Criticall illness cover...?

jlg1

Hi everyone,

Was just wondering if anyone had any dealings with Bright Grey for Critical Illness Cover...?

We reviewed and renewed our cover last year (policies are in trust) with Legal and General and apparently the previous advisor (2 years previous) left us under covered which was a bit frightening to hear to be honest.

Ive had a guy from a local company First Solutions want to come out and review the cover we have saying that the £95 a month (covers myself and wife) is far too much - but this took a lot of weeks to set up and it does seem we are well covered already although paying that per month is a lot...?

Anyone any thoughts on the above or any advice on changing to the "other" company the last advisor told us BG were one of the worst - this guy is saying they are one of the best...?

Confused to say the least ...

Thanks for any help with this...he wants to call tomorrow to discuss trying to come up with an excuse to let it sit for the minute....

Thanks

James

weighty1_2

In regards to Bright Grey, they are certainly a well known and respected company in the industry, however, as an adviser I think there are plenty of critical illness plans which rate more highly than it in terms of the number of conditions covered and the claims definitions on those conditions and personally I would put L&G above Bright Grey, even though they actually cover a couple less conditions.

Whether £95/month it far too much is very much dependent on what you are getting for your money? In reality though, it is fairly difficult to argue that anyone has "too much" critical illness cover since if you are ever permanently incapacitated then you're likely to need an awful lot of money to maintain your standard of living.

Has neither adviser suggested looking at long term income protection as an alternative to critical illness?

kingstreet

BG is one of five or six companies I use regularly. It can be competitive in terms of premiums and overall quality of cover, although it may not have as many conditions as the likes of L&G, Friends Life and its sister company Scottish Provident.

If you do not have income protection in place, it would seem prudent to make that more of a priority, as you cannot guarantee getting one of the list of illnesses at sufficient severity. You could end up unable to work and unable to claim; where IP would pay a tax-free monthly income to replace yours if unable to work.

If considering IP, always choose the "Own Occupation" definition, which improves your chances of a payout where the "work tasks" of a budget plan may mean you miss out because you can hold a pen, operate a keyboard etc.

ACG

I quite like Bright Grey, i wouldnt say they are my first choice but they're certainly up there.

For me its not just about the amount of conditions covered (there are some conditions covered that the chances of claiming on are minute - althouh its better to be covered than not), you also need to look at ABI+ (especially on the big ones - cancer, heart attack etc).

But the other thing i think is important are the extra benefits. A good thing about bright grey (which i would hope your broker discussed with you) is Helping hand - http://www.brightadviser.co.uk/helpinghand/ - you do not have to make a claim in order to get help and support which in itself could be very helpful.

As has been said, price is difficult to say as it depends on your circumstances.

Also, if you have recently done a policy through a broker just had a look over any paperwork you signed. SOME brokers ask you to sign something that says if you cancel the policy with 2-4 years (depending on the commission clawback period) they will want the lost commission - just something to keep an eye out for.

jlg1

weighty1 wrote: »

In regards to Bright Grey, they are certainly a well known and respected company in the industry, however, as an adviser I think there are plenty of critical illness plans which rate more highly than it in terms of the number of conditions covered and the claims definitions on those conditions and personally I would put L&G above Bright Grey, even though they actually cover a couple less conditions.

Whether £95/month it far too much is very much dependent on what you are getting for your money? In reality though, it is fairly difficult to argue that anyone has "too much" critical illness cover since if you are ever permanently incapacitated then you're likely to need an awful lot of money to maintain your standard of living.

Has neither adviser suggested looking at long term income protection as an alternative to critical illness?

Hi,

Thanks for the reply...

The guy i was to see tomorrow did mention income protection - though to be honest I have cancelled the apt with him as I am not sure I want to get into the whole thing right now....

This is something I will look at though - the previous advisor didn't really get into IP (maybe she was thinking of her commission for the critical illness end of things) at the time though I did think some of the things listed that would "have to happen" were a bit much - loss of an eye, loss of a hand etc....

As I am a self employed guitar teacher it would be in my interests to have income protection I think I had looked at it when I went self employed though a lot of the policies seemed to be that I would need to be off maybe 3-6 months before they would pay out which was useless for the bills in the interim....

I think I will have a look into Income Protection - its always been though that myself and my wife have had critical illness cover from our first mortgage back in 1998 (I was employed full time at that stage) went self employed in 2006...

I think any time I thought of Income Protection it owudl have been ON TOP of Critical Illness not instead off...

Maybe its time for a re-think given the work setup has changed...?

Thanks for any help so far....

James

weighty1_2

Due to your occupation there will be a lot of the more well known insurers L&G, Aviva, Scottish Provident etc. will likely place a minimum deferred period onto a plan, as you say, between 3-6 months.

There are a number of Friendly Society who can offer much shorter deferred periods, in at least one instance, a 1-day option (in reality you need to be off for 3-days but cover is backdated). You obviously pay a higher premium for such a short deferred period but for some people immediate cover is the most important thing.

Personally, I'd speak to a protection specialist or IFA who deal with a lot of protection and for clients who have more "manual/hands on" occupations.

magpiecottage

kingstreet wrote: »

If you do not have income protection in place, it would seem prudent to make that more of a priority, as you cannot guarantee getting one of the list of illnesses at sufficient severity. You could end up unable to work and unable to claim; where IP would pay a tax-free monthly income to replace yours if unable to work.

As you know kingstreet, I am of the view that it is far easier to defend a complaint that somebody sold Income Protection when they should have recommended Critical Illness, rather than the other way round, for precisely this reason.