Life insurance changed my premium after medical report

incubus1980

Hi,

The day before the new rules came into play about not taking gender into account with insurance I applied for new life insurance expecting it to go up after that date.

I received a reasonable quote via a broker site and filled in all of the forms as accurate as possible and was told that based on the information I provided it would cost £17.59 per month but they would need to see a medical report too. I accepted and wasn't expecting anything that I hadn't already told them to come back in the medical report.

I have just received a letter (it has taken over 2 months to get the report back!) stating that they have had to apply a 75% weighting factor to my premium so now its up to about £31.00 per month. I phoned up to query what changed and they said that the underwriter has decided this new price based on the medical report. She said I had a high BMI and high blood pressure.

When I originally applied they had my BMI and the fact that my record had shown high blood pressure. I don't actually have proper high blood pressure; I suffer from white coat syndrome. The doctor had given me a machine to keep on my arm for a week and it never once was high so they told me not to worry about it (but I still put it on the original form).

I am quite heavy for my height but its not fat as I regularly exercise and am quite 'solid' in my mass.

The woman I spoke to also said that if I apply anywhere else for life insurance I will have to answer yes to the question of 'have you ever had special terms imposed.....'.

I am quite annoyed about this. They gave me a price based on the information I gave them and the medical report states the same figures I gave but they nearly double the price plus I now have basically put a mark on my name because they have imposed non standard terms.

From my biased view this seems completely unfair and I think I will complain about it. Are the insurance company completely within their rights to do this even though my original quote is supposed to be valid until the end of March.

Regards,

John.

InsideInsurance

I'll defer to the judgement of others who work more on the Protection side but but on the comment about "special terms" I would disagree as a premium loading is not a special term in my book.

The original quote is indicative and is subject to the medical. If you are 100% honest on the forms then often the results are the same however most things work in bands so if you put on 500g from what you stated on your form that may be enough to push your weight into the category for a loading.

GhIFA

Ask your GP for a copy of the report he sent to the provider, ask him/her about the information put in there. I suspect it's the White Coat Syndrome that is the problem - I had a client with this once and the application was declined entirely. You may be able to ask your GP to write with further additional information to support what you are saying. If he/she has only put factual information down on the report he/she was asked to complete without any background then the Underwriter can only make a decision based on that.

It's worth appealing, but you need to speak to your GP first and find out what the issue is.

kingstreet

You are quoted a premium at the outset and this is based on "normal rates" being available, subject to underwriting.

Now underwriting has taken place, the insurer is not prepared to offer normal rates. You have been offered acceptance terms and you are free to accept or reject these as you see fit.

By applying elsewhere, you must disclose the rating if asked on an application, but the new insurer will undertake its own checks and will not decline or load your premiums just because another insurer has done so.

Some insurers don't like height/weight issues. Some have less of a problem. Did your broker pick the cheapest, or the one you had the best chance of normal rates from? Is your broker tied, using a panel, or independent?

As GhIFA said, you can investigate the reasons for the loading before deciding one way or another.

ACG

Kingstreet has summed it up pretty well.

The quote is always subject to underwriting. If they were happy with the info you provided, they wouldnt have requested the GP report.

This is part of the problem when you do it with an online system you dont have someone with experience to set your expectations and discuss it through.

Go and speak to a mortgage or financial advisor, just because one insurer has applied a rating of 75% doesnt mean all insurers will. They may be able to get you cover without a rating as 75% is relatively low.

incubus1980

Cheers Guys,

The top five insurers came back all within a few pounds of each other so I just picked the one in the middle.

I've requested the medical report so hopefully there is nothing in there that the doctor hasn't told me about :shocked:

What annoyed me was the fact that they gave me a price which I assumed was based on the information I gave them then they get a report which to my knowledge has the same information I gave them and the price changed. I guess I would have preferred it if they had just said we can't get you a price until we have the medical report.

the new insurer will undertake its own checks and will not decline or load your premiums just because another insurer has done so.

as long as this is the case then I don't feel as bad

Cheers,

John.