Press Centre

About Vanilla Life

Vanilla Life is all about giving customers the tools to find the cover they want.  We understand there is a large part of the market that likes the safety and handholding service of an IFA, and we have many years experience in this.  But we also know that there are many people who have the confidence and ability to choose their own policies and want to ensure they are getting the lowest price without compromising on quality.  There are also a large percentage of people who don’t want to speak to what they perceive as a high pressure sell call centre

By enabling customers to source and apply for their own cover we can offer the very lowest price because we don’t receive and commission from the providers.

Here at Vanilla Life we don’t compromise quality of cover – customers have the choice of cover from most of the top providers, and because they are happy to search and apply for their cover we can keep our operating costs as low as possible, by charging you a nominal administration fee – which in most cases will be saved within the first few months of a policy.

Vanilla Life’s administration centre is based in Halifax West Yorkshire.

Address:	PO Box 389, Halifax HX1 9GG
Telephone Number:	0844 335 8838
Web:	www.vanilla-life.co.uk
Press Contact:	David Whitwam - 01422 311344 - david@vanilla-life.co.uk

Company Directors

David Whitwam – Chairman & Founder

David has a long and successful career financial services ranging from front line sales to national sales management and product development.

David is a fully qualified adviser and is also director of ASSURA – a traditional fully advised financial advice company.

Through the service ASSURA offers it became more and more apparent that although many people like the service of an adviser, there is a growing part of the market that is happy to search the internet for what they view as the best deal.  It was from this that the idea for Vanilla Life was born.

"Our aim is to provide customers with exactly what they want, allow them to research for themselves at their leisure and then apply online.  We don’t see why customers should pay the cost of advice through their premiums, which is why we reinvest it all to bring the customers costs down" says David.

Outside business David is a husband and dedicated father of three, leaving little time for his interests in cycling, motor sport and skiing.   

Samantha Whitwam – Sales & Marketing Director

Samantha had a long and successful career in financial services before retraining as a teacher.  Following a successful career in teaching Samantha returned to financial services as a Director of ASSURA and has also played an instrumental role in the development of Vanilla Life’s proposition.

Samantha commented "This is an exciting time in the development of our proposition.  In line with the core values of the Treating Customers Fairly regime it is important that we evolve our offering to constantly improve the customer journey.  We have many more developments planned which will make Vanilla Life the ultimate reference point for anyone searching for life insurance"

Outside business Samantha is a wife and dedicated mother of three, keen runner and loves to test her culinary skills.

Richard Haslem – Programme Director

Richard has a long and successful career in engineering, process and development management.  Richard has worker with many large corporate companies streamlining processes, embedding change and reducing operating costs.  Richards part within Vanilla life is instrumental in ensuring the delivery of the company developments and maintaining a low cost base to ensure constant value for our customers.

"Being involved in Vanilla Life at this stage of its growth is incredibly exciting.  The plans we have in place to develop, refine and enhance our offering are changing constantly, but one of our main aims is to maintain value for the customer by constantly reviewing and driving down our cost base"  Richard commented

Outside business Richard is a husband and keen walker, and being the owner of 2 Chocolate Labradors he is never short of an opportunity to get outdoors.

 

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