Life assurance

MrsBoat

As we just had a baby we decided to get life assurance but with money issues I have not gotten any advice just tried to read up on it.

Through cavendish online I decided on L&G beacuse of price and reputation. However because of some medical information of my husband his offer was rejected and they offered at a higher price the same cover put the waiver of premium has been removed and also the guaranteed insurability option.

I am not sure how important these features are?

I am assuming the other insurance companies would have the same issues with his medical history so I am not sure if I should try accepting a quote from another insurer?

I choose a level of cover based on what monthly payments we could afford and the amount that would be helpful for the remaining spouse. We do not have a morgage and seems unlikely in the near future.

dunstonh

I am not sure how important these features are?

I have used GIO a number of times over the years for clients. Mostly with people that didnt even know they had it. I consider it a very important option as long as the criteria to activate the GIO is reasonable.

Waiver can be useful but its not as popular today as it used to be. I dont know what current stats are but it used to be about 1 in 16 people with it would make use of it at some point.

I am assuming the other insurance companies would have the same issues with his medical history so I am not sure if I should try accepting a quote from another insurer?

Different insurers look at medical history differently and can give different decisions.

InsideInsurance

Have they declined terms and/ or given special conditions or simply quoted with a higher premium? Its a little unclear from what you say.

Different insurers have different stances on things, the only caveat is that for Life/ long term insurance reinsurers are much more heavily involved than in personal lines general insurance. Many insurers use the same reinsurers and so you find more commonality than in other lines of business but it originates from the reinsurers rather than the insurers.

One challenge is that by having terms imposed or a decline you need to admit this to future insurers which may make them stop and check things in more detail which they may otherwise have waived through.

Protection/ long term insurance is the one area I agree that an intermediary (IFA or specialist broker) really does add value and given they are almost exclusively paid on commission they dont add any cost to the process. They can make informal enquiries and thus avoid the decline in the first place.

vaio

dunstonh wrote: »

....Different insurers look at medical history differently and can give different decisions.

and I guess a decent broker/advisor will know (or can find out) which will accept which medical conditions on normal terms which will avoid lots of refusals/special terms responses if you DIY

InsideInsurance

vaio wrote: »

and I guess a decent broker/advisor will know (or can find out) which will accept which medical conditions on normal terms which will avoid lots of refusals/special terms responses if you DIY

Depending on exactly how obscure your condition is.... speaking from personal experience

ACG

We deal with this sort of thing all the time.
Generally speaking advisors advisors will put an email together and send it to the underwriters at the insurers - we will get an idea as to what the ratings will be before even putting in an application.
Sometimes insurers all come back with pretty similar responses, there are times though where the difference can be huge (Ive had clients get a 50% loading who would have been declined with other insurers - 50% is a pretty low loading).

So in this instance it may be more beneficial for you to go and see an advisor, they can do the ground work and potentially get you cover at better rates.

dunstonh

vaio wrote: »

and I guess a decent broker/advisor will know (or can find out) which will accept which medical conditions on normal terms which will avoid lots of refusals/special terms responses if you DIY

Usually yes. The advisers have the ability to talk to underwriters without having to submit the application first. A sort of "if this was in your hands now and everything is as I say" style conversation. They will let you know how they would view it. Often you will be able to put on the application the underwriters name so the case gets referred to them if needed. It is no guarantee but it does allow you to filter out providers without notching up a rejected/modified terms disclosure for the rest of your life.

MrsBoat

Thank you, I see both your points about getting proper advice in this issue.