Life Assurance

randombar

Hi Lads,

Quick question, I'm paying about 40 a month for life insurance to cover the mortgage.

One thing I remember from my business studies days was life Assurance where you gets nice lump sum at the end of the policy or your next of kin gets the lump sum if you pop your clogs?

Is this still around?? Can't seem to find any mention of it even though I've heard something about Canada life life assurance??

Thanks for your help.

//Gary

Pablo Sanchez

Yes what your talking about is a life insurance policy. You already have one to cover your mortgage. Your free to take out another policy on a stand alone basis ie not connected to your mortgage. Speak to broker for quotes for a new policy.

broker2008

YOu are right but on forums like these the terms are wrongly used all the time including people in the business.

Life Insurance = you are insured for a specfic term. There is a payout if you die within the speciific term, you get nothing back if you dont. It is also known as Term Insurance.

There can also be options to include conversion option, allows you to continue the cover at expiry without the need for meidcal evidence. At this stage you can have a further life insurance plan with cover ceasing at the end of another term or life assurance.

Life Assurance is where it is not if you die but when you die you get a payout.

There can be different versions but the most frequent would be the unit linked whole of life plan.

There is usually a review after 10 years and yearly after age 70.

The cost of the cover can go up if the investment market don't perform in the way it was originally intended. Increases in premiums at review stage can be significant.

Some companies market DTA -decreasing term assurance which is where the confusion arises.

broker2008

Some people recommend 80% term insurance and 20% whole of life to ensure you get the best of both worlds.

randombar

Thanks for the advice lads, I'm probably getting it wrong about the life assurance so, I thought if you didn't die in the 20 years of cover you would cash in the assurance policy, the girlfriends dad got a nice bit of cash from cashing his in??

broker2008

No you could be right, he was paying in a monthly premium of maybe €200 per month and the policy offered maybe €100k of life cover. The cost of the life cover was a lot less than the premium he was "investing". He decided to encash his policy at the end of 20 years and he got the value of the policy at that time and life cover then ceased.

Or there might have been 2 policies, one was a 20 life insurance policy, which expired and a 20 year saving policy matured.

uck51js9zml2yt

your talking about an endowment policy were you get a lump sum after a set term. talk to your broker

coylemj

Orlando Crashing Tutor wrote: »

your talking about an endowment policy were you get a lump sum after a set term. talk to your broker

It wasn't necessarily a policy associated with an endowment mortgage. There are what are effectively hybrid policies which provide life cover (insurance) while the policy is in force and which also include a savings element (assurance) designed to provide a lump sump at a given point in the future, usually for the kids' college fees or to provide a lump sum at or near retirement age.

randombar

so they've a few titles:

Whole of Life
Endowment
or some kinda hybrid.

But basically it means as well as being covered you get a lump sum at the end.

What do people think of these policies? Are you better off just going the stand alone and savings route?

coylemj

The savings part of those policies usually don't give good returns because there are hefty 'setup' costs - insurance company jargon designed to conceal the fact that the sales guy and his area sales manager will get a large chunk of the first year's premium.

If I was you I'd just do the minimum mortgage protection which only covers you for death, if you want to save money then put it into a PRSA or AVC, much better (for the next year or so anyway) tax relief.

randombar

Thanks for the advice lads.

Any recommendations so for the PRSA or AVC ?

fanofyoutoo

I. New to the boards but need to ask if anyone has ever been refused life assurance on seriously spurious medical grounds ? Did they ever challenge it and if so what was the outcome? How did they challenge it.
For the record my medical grounds have been cleared mostly but ignored and while I expected to have a loading for weight I was disgusted to be refused. It leaves people in a pretty uninsurable position.
I would be grateful for thoughts inputs and ideas.

Pablo Sanchez

fanofyoutoo wrote: »

I. New to the boards but need to ask if anyone has ever been refused life assurance on seriously spurious medical grounds ? Did they ever challenge it and if so what was the outcome? How did they challenge it.
For the record my medical grounds have been cleared mostly but ignored and while I expected to have a loading for weight I was disgusted to be refused. It leaves people in a pretty uninsurable position.
I would be grateful for thoughts inputs and ideas.

Your free to appeal to the chief medical officer of the life company, but at the end of the day they are not obliged to cover you. Best thing is to speak to other companies and see if they are willing to accept you.

shangri la

If no company will give you a life assurance policy then you won't be given a mortgage. Is this correct?

What happens if like the previous porter obese folk cant get assurance? Borderline discrimination.

Pablo Sanchez

No its not the end of the world, the bank may waive the need for life insurance in this case, or they may include you in their group scheme. Their group policies are likely to involve less under writing then the individual policy you applied for, but its more likly you would be accepted.

And yes it absolutly is discrimation, that is what insurance companies do, they need to divide out the good risks vs the bad risks. If you have a medical or personal issue they may offer cover at a higher level of cost or simply deny you cover straight out. At the end of the day they are a business, and its a business decision based upon past claims records of people with illesses etc. Each company may have a slightly different attitude to risk, some are stricter then others.

fanofyoutoo

Pablo Sanchez wrote: »

No its not the end of the world, the bank may waive the need for life insurance in this case, or they may include you in their group scheme. Their group policies are likely to involve less under writing then the individual policy you applied for, but its more likly you would be accepted.

And yes it absolutly is discrimation, that is what insurance companies do, they need to divide out the good risks vs the bad risks. If you have a medical or personal issue they may offer cover at a higher level of cost or simply deny you cover straight out. At the end of the day they are a business, and its a business decision based upon past claims records of people with illesses etc. Each company may have a slightly different attitude to risk, some are stricter then others.

Thanks for all answers. It's not for a mortgage so I am lucky. However, if refused by one company, on all further applications to other companies this is asked and I would have to say yes and therefore highly likely to be refused.
It is a company and it is business for them so I expected to be loaded for weight but they have referred to other issues which I have proven to be normal. These have been ignored by them.
This worries me because following my experience I would have to advise never to tell your gp anything because even if they investigate with no positive findings these investigations go against you. Btw, I have a brilliant gp. And it is worrying if an insurance company could influence people to that extent.
I will be appealing their decision. But I would love to know if anyone has successfully appealed or am I wasting my time and energy. Again thanks for any input.

cookie1977

fanofyoutoo wrote: »

I. New to the boards but need to ask if anyone has ever been refused life assurance on seriously spurious medical grounds ? Did they ever challenge it and if so what was the outcome? How did they challenge it.
For the record my medical grounds have been cleared mostly but ignored and while I expected to have a loading for weight I was disgusted to be refused. It leaves people in a pretty uninsurable position.
I would be grateful for thoughts inputs and ideas.

I was declined initially due to high cholesterol and high blood pressure but with the help of my Consultant I was accepted but loaded. The effort took 3 months. I then went back just recently after 2 years to seek better terms with a better monitored cholesterol level and proof I had white coat syndrome in relation to my blood pressure. Got my premium reduced by 60 euro per month . Still a loaded policy but much cheaper.

fanofyoutoo

cookie1977 wrote: »

fanofyoutoo wrote: »

I. New to the boards but need to ask if anyone has ever been refused life assurance on seriously spurious medical grounds ? Did they ever challenge it and if so what was the outcome? How did they challenge it.
For the record my medical grounds have been cleared mostly but ignored and while I expected to have a loading for weight I was disgusted to be refused. It leaves people in a pretty uninsurable position.
I would be grateful for thoughts inputs and ideas.

I was declined initially due to high cholesterol and high blood pressure but with the help of my Consultant I was accepted but loaded. The effort took 3 months. I then went back just recently after 2 years to seek better terms with a better monitored cholesterol level and proof I had white coat syndrome in relation to my blood pressure. Got my premium reduced by 60 euro per month . Still a loaded policy but much cheaper.

Thanks for answering.
Similar to me. I have White coat hypertension and a normal stress test which they failed to mention in their letter of refusal. Also they created a new form of hypertension which doesn't even exist. There were a few other things to which should never be deterrents to insurance. The weight issue is there and I would loaded myself for that in fairness.
Anyway good to know it is doable even though I am now having to refer myself to a cardiologist that I don't need.
Thanks for your reply.

cookie1977

best of luck. i got a couple of 24hr blood pressure monitorings to prove that my bp was normal most of the time. they'll still probably load as white coat syndrome still is bad in their minds. try get the insurance how ever you can then work hard to show you're improving and monitoring your health. then go back for a better policy in a few months.