Should getting life assurance be this painful?

Money_Saving_Dude

Hi,

I think I have an expectation problem and have been rather taken aback by the number of hoops I am having to jump through to get life assurance. In order to try to help me reset my expectations I would appreciate people's views on this.

PLEASE NOTE: to keep this thread on track this is a question about the process of getting life assurance, NOT about whether I need it or not.

I'm in my early 50s and have decided to cash in my endowments, as they are performing very poorly. However I appreciate they have a life assurance element and thought it would be a good idea to replace this by buying that separately. I went through the money saving guide for insurance and got the online quotes as described there. My expectations were that, in this Internet age, I could apply on line and that would be that. After all I was simply looking for term assurance of five years to cover the period for me to pay off the remaining part of my mortgage.

The website questions went on for bloody ages! I went through all those, and while I have some medication (for blood pressure) I have never ever been told these are life threatening. Indeed the opposite -- if I don't take them I have an increased heart risk. I have been on them for years, and so my view has been I'm just like everyone else.

So I have been shocked to find I need to take a blood test. Is this normal? If I was a 'healthy' individual with no medication would the same thing still apply (ie if I had never discovered my high blood pressure, and assumed I was healthy because I wasn't dead).

Is it really this intrusive and protracted? Do I really need a reality check? When I got the mortgage in the first instance I never went through any of this (I was 35 then).

Am I really just not smelling the roses, and is this normal insurance behaviour for a 50+ year old?

Someone please put me straight!

huckster

Not my area of knowledge.

What about Tesco's offerings which are in association with Friends Provident.

Or see a local Independent Financial Advisor.

kingstreet

A combination of age and sum assured can trigger a need for further information, such as a GP's report, a medical examination or various different tests.

I'd say a blood test is pretty routine for someone suffering from blood pressure issues and taking medication.

If you'd bought via an independent financial adviser you'd have been warned about this in advance and advised to approach a provider likely to take an enlightened approach to such an issue.

I would be surprised if you don't face an increased premium following completion of underwriting.

Did you write the policy in trust?

Money_Saving_Dude

kingstreet wrote: »

A combination of age and sum assured can trigger a need for further information, such as a GP's report, a medical examination or various different tests.

I'd say a blood test is pretty routine for someone suffering from blood pressure issues and taking medication.

If you'd bought via an independent financial adviser you'd have been warned about this in advance and advised to approach a provider likely to take an enlightened approach to such an issue.

I would be surprised if you don't face an increased premium following completion of underwriting.

Did you write the policy in trust?

Ah, so there is probably a clip level for such requests. Worth knowing -- thanks for that. I have been wondering whether there would be an increase in the premium, and expect it to go up. However, for a five year term, I would be most upset if this was anything but a small percentage of what I have quoted (£11.12 pm for £100k).

As to a trust -- no, that hasn't been done. As I said, I just went via the MSE page for life insurance and pursued it from there. Appreciate all the thoughts to date.

ACG

Your experience seems unusal if were talking about £100k of cover, its usually more like 3-5 times that.

As for the questions those are normal - think about it, theyre taking a gamble of £100k on your life of course they want to know whether you have anything they should know about.
As for the blood test, it shouldnt take more than 20 mins with a nurse from medicals direct, they can do them on peoples lunch hour so i wouldnt worry about it too much.

With regards to trusts, this is one of the major problems with search comparison sites. They dont mention trusts and people are making massive mistakes by not placing policies in trust - worse cast scenrio it can result in you having to pay IHT when it could be avoided. At best, it means you have to wait for the money to go through probate.

Money_Saving_Dude

huckster wrote: »

Not my area of knowledge.

What about Tesco's offerings which are in association with Friends Provident.

Or see a local Independent Financial Advisor.

ok, looked at Tesco -- twice as expensive as Bright Grey (which itself is some re-badging of Royal London).

Unless I'm missing something nowhere on there does it say I will have to have a medical. I know at the end of the day it's my choice and I can either accept their terms or walk away, but if I'd known previously that they would be this intrusive I would have thought twice. Yes, I'm happy to disclose, in confidence, my medical history and let them look at my medical records, but I'm afraid I draw the line at them forcing some extra check on me.

Thanks for this.

Money_Saving_Dude

ACG wrote: »

Your experience seems unusal if were talking about £100k of cover, its usually more like 3-5 times that.

As for the questions those are normal - think about it, theyre taking a gamble of £100k on your life of course they want to know whether you have anything they should know about.
As for the blood test, it shouldnt take more than 20 mins with a nurse from medicals direct, they can do them on peoples lunch hour so i wouldnt worry about it too much.

With regards to trusts, this is one of the major problems with search comparison sites. They dont mention trusts and people are making massive mistakes by not placing policies in trust - worse cast scenrio it can result in you having to pay IHT when it could be avoided. At best, it means you have to wait for the money to go through probate.

I understand the gamble they are taking, and I have no problem with that. I also understand that life tables are very general, so I appreciate the probing. But I only recently had a routine blood test that will be on my records, so I fail to see what extra information will be gleaned by having another one.

I have answered all their questions honestly and to the best of my knowledge, and if I did lie that would come out. So again no problem there. So I'm completely stumped as to why they must do their own test, rather than review my records.

Thanks for the comments about trusts. I was aware of this, but as I also have life cover elsewhere that will pay out into a trust that is not an overriding concern.

ACG

Ring the insurance company, tell them you have had recent blood tests. They will request copies from the GP instead.

This is part of what an advisor will do as we have account managers but if you call customer services they will sort it.

roxy13

Hi Money saving dude. I am a life assurance underwriter. I agree with ACG, phone them and tell them you recently had a blood test and that it will be on your records. They should just request the results from your GP. They wont want to spend money they don't have to believe me!

Money_Saving_Dude

Thanks guys. That makes much more sense! I will talk to them directly -- nice to know that is a viable option.

Appreciated.

kingstreet

Their own blood test is probably quicker and cheaper than going for a PMAR. These days insurers will do everything they can to avoid GP reports because of the lengthy delays and higher costs they experience.

This is another reason why the application forms are so lengthy. They could ask very little on an application and go for a PMAR in every case, but that would make the whole system grind to a halt and premiums to increase dramatically.