5 Things to do after buying insurance
Published on Wed Dec 5 2018 in Money
Buying a life insurance or funeral cover policy could be an important step towards helping your loved ones financially after you’re gone. But, it may be just the first step. After you’ve taken out a policy, there are steps you could take to help insure the money is there when it’s needed, and the claims process goes as smoothly as possible.
Here are five things you can do after you’ve bought insurance to help your family even more:
1. Store your policy documents somewhere safe
After buying a life or funeral insurance policy, you’ll be sent the policy documents. This includes a policy wording and policy schedule. Both have important information about your policy, including the policy number, benefit amount and relevant exclusions. These documents are for your reference, but will also come in handy when you or your family make a claim.
Keep your policy documents someplace secure, where they can be found when they’re needed. This might be with other important paperwork, such as birth certificates, your Will or family passports. Remember to add your new policy schedule to your files each year.
2. Tell your family you’ve bought a policy
This is a practical matter—if your family doesn’t know that you have a policy, this could delay how long it takes them to make a claim! After you’ve passed away, it may take your family some time to go through your paperwork and close out any final business. They might not find your policy documents right away, leaving them out of pocket for the funeral or struggling to cover household bills.
Telling someone you trust that you’ve taken out either life or funeral insurance could help your family receive the benefit with little delay. You don’t need to give them the details about your cover (if you’d rather keep that private), just the name ‘Momentum Life’ and policy number is enough to help someone start a claim when the time comes.
3. Keep your policy “in force”
Your policy could be cancelled if the premiums aren’t paid on time. If this happens, you and your family will be unable to make a claim and are unlikely to receive a refund for any premiums that you paid previously. Keeping your policy “in force” (or active) can help you make sure your life or funeral cover is there when it’s needed most.
Keeping your payment details up-to-date is one way to help avoid cancellation. If paying by credit or bank card, be sure to contact us before the card expires with your new payment details. Setting a reminder in your phone or email calendar could help. You can also set up direct debit from a bank account, so you won’t have to update your payment details whenever you receive a new card.
4. Talk to your family about the policy exclusions
When you bought your policy, you would have learned about any exclusions that go with it. These are the things that aren’t covered by your policy, such as some pre-existing conditions, dangerous occupations or an adventurous hobby. Exclusion details are printed in the policy wording, so you can review them at any time.
Your family might not read the entire policy wording before making a claim however, which means they may overlook the exclusions and could get frustrated if they’re claim is knocked back because of them. A quick conversation about this might help. Point out any exclusions that apply to your policy or highlight these in the policy wording to draw attention to them.
5. Leave instructions for making a claim
Even if you do all of the steps above, your family might still be unsure where to start at claim time. Leaving clear instructions in a safe place could help. This might mean including your policy number in a Will, giving a copy of your policy documents to a trusted family member or sending them a link to our article on making a claim.
And of course, our Customer Care team is happy to answer their questions and guide them through our claims process! Your loved ones will just need to give us a call.
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About Author: Momentum Life is a leading provider of Life insurance and Funeral insurance in New Zealand.
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The content provided in this article is for information purposes only. The information is of a general nature and does not constitute financial advice or other professional advice. To the extent that any of the content constitutes financial advice, it is limited to Momentum Life products only and does not consider your specific financial needs or goals. You should consider whether the information is appropriate for you and seek independent professional advice, if required.
All product information is correct at the time this article was published. For current product information, please visit the Momentum Life website.