Insurance World

Term insurance is a level term life insurance product that pays out a lump sum when the insurance policyholder dies or becomes terminally ill. It provides peace of mind to the insurance policyholder that loved ones left behind after their death will be financially secure. Term life insurance can be configured to pay off all existing loans - including the mortgage - and leave a cash sum in the bank to support your spouse and children. If you don’t want your family to have to cope with financial pressures during their bereavement, or struggle to find the funds to pay for your funeral then term insurance is the life product to have.

Term insurance is different to mortgage insurance
It is important to realise that term insurance is a different life product to mortgage insurance. Term insurance is a long-term insurance product that can be taken out over a lifetime of 50 years. During this time the insurance premium remains the same as does the amount paid out in the event of death or terminal illness.

Mortgage insurance on the other hand mirrors the life of your outstanding mortgage loan. The insurance premiums remain the same throughout the life of the product, but unlike term insurance the amount paid out upon death or terminal illness reduces in line with the outstanding mortgage loan. So, if you were to die at the point that you owe only Ј2000 on your mortgage, then the mortgage life insurance product would only pay out Ј2000.

Terminal illness
Terminal illness cover generally comes as standard with term life insurance polices. The terminal illness clause tends to trigger pay out if the insurance policyholder is diagnosed with a terminal illness named on the term policy and is given 12 months or less to live. Pay out in these circumstances allows the policyholder themselves or someone with power of attorney for the policyholder to receive the full lump sum from the term life insurance policy. They are then free to enjoy the final months of their life with their family free from financial constraints.

When a term life insurance policy pays out for terminal illness the policy will end. Therefore the life insurance company will not be liable to pay anything further upon death of the policyholder.

Term life insurance restrictions
As with most insurance policies there are restrictions and exclusions that apply to term life insurance policies. The main restriction is on pay outs to term life insurance policyholders who become critically ill, yet are not diagnosed as terminally ill. In this case, a standard term life insurance policy will not make a payment, unless a critical illness policy has been added to the term life insurance.

Rates cannot determine all

The bottom line when it comes to insurance is not the rate. Most rates are incredibly competitive when all of the factors are included. Anyway, what good is a low rate if the company that you are paying a low rate to does not pay when you file a claim? This would make those lower rates look really expensive. To make sure that you get paid when a claim is filed here are some quick tips that will help you select the best company along with the best rate.

Check the company history of complaints

Once a quote is received you may have more than one company to choose from. With the database access capabilities of the internet we can now search complaint records for just about any company in the world. This is especially true with insurance companies since there is a scare of fraud on the part of the insured and the insurer. Search for complaints on a national claims database to see if any of your potential companies has an excessive amount.

Keep in mind that all companies have had complaints at one time or another. Make sure that when you are doing these background checks that you take into account the number of policies that the companies have issued. For example if a company has 100 complaints but has issued over a million policies then it will be quite a bit more reputable than a company that has 25 complaints but that has only issued 13,000 policies. A great reference for checking these complaint ratios is your state insurance department.

If the company has a low amount of complaints it is because it is very likely to pay on any filed claims.

We hope these resources can help you get started and feel much more comfortable in analyzing your quote.