LIFE INSURANCE
LIFE INSURANCE
During our lives we experience many things. Some of these experiences change our lives for better or worse. Our products will help you to prepare for either eventuality.
Life Cover is essential for anyone buying their home. This cover can be used to secure your mortgage with the bank or building society. This is called a Mortgage Protection cover.
Life Cover can also be used to ensure the financial survival of your business in the event of the death of a director or key employee, or a partner.
Whole of Life Cover can provide family protection of your estate and business protection planning.
Serious Illness Cover will give you peace of mind. It provides a lump sum payment on the diagnosis and certification of a prescribed serious illness.
Due to an accident or illness, you may be disabled and unable to work. We can provide the cover to ease any financial burden you may experience due to your disability.
What are the different types of Life Cover products?
If you are taking out a mortgage or re-mortgaging your house, your lender will insist that you purchase Mortgage Protection Cover. We can research the market to offer you the most competitive rates in the industry.
You can choose between:
Mortgage Protection Life Cover: This cover provides a lump sum payable on death that decreases over the term of the contract.
Mortgage Repayment Life Cover: This benefit is payable if the insured is unable to perform the occupation stated on the policy schedule for the first two years, and in years three to five on the failure of being able to perform three out of six activities of daily working.
Mortgage Mastercover: A combination of Mortgage Protection Life Cover with Accelerated Serious Illness and Mortgage Repayment Cover.
Mortgage Protection Cover with Accelerated Serious Illness Cover: You have the option of including Serious Illness Cover with Mortgage Protection Cover. This provides a lump sum on the earlier of death or the diagnosis and certification a prescribed serious illness.
An optional Benefit of Mortgage Protection with Accelerated Serious Illness Cover is:
Children's Cover: This provides for the payment of a serious illness benefit for your children subject to certain percentages of the main benefit being paid and up to certain maximum limits of benefit which vary with different companies.
Hospitalisation Cover: This is an optional benefit for which a cash amount will be paid for each night spent as an inpatient in a hospital. Companies offer various terms depending on the length of the hospital stay.
Life Cover will pay-out a predetermined sum of money should you die within a specified time period. We can research the most competitive Life Cover rates in the industry.
You can choose between:
Level Term Cover: Provides a lump sum death benefit over the term of the contract. The term of contract refers to the period of time that you wish to remain on cover and is decided by you at the outset.
Convertible Term Cover: Allows conversion during the term of the plan but has to be exercised before the termination of the plan. At the time of conversion, the rate applied would be relative to your age at that time.
Terminal Illness Benefit: On diagnosis of a terminal illness an advance payment of the benefit can be claimed. This is offered by some companies.
Optional benefits:
Indexation option/Inflation protection: If this option is chosen, the death benefit and premium will automatically increase each year. This option is offered by most companies. The percentage increase in premium and benefit varies with each company.
You can choose between:
Standalone Serious Illness Cover: This cover provides a lump sum payment on the diagnosis and certification of a prescribed serious illness.
Accelerated Serious Illness Cover: This cover provides a lump sum on the earlier of death or the diagnosis and certification of a prescribed serious illness.
Terminal Illness Benefit: Applies to Accelerated Serious Illness Cover only. On diagnosis of a terminal illness an advance payment of the benefit can be claimed. This is offered by some companies with different terms and rates available.
Optional benefits:
Indexation option/Inflation protection: If this option is chosen, the death benefit and premium will automatically increase each year. This option is offered by most companies. The percentage increase in premium and benefit varies with each company.
Plans Details:
Income Protection offers you financial security for yourself and your family if you are unfortunate enough to be out of work because of an illness and suffer a loss of earnings as a result of a disability, an injury or an accident.
This plan will provide you with an alternate source of income. This income is a weekly benefit payable after a deferred period of either 13, 26 or 52 weeks. The deferred period is the length of time between when the illness is first diagnosed and when you start receiving an income benefit.
What types of disability are covered?
Your plan will protect your income against
any illness
any injury
any disability or
any accident
resulting in you being unable to work for longer than your deferred period. While we do not cover normal pregnancy situations, we do cover any disability caused by pregnancy, however, in such circumstances your deferred period commences from the date your pregnancy ends.
Additional benefits:
- Hospital benefit: Under this plan, you can receive an income benefit any time during the deferred period if you spend more than 7 days in hospital. The amount you receive will be equal to 1/7th of your weekly benefit for each day spent in hospital starting on the eighth complete day and payable up until the earliest of:
your last day spent in hospital
the 91st day spent in hospital
the date when the deferred period ends
the date you die or
the date your policy ends.
-Overseas benefit: If you claim income benefit while you are outside the European Union, we will pay your income for 13 weeks in a 52-week period or 39 weeks in total. If you return to Ireland or the European Union within this time, we will continue to pay your income benefit.
- Changing occupations: We will continue to cover you if you change jobs, regardless of what your new job entails. If you are made redundant, you can continue your plan while looking for another job. You cannot claim benefit while unemployed.
- Premium protection: You do not have to continue paying premiums while receiving an income benefit. Instead we will pay your premiums for you and when your claim finishes you will restart paying premiums.
- Guaranteed increase option: Our guaranteed increase option allows you to increase your income benefit by 20% of your original income benefit without having to provide new evidence of health. This offer will be made to you every 3 years up to a maximum of 100% of your original income benefit. However, if you decline this option twice, we will not offer it to you again.
Optional benefits:
- Indexation: You can index your income benefit by 3% each year. This feature applies before, during and after any claim you make, and ensures that as your salary increases each year, so too will your replacement income. Your premiums will also increase by 3% each year.
Income Benefits on returning to work:
- Proportionate benefit: We will pay you a reduced income benefit if you return to work to a different job. This benefit applies if your new salary is less than your old salary. Your reduced benefit will be your full benefit multiplied by the percentage fall in your salary. For example, if your new salary is 60% of your salary under your previous job, you will continue to receive 40% of your income benefit.
- Rehabilitation benefit: We will pay you a reduced benefit if you return to your normal job on a reduced basis, such as part-time. The benefit is calculated in the same way as for proportionate benefit.
- Relapse benefit: We will immediately restart paying your income benefit if you have a relapse within 6 months of returning to work.
Premium Types:
- Guaranteed premiums: The guaranteed premium option will ensure that your premium will not change during the term of the plan if your chosen benefits remain the same. This allows you to know in advance how much your premiums will be over the term of the plan.
- Reviewable premiums: The reviewable premium option will guarantee your premium stays constant for the first 5 years of the plan. We will then review the premium every 5 years thereafter. In the review we will take into account claims experience over the preceding years and changes in economic conditions. We will also take into account any medical breakthroughs and the discovery of any new diseases. If it is necessary to change the premium, we will offer you the choice of an increase in premium or a reduction in benefits.
Encashment:
This plan will have no cash-in value at any time.
Taxation:
Tax relief on premiums: You will receive tax relied on all premiums you pay (up to a maximum of 10% of your total salary) at your marginal rate of tax. If paying by salary deduction, you will also benefit from lower PRSI deductions.
Tax on income benefit: You will receive your income benefit net of income tax under PAYE.
Limits
- Age limits
Minimum entry age: 19 NBD
Maximum entry age: 55 or 5 years prior to ceasing age if younger
Ceasing age: 55, 60, 65.
- Terms limits:
Minimum term: 5 years
Maximum term (ceasing age): to age 55, 60 or 65.
- Premiums limits:
Monthly: €12
Quarterly: €36
Half-yearly: €72
Annually: €120
No maximum limit applies
- Benefit limits:
Minimum benefit: €100 per week
Maximum benefit: €2,400 per week
The maximum benefit allowed is calculated as 75% of first €82,000 of your earnings plus 33% of the balance of your salary subject to a maximum of €2,400 per week (subject to a maximum of 75% of your net relevant earnings less total state benefits).
Method of payment
Monthly, quarterly half-yearly or annually. All payments other than annual must be by direct debit.
How to get a quote
You can e-mail the following details to paula.ocallaghan@bbg.ie or call (022) 44598 and ask for Paula O'Callaghan:
name
address
telephone number
date of birth
occupation
gross weekly/yearly Income
deferred period required
ceasing age required
Is indexation required?
- Personal Accident covers seem complicated. What does it actually cover?
Firstly, cover provides tax free lump sum benefits in the event of death or loss of eye(s), speech, hearing or limb(s). There are also lump sum payments for permanent total disabilities that prevent the individual from working again. You can extend to include temporary disability or illness cover that prevents the insured from working - these will pay weekly benefits agreed by you and the underwriter. There is usually a "deferment period" for weekly benefits, normally based on nature of occupation, e.g. cover will not include the first seven days of illness. Weekly benefits will be paid for a maximum of 104 weeks in the event of an accident and 52 weeks in the event of illness.
- Who are the benefits paid to?
In the case of individual policies the benefit is paid directly to the insured. With a group or corporate policy, the benefit is payable to the company. This means that the director can use the income to fund temporary staff, replace lost income due to the employees' absence or to pay "sick pay" - or any combination of the three. It is up to the company how they use the benefit, or the payments they will make.
- Why should companies or individuals buy cover?
It's easy to see why a company should have cover. It offers financial protection for the business, covers temporary staff or re-hiring costs, can be used as a valuable employee benefit - or all three. For individuals it not only offers income protection against accident and/or illness, but gives an extremely valuable protection against accidental death, or never being able to work again through disability. Remember, if you are killed in a car crash your life insurance will provide financial help for your loved ones. If you survive that crash, but can't work, who provides then?
- What does the terminology mean?
Death cover: Simply that. Remember it's accidental death cover.
Capital benefits: Cover for loss of limb(s), eye(s), hearing and speech.
PTD: Permanent Total Disability preventing the insured from working again. Pay a lump sum benefit.
TTD: Temporary Total Disability following an accident which will prevent the insured from working again for a period of time. This pays a weekly benefit, tax free.
Deferment Period: The "excess". The period during which no benefit is payable. Usually 7 or 14 days from the accident.
Continental Scale: Extended "capital Benefits" (see above) to cover parts of limb(s), hand(s), feet and individual digits.
Illness Cover: To cover periods of absence due to illness. Normally at least a 7 days deferment period.
- How to get a quotation?
You can e-mail the following details to paula.ocallaghan@bbg.ie or call (022) 44598 and ask for Paula O'Callaghan:
Individual:
Name
address
telephone number
date of birth
occupation
gross weekly/yearly income
full details of any previous claims
Group:
Name of company
trade
brief description of activities
number of insured persons
overall wage roll plus highest individual salary
business travel pattern if this is to be included, split between Ireland, UK, Europe, Rest of the world and USA/Canada
Full details of any previous claims.
