurer and is subject to status. A written quotation is available on request. Typical example of an annual premium of £258 would equate to 12 monthly payments of £21.50 (0% APR typical)

Should there ever be an occasion when you need to complain, please call us on our priority number 0845 246 0452. If your complaint relates to a claim, contact your claims handler whose details will be shown in your claims documentation.

If you wish to write, then address your letter as follows:

Claims related complaints to - Customer Relations Department, NatWest Essentials Contents Insurance, Cote Lane, Pudsey LS28 5GF.

All other complaints should be addressed to - Customer Relations Department, Royal NatWest Essentials Contents Insurance, PO Box 106, 37 Broad Street, Bristol BS99 7NQ.

If we cannot resolve the differences between us, you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Their address is: South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR, telephone 0845 080 1800.

Under European Law, You and We may choose which law will apply. English law will apply unless both parties agree otherwise.

To meet the requirements of current data protection law, we have provided you with the information below. It tells you about the systems that we have in place to help us prevent and detect fraud. The savings we make by using these systems help us to keep down the cost of our premiums.

NatWest Essentials Contents Insurance is underwritten by UK Insurance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered Office: The Wharf, Neville Street, Leeds LS1 4AZ. Registered in England No. 1179980. UK Insurance Limited is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

In this notice "we", or "us" or "our" refers to UKI and RBSIS. The "Insurer" means UKI.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, the Insurer and RBSIS are the data controllers in relation to data submitted to them.

This notice contains important information relating to the details that the Insurer and RBSIS are provided with. Anyone else whose details are submitted or who is to be covered under a policy issued should also read this notice.

Your privacy is important to us and we promise to respect your personal information and to do our best to ensure that your details are accurate and kept up to date.

"Personal Information" means any information obtained from you or from a third party in connection with a service or product provided to you by us. Information is collected lawfully and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

We will use your Personal Information to:

• confirm, update and improve our customer records;
• analyse and develop our relationship with you; and
• help in processing any applications you may make.

We may also need to disclose your Personal Information to other service providers for these purposes.

Your Personal Information and the information about your use of NatWest Essentials Contents Insurance may be used by us to inform you by letter or telephone about other products and services that may be of interest to you. Where applicable NatWest may also contact you by e-mail or other electronic means if you have provided your consent. If you prefer not to receive information about other products and service and have not yet informed us then please let us know next time you call. Alternatively, contact us at the address shown under "Further Information" in this notice.

The Insurer will use the Personal Information to manage and administer your insurance policy, including underwriting and claims handling. This may include disclosing it to other insurers, regulatory authorities, or to its agents who provide services on our behalf.

The Insurer may also provide your mortgage lender with information about the sum insured under your home policy, together with details of when your cover begins and ends.

The Insurer is constantly striving to improve the quality of its service and the efficiency of its systems and so, from time to time, it may use the information provided to help it do this. It may also use Personal Information to assist in carrying out research relating to the services it offers.

We shall exchange your information between ourselves and our group companies for the purposes set out in this notice, but your Personal Information will only be disclosed to third parties if:

• it is necessary for the performance of your agreement with the Insurer;
• for fraud prevention purposes as set out below;
• if it is necessary in connection with producing and distributing marketing material or in arranging any market research programme;
• if you have given your consent; or
• if such disclosure is required or permitted by law.

Some of the Personal Information required from you may be sensitive information (such as information about health or criminal convictions) about you and others named on the insurance policy. We will not use sensitive information about you or others except for the specific purpose for which you provide it and to provide the services described in your policy documents. You will have been asked to agree to this when you called but please ensure that you only provide sensitive information about other people with their agreement.

At the request of many of our customers and to make managing your insurance more convenient, it is our policy to deal with your spouse or partner who calls us on your behalf provided they are named on the policy. If you would like someone else to be able to deal with your policy for you on a regular basis please let us know. In some exceptional circumstances we may also deal with other people who call us on your behalf. If at any time you would prefer us to deal only with you, please call and let us know.

If you are a joint applicant we may disclose your Personal Information to the other joint applicant.

If you take advantage of any automatic renewal service the Insurer may offer, it will retain your payment details securely on file in order to continue to collect your premium when your policy is renewed. Each year, the Insurer will write to you in advance to remind you that this is happening.

Insurance fraud costs the industry millions of pounds each year and inevitably increases premiums. In order to prevent and detect fraud we may at any time:

• share information about you across companies within our group of companies, with other insurers and, where we are entitled to do so under the Data Protection Act, the police and other law enforcement agencies;
• pass your details to Insurance Hunter, a central insurance application and claims checking system, whereby it may be checked against information held by Insurance Hunter and shared with other insurers;
• check your details with fraud prevention agencies and, if you give us false or inaccurate information and we suspect fraud, we will record this with the fraud prevention agency; and
• We and other organisations may also use and search these records to:
  • help make decisions about credit and credit related services for you and members of your household;
  • help make decisions on motor, household, credit, life and other insurance proposals and claims for you and members of your household;
  • trace debtors, recover debt, prevent fraud and to manage your insurance policies; and
  • check your identity to prevent money laundering, unless you furnish us with other satisfactory proof of identity;
• undertake credit searches and additional fraud searches.

Insurers pass information to the Claims and Underwriting Exchange Register, run by Insurance Database Services Limited. The aim is to help the Insurer to check information provided and also to prevent fraudulent claims. When the Insurer deals with your request for insurance we may search these registers. Under the conditions of your policy you must tell the Insurer about any incident (such as an accident or theft) which may or may not give rise to a claim. When you tell the Insurer about an incident, we may pass information relating to it to the registers.

We may record telephone calls in order to improve our service and to prevent and detect fraud.

You are entitled on payment of a fee to receive a copy of the Personal Information we hold about you. This will be information we have been provided with during your policy. If you would like a copy of your Personal Information held by us in relation to this policy, please contact the Data Protection Officer, 3 Edridge Road, Croydon, Surrey CR9 1AG, quoting reference " NatWest Essentials Contents Insurance ".

Connected Companies - RBS International trading as NatWest and UK Insurance Limited are connected companies as they are both members of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

Please also read our website terms and conditions which cover your use of this website.