Level Term Life Insurance Guide Discussion

dunstonh

The wat i see it is that all life/ critical illness policies are a con

Can you repeat that in English?

i had a policy with a company for years and then with the current crisis we were contacted by a well known company offering to " beat what we were paying for the same cover" now the "critical" words are "same cover" unfortunately 3 years later i now have an acute kidney disease and have had a heart valve replacement, guess what, the company paid out 12 month's mortgage payments but want no part of critical illness cover.

What current crisis?

So, you cancelled a critical illness policy and replaced it with a mortgage payment protection insurance which does not cover critical illness. You now think that CI policies are a con because you didnt have one when you needed to make a claim and if you had it would have paid out? Not sure of your logic there.

Now in the policy it doesn't mention critical illness ( fair enough ) but the policy was sold to us as a like for like policy, and if i had stayed with mt existing company the would haqve paid out on the policy i had with them. All i can say is buyer beware

Your problem has nothing to do with the policy. Your problem is that you bought a different product thinking it was the same thing. You may have recourse against the firm that sold it to you if they did it on an advice process. However, if you did it yourself and they just supplied information then you wouldnt.

Putting it another way, it would be like swapping a car for a motorbike then then saying vehicles are rubbish as you cant get four people in them. You can but you got rid of the car that allowed you to do it.

Mepbphhond

One difference between insurers is the actual payout rate. You would have thought that once insured, if you then died, the policy would then pay out. Wrong. The insurers hide behind phrases like 'non-disclosure' to not pay out, and let's face it you are not really in a position to argue !

If you then factor in the well known phrase 'past performance is no .....' And you look at the reputation of banks and brokers and you have to really question the security of this insurance.

The system as it stands is a lottery. The whole reason for taking insurance is to mitigate risk. But, the risk remains with the consumer.

On a recent quote, where I was not referred for medical records, I actively asked for such a records check, to remove all risk. The answer, no we don't do that. And why, it takes away their wriggle room.

It simply is not good enough. These are another crowd where they rely on consumers not reading the small print carefully.

Be warned, you might think you have insurance but the best payout % is a tad over 99%.

starrystarry

Mepbphhond wrote: »

One difference between insurers is the actual payout rate. You would have thought that once insured, if you then died, the policy would then pay out. Wrong. The insurers hide behind phrases like 'non-disclosure' to not pay out, and let's face it you are not really in a position to argue !

If you then factor in the well known phrase 'past performance is no .....' And you look at the reputation of banks and brokers and you have to really question the security of this insurance.

The system as it stands is a lottery. The whole reason for taking insurance is to mitigate risk. But, the risk remains with the consumer.

On a recent quote, where I was not referred for medical records, I actively asked for such a records check, to remove all risk. The answer, no we don't do that. And why, it takes away their wriggle room.

It simply is not good enough. These are another crowd where they rely on consumers not reading the small print carefully.

Be warned, you might think you have insurance but the best payout % is a tad over 99%.

What a load of twaddle. For starters, "past performance is no.." is irrelevant here as term assurance has no investment element. Clearly you have no idea what you're talking about. I'm not sure I can even be bothered to comment on the rest of the nonsense.

kingstreet

the best payout % is a tad over 99%

Which suggests there is little evidence of non-disclosure or anything else being used to decline a legitimate claim.

If you answer each question honestly and truthfully your claim will be paid.

If you withold a material fact with no intent to deceive or obtain more favourable terms, you'll also have the Financial Ombudsman Service on your side.

Christmas777

Hi. Been spending tonight looking for life insurance. I need some straightforward, plain and simple english advice. I'll be totally honest because it's pointless lying.....

Myself and hubby have our own bungalow and after our life insurance ended we applied for new life insurance policies. My Hubby got his (we are both 48) but mine was declined as I have suffered from depression since the age of 16 and have attempted suicide several times. I tried several times to get life insurance a couple of years ago but was declined by all (including the Insurance Surgery). It's now been 3.5yrs since my last overdose and I'm doing great....except that I still can't get insurance. I'm happy to take insurance that won 't pay out for suicide because I'm determined that this is never now going to happen, but can't seem to find anyone to insure me. I'm so scared now that Hubby will be left with a mortgage to pay on his own if something were to happen to me (accident, illness etc. but not suicide). He has had to put up with enough over the years and I want to make sure that he will be okay if I should die.

How can I find a company that will pay out insurance in the event of my death (not by suicide)??

weighty1_2

How can I find a company that will pay out insurance in the event of my death (not by suicide)??

Glad to here you're doing well now but unfortunately I think it is going to be extremely difficult to get medically underwritten life cover.

Firstly, no provider excludes suicide other than in the first 12-months of a policy. The reason being there are hundreds of ways an individual could commit suicide and many of them could easily be made to look like accidents therefore the insurer would have no way of differentiating between a valid and invalid claim.

From an underwriting perspective it is extremely difficult to obtain terms for a client who has made multiple attempts on their life, especially over protracted periods of time. The underwriters could look at your application and simply think "what happens if the depression re-emerges and you make a successful attempt?". This is the biggest barrier to obtaining terms in my experience.

Depending on your age there is a policy through ASDA called instance life cover. It's not medically underwritten and therefore does include some standard medical exclusions, although only for pre-existing conditions. It does also have a suicide exclusion. The main issue with this plan is the premium is a maximum of £15/month and therefore you may not get the level of cover you desire, but some is better than none.

Hope this helps a little

marathonic

Does an income protection policy generally cover the same (albeit more included) conditions as a critical illness policy?

The reason I ask is that, if someone where to have a Group Income Protection Plan through their company paying 70% of their income, after a 26-week waiting period, and be diagnosed with a critical illness, would their income protection be enough considering it should cover mortgage payments and the current, pre-condition, living expenses?

The above assumes enough life assurance is in place and an emergency savings fund to cover the 26-week waiting period is also in place.

kingstreet

Income protection takes a definition of disability, rather than a list of conditions. The better plans use "unable to follow own occupation due to disability caused by accident or sickness" so you receive the monthly benefit if you are disabled by an illness and unable to work.

A very good critical illness plan covers around 40 conditions and many have a qualifying level of that condition. For example, a claim for prostate cancer may be limited to those scoring Gleason 6 or above.

So, it's possible to be off work and in need of replacement income, but be unable to make a valid critical illness claim.

As the income protection benefit is paid tax-free, around 60% of your usual gross salary should see you able to maintain your standard of living. A group scheme has a higher maxima because the benefit is paid to the firm and they pay you a continued salary, which is still subject to tax and NI.

bikerblob

hi
we have old level term policies from 20 years ago,single and joint.since then we have both developed health probs,so are these policies invalid due to change in our circumstances? would they not pay out if we died today?

thinking of getting just 1 new up to date policy.

weighty1_2

bikerblob wrote: »

hi
we have old level term policies from 20 years ago,single and joint.since then we have both developed health probs,so are these policies invalid due to change in our circumstances? would they not pay out if we died today?

thinking of getting just 1 new up to date policy.

In nearly all cases you are not obliged to inform an insurance company of any changes in circumstances (especially your health) therefore I would certainly expect your existing policies to pay out if something happened now.

I suppose one thing to consider is how long is remaining on the term of the existing plans. If there is only a couple of years and you anticipate still needing cover at the end of those policies it may be better to look at taking a new plan now since generally people's health only deteriorates over time. That said, it is very much dependent on the health conditions you have, the severity of them and the time since diagnosis.