vitality life and income protection insurance

dannyjebb

We have just bought our first house and are setting up life insurance and income protection. Our mortgage advisor gave us a quote for a policy from royal London £36 per month with £150k life insurance (Enough to pay off the mortgage it is also level cover so will stay at 150k for the full 28 year term) and £1000 and £1100 monthly income protection for us both payable for 28 years as well

Vitality have quoted £48 per month for the same life cover and also £1150 and £1250 income protection. The life cover is again for 28 years the income protection is until retirement 36 and 38 years currently.

The vitality cover is £12 per month more which over 28 years works out a fair amount more BUT, with the benefits from the plan (We both do 15-20k steps per day 5 days a week at work) so would automatically be in platinum, we both already buy coffees every week so that could save £16-20 per month, there is £250 per year cashback per policy if you do the healthcheck and come in as healthy. We both have a BMI around 23 and no blood glucose, cholesterol problems. So that would be another £20 per month off.

So looking at it, it seems in real terms the policy could cost less than £10 per month! the price goes up along with RPI same as the income protection amount.

Does anyone else have a similar kind of policy and can advise on if the promises on cashback and benefits are given out?

Thanks

vanilla8

You don't automatically become platinum, you would earn that after the first year and thats when premiums will drop.

Vitality has changed over the year since I've been a member, and will change its terms so be prepared to change policy if it no longer fits your needs (e.g. cashback values have recently changed)

FYI, we went through a TCB insurer and got extra c/b for taking policy

csgohan4

Rewards and gimmicks change over time, premiums generally stay the same unless you agree to them e.g index linked.


Which one is worth more in the long run without the gimmicks?

dannyjebb

Thanks, looking at the policy document we get 30% discount on starting and then if we stayed platinum our payments would stay around this figure. Increasing with rpi.

Out of interest how much has the cash back changed by?

Thanks

Weighty1

Have you looked at how the premiums change with inflation? Vitality have the most punitive increases due to inflation. They will increase in line with RPI + 1.5-3.5% depending on the inflation rate at the time. Why they couldn't just keep it as RPI+2.5% like it used to be I'll never know.

Some providers only increase the premium by the RPI percentage and this could work out as a far lower increase over a long period.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

You could argue Vitality give a person extra incentive to stay healthy.

One question. Why the flat term given you describe this as to specifically cover the mortgage ?

Chris_Pollard

Just a further point to take into account is whether premiums are guaranteed or reviewable. Vitality does include a number of frills and incentives that can be attractive and make sense. However, when comparing a less frilly option, I'd see whether premiums are guaranteed, or not. When "not", they will go up in cost.

If you chose guaranteed premiums, you can still have indexation each year. Most insurers will re-calculate the additional "RPI'd" cover based on your current age. This can make the single digit increase in cover look disproportionately expensive.