Life Insurance - Considering Beagle Street

NeilB

I am looking for Life Insurance (not including Critical Illness cover as I will probably look for Income Protection elsewhere) and have a very competitive quote from Beagle Street.

Several times I have seen IFA's scoff at Beagle Street as they are presumably a budget provider and part of comparethemarket.com however whilst looking as reviews they all seem very positive, especially considering most like to leave reviews to complain.

Checked sites such as these:
http://www.fairerfinance.com/brands/beagle-street
http://www.reviewcentre.com/Life-Insurance/Beagle-Street-Life-Insurance-www-beaglestreet-com-reviews_2014400
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/beaglestreet.com
https://boughtbymany.com/news/article/beagle-street-life-insurance-review/

I was looking at reviews for L&G, AIG and other more household names and found a lot of worrying issues.

I understand DEFAQTO give them 3 stars however considering they paid out 99% of claims in 2014 I am assuming this may be due to Critical Illness cover not being as comprehensive as some - which isnt really an issue for me here.

Im just trying to get some advice as I cant really see a reason not to go ahead with them. Anyone had any experience with Beagle Street?

kingstreet

Realistically, only non-disclosure of some kind is going to see a death claim declined, so comparing CI payouts and life payouts is probably futile.

Cost is usually the main factor in choosing a term assurance, but options such as Best Doctors, Guaranteed Insurability, Terminal Illness cover etc could see some added value worth paying a little extra for.

Ask an IFA or protection specialist to do you a comparison and ensure you are comparing like with like, guaranteed premiums with guaranteed premiums and so on...

ACG

Term assurance more or less is term assurance.
The difference is the little bits you do not notice.

For example, the rate at which the policy decreases. With Beagle street it is covered up to a maximum of 6% which could well cover you, however as rates are at an all time low and just prior to the crash it was not uncommon to see rates in excess of 6% you may find you are under insured at some point. The full on policies usually have a "Mortgage guarantee" built in which means regardless of the rate they guarantee there will be enough to cover the mortgage (assuming payments are up to date and made on time etc).

I am sure there are other little bits that are missing but they are really in the grand scheme minor things. Im sure if you received a payout for £99k on a Mortgage of £100k you would not be overly concerned in the grand scheme of things.

The biggest difference is when it comes to their Critical Illness and I am sure if they do an income protection that will not be great either.

NeilB

Thank you for your replies, really appreciate it.

I was opting for level term insurance £400/300k cover over 28 years, so isn't just for outstanding mortgage (as that well covers that!) it also provides for my 4 year old son/education etc.

I agree I dont think their critical illness and income protection may be fantastic, so may be where DEFAQTO score them lower, its a shame they score apparently on all types of cover together, rather than just for example, life insurance only.

I'm thinking I may go for this. I have a copy of my medical history for the last 10 years so hopefully will not miss anything on application.

Does anyone know how it works, will they request medical history on application or only in the event of a claim? Also, my father passed of heart disease 13 years ago, and they ask about family history (heart attacks etc before reaching 60), so when I declared my father, they ask his age. Erm, not quite sure what to put there, he would be 77 now but was 64 at the time. There's no option for now deceased!

ACG

You just need to answer the questions as asked. If asks if a family memeber has passed away before age 60 and they were 64 then you can answer the question as no.

They will only ask for GP reports if they are unable to underwrite the application based on the information you have entered. For example, I have asthma, I have an inhaler I just take as and when I need it. I have had it since I was born and it has never got any worse. I would disclose that and they would not need to get a medical report as its easy to underwrite and a GP is not going to be able to add any more infromation to it.

If however you have had cancer and they want to know exactly what it was, treatment and prognosis then it may be beyond you to answer to everything in detail and so they may request a GP report.