Life Assurance claim taking a long time. Is this normal?

h.cowell

My husband died suddenly in June and I initiated a life assurance claim soon after (thinking back, I don't know how I managed it but I did). So far it's been 10 weeks and I've had to chase the claim three times, including with the GP's secretary for the medical report. Now I've been told it'll be another 14 - 17 working days with the insurance company for the assessment to be done.... possibly longer. I'm at my wit's end, needing to clear the mortgage which only has another year to run but is draining the money I have. I can't even think what I'll do if it's turned down for any reason. Is there anything I can do, or is this just the way it has to be? 

Nearlyold

Sorry for your loss. It doesn't usually take this long, however Covid is obviously having an effect on admin times. Could I ask how long the policy has been in force as this can have a bearing on how pedantic the insurer is likely to be before approving the claim, as they'll want to be sure of the cause of death and how this relates to the information your husband provided when he took out the policy.

h.cowell

Since Sep 2013. It's a decreasing term assurance policy with critical illness cover, and runs to Sep 2021.

fairyclairethehare

A critical illness claim we had took around 12 weeks. Some offices may not be working at full capacity and there may be an increase in work load - I'm not sure what if any the increase on death rates are at the moment. 
So unfortunately I think it's normal period to wait. Main reason for not paying out would be if something was omitted when you bought the insurance, but there are varying degrees of how this is calculated and the affect it would have on your claim.
Sorry for your loss 

h.cowell

Thank you fairyclairethehare, I knew things would be slower than usual, but it's just so stressful. Perhaps I just need to be more patient (which isn't easy given the financial implications).
Sorry to hear you've had to go through a similar process. 

Old_Lifer

Once a Life Office  has received all the documentation it has requested,  the payout should be made within a week or ten days.

The present Covid situation may have added a few days to the timescale.      Where a policy is not written in trust,   waiting for the Grant of Respresentation  (Probate or Letters of Adminisration)   is  the  main thing that causes delay.

Here,   it  would appear  that the delay has been caused   by the  GP  not  sending the  information requested as promptly as would be hoped.      Understandably,  filling-in  insurance forms is a low priority for many GPs

    

h.cowell

You're right Old_Lifer, it took over 6 weeks for the GP to send the report. I had to ring and plead with them and it was done that same day and is now in the post to the insurer, apparently. But the assessment process will be drawn out as well.

There was no probate in this instant, thankfully. I also lost my dad in April though, and his probate is still ongoing.

Thanks for the advice, it helps to know these things take time  .

missile

Sorry for your loss.

Have you contacted the mortgage provider and any other debtors? Mortgage Co should be able to suspend repayments.

h.cowell

Thanks missile, the Nationwide have been very supportive wrt mortgage, and I'm now on a payment holiday. I'm just worried that the insurer is taking so long that the holiday period will have ended, or they won't pay out at all. And the repayment amount will be increasing so I'd really like to clear it before that happens.

fairyclairethehare

The other thing to remember is when your claim is finalised, your premiums from when your claim was submitted are returned, there is also interest added. We only had our decreasing term policy in place 16 months when we made a claim and received slightly more back than the value of policy at the time it was taken.

dunstonh

I'm just worried that the insurer is taking so long that the holiday period will have ended, or they won't pay out at all.

We can only guess at what is happening but typically, for the insurer to go to the GP for information suggests that the cause of death is something that may have been as issue for some years and they want to see if it was already an issue that existed prior to the application in 2013.  If it was and was not disclosed at the time, they can void the policy.   If the GP information shows it was something where symptoms only occurred later then it is not an issue.   It could just be a sample check case.    Life assurance pays out in 99% of cases.   So, don't unduly worry unless you know the information disclosed at the point of application was wrong.

GPs are paid by the insurer to cover their time.  However, GPs are probably running inefficiently due to coronavirus and having to prioritise things.   They will probably have insurance reports further down on their task lists.