Critical Illness Insurance-Is it worth having??
 

We've got one of these policies and nearly everyone we have spoke to has said they are a complete waste of money.
It would be sods law to get rid of it and something to happen, but I don't really want to be throwing good money away, when it could be better spent elsewhere.
Any opinions gratefully received. I thank you :)

They tried to get me to take one out with my loan. I got home and found loads were cheaper than Barclays bank. :thumb:

No, this isn't tied to any loans, Sara. It's supposed to be if you have a heart attack or get something really sinister, that would mean you could no longer work. It would, apparently pay off the mortgage etc.
I've been told they try all ways to wriggle out of paying and try to find something in your past medical notes, that would prevent the payout.
Looking at some websites, it appears they are more stress when you really don't need it.
Am just having a spring clean of the finances :D

Ditch it..... they're not worth the paper they're printed on ;)

Only you can really answer tha and if it is worth the peace of mind it brings , as long as you do not have any pre existing conditions that you did not declare when signing up then you should be okay.
They can be slippery than a lubed up eel though, my brother took ages to get his company to pay up.

I think its still the same though. The questions i was asked were scary, have you ever been depressed, have you seen the doctor for this, do you use scoobynet? lol :D

Were they:

1. Name
2. DOB
3. List all the stupid things you've done in the last 5 years

I'd wager more time consuming than scary!

:lol1:

Really!!!. We have been paying this since 2003 and have never had even a statement from them. No updates or anything. It's as if we are giving money away each month for "what".
I'm not sure what to do with it now.
To be honest, I can't even find the original policy :o

Personally I ditched my critical illness cover and opted for income replacement cover. Cheaper and in my opinion and that of my IFA a better approach to what I wanted.

I have had a couple of critical ones and the NHS sorted them very well and I have no complaints.

Les

IMHO they are worth every penny if you've got a decent one at a cost you can afford... and so long as you've been 100% honest with them, they'll pay out. And you'll not hear anything from them simply because its an ongoing thing, for example you dont hear from your car insurance company until renewal (or until they try to sell you something extra). But whereas these dont have a renewal, you wont hear from them very often.

Best thing to do with these (for those interested) is take them out when your young, even if you dont have a mortgage, as the price is always a sh*tload less before you' turn 30 and the cost never changes as you get older (obviously if you start smoking or become a stuntman it might though ;) )

Thanks for that. I'll hang onto it, better to be safe than sorry.
Had a good old clear out today and got rid of my credit card :eek:
I feel cleansed :lol1:

I've got a policy with combining this type of insurance and life insurance.
The premium has just gone up from £92 per month to £374 per month.
If I want to keep the same premium, my cover will drop to about a quarter of the original.
Hence I am interested in this post.
My chief concern would be how difficult it is to make a claim on one of these policies, as I have heard it said, that they don't like paying up.
Has anyone on here heard of anyone else making a claim on this type of policy would be my question.

There are many different forms of life assurance.

cster - how old is your policy and does it also included Critical Illness? It sounds like a Whole Of Life policy which will have a 10 year review date. These policies have an element of investment due to their expected life span and the investment part of the plan is supposed to reduce the new premium when the review comes around. If the policy is set to level then its likely to go up sharply. If its set to increase a little every year then the 10 year review may not be as high.

I've got a very cheap Critical Illness policy that is due its 10 year review any time soon and it has been going up slowly every year. Even so I think it will become unaffordable.

You may want to look at other forms of life assurance before commiting to another term which will probably be for 5 years or so before another review. ONE thing to note is that if you agree to the policy increase to £374, the IFA who sold you that policy will get a commission. You could call the insurer and ask them if they will pay a commission and if you can refuse the commission being paid - this MAY reduce the premium because the life assurance company isn't forking out the comission.

Lee247 - as someone else said the policy is worth what it means to you. When you do discuss this sort of thing with people you are automatically going to get negative views. I would not do anything on the say so of a friend who thinks life assurance is a waste of money. Its not a waste of money if you need it - same with car insurance - you could not have an accident in what 60 years of driving but think how much money you've paid in insurance?

I've never had an experience of a life assurance company not paying. Some are better than others - some will be paid within a couple of weeks, others make it difficult as possible particularly the direct selling companies but I like to punish them with making them pay interest. :)

Criticall Illness became hugely expensive a few years ago so older policies should be thought about long and hard before cancelling. I know of people who cancelled insurance and a year later the husband committed suicide and the policy would have paid. I know of other people who have complained bitterly about pay well over £100 a month for life and critical insurance and last year they had a mild heart attack - they are back in work and the mortage is paid.

HOWEVER, you need a balance. Several hundreds of pounds on life assurance is fine as long as you can afford it. Theres no point agreeing to a policy that your not 100% certain you can afford comfortably.

[QUOTE=EddScott;9270598]There are many different forms of life assurance.

cster - how old is your policy and does it also included Critical Illness? It sounds like a Whole Of Life policy which will have a 10 year review date. These policies have an element of investment due to their expected life span and the investment part of the plan is supposed to reduce the new premium when the review comes around. If the policy is set to level then its likely to go up sharply. If its set to increase a little every year then the 10 year review may not be as high.

I've got a very cheap Critical Illness policy that is due its 10 year review any time soon and it has been going up slowly every year. Even so I think it will become unaffordable.

You may want to look at other forms of life assurance before commiting to another term which will probably be for 5 years or so before another review. ONE thing to note is that if you agree to the policy increase to £374, the IFA who sold you that policy will get a commission. You could call the insurer and ask them if they will pay a commission and if you can refuse the commission being paid - this MAY reduce the premium because the life assurance company isn't forking out the comission.
/QUOTE]

That is correct. It is a Whole of Life policy.
The reason the policy has increased so much, is that the first 10 year review did not occur and the investment bit went into the red.
I am having to think about my need for cover, as my children are growing up and I have sources of income other than my work.
It is tricky to balance these things out as there are so many hypotheticals.
Cheers for the info.:thumb:

If you want to ask any more questions PM me. :)

If you have so much as even complained to your doctor of a possible fault that could be on the ilness cover and it will not pay out. I had to abandon this cover as over 2 years later the insurance company could not make a decission on wether they would insure my missus as she has some dissability complaints so probs a definate payout for deafness :)

Thanks for that Edd. Most helpful :)
There is also mortgage protection insurance in place, so the first one of us who snuffs it, the mortgage is paid.
Also, BUPA. Looks like it's best to just leave things well alone.
:D

As an IFA and been in the industry for about 20 years I can recommend these plans have a place in protecting your debts and life style

Pub talk is great when it comes to financial matters as long as there had been complete disclosure prior to underwriting the life company will pay out. Look at it like car insurance if you did not declare the various mods or convictions would you expect the insurance to pay out. We have always said to clients that failure to be honest could result in a non payout

Unfortunately there are more and more people claiming on their critical illness plans

As with most insurances it comes down to affordability, rates have reduced in the last 2/3 years so we are finding that people are able to save just by rebroking especially those that did their policies via their mortgage company

Straight forward level maybe cheaper but CI cover became very expensive when they reviewed CI a few years ago. Policies with a CI element that were taken out say 5 years ago I don't believe will be cheaper now. Straight forward death maybe but not CI.

Not saying whther you should ditch it or not, but personally I wouldn't entertain one.

But my wife had all sorts of cover including critial illness, income protection etc

About 8 years ago she took seriously ill with a very uncommon problem(even now I believe there is a very small number of people world wide affected)
Its a spinal condition but tasically the symptoms are a bit like a stroke
Long and short was about 7 months in hospital - told never walk again etc etc

She was walking about a year after leaving hospital albeit extremly slowly and has to use a stick

The CI would not pay out
The income protection said they would not pay out.

I went to the bloke that sold her the policys and explained that he better sort it out as he promised the fcuking earth on the policies.
Income protection paid out and still do (but they make her do an evaluation almost every year trying to wangle out of it)
CI never paid out, used every dodge/clause possible - the b@stards :mad:

My father has one and was diagnosed with prostate cancer last month.
The insurance have used every excuse you can think of not to pay out.

At the moment my father is in talks with the family lawyer to see if there is any way to get the feckers to pay up, but its not looking good.

I don't bother with any of that insurance upon insurance upon insurance apart from the stuff that I legally have to do, which pains me anyways :mad: You'll rarely make a claim & when you do they have a team of people employed to avoid a pay out. Easy money for the insurance industry IMHO :nono:

TX.

Insure yourself by putting the monthly cost of a Policy into an ISA or something. It's then your money to spend as you wish rather than some billionaire insurance company owner who has an army of people avoiding your claim ...

TX.

+1
Judging from others' experiences here it seems to be true unfortunately.
Same goes for private pensions that 'invest' your money IMHO.

Going from every experience I've had, it clearly isn't true. Not one claim through us has ever been rejected. I put more faith in the insurers we use to pay out due to a claim than I would my car insurer paying out.

Sorry to revive, but I have had loads of advice and been told by 80%, that 900 per year is a complete waste of money.
I am still cleaning up the guff that we are wasting dosh on, and this keep coming top of the list for me!!!
We have BUPA, and life insurance to cover the mortgage.
Come on, some one please tell me I have better things to do with 900 squids than spend it on insurance :wonder:

Lee I'm not being funny but you're asking strangers on the internet to make this decision for you.

The only person that can, and should, make this decision is you.

In my opinion I think they're a waste of money and I'd ditch it, as most people have said on here they'll do anything not to pay out.

Whether or not you carry on paying is up to you, but I noticed the "we've" - is this policy for 2 of you? You should look into getting 2 seperate policies, I was advised the difference in monthly payment between a joint policy and 2 individuals is very little - in favour of the joint. But with a joint policy if one of you claim then thats the policy over....leaving the other one uninsured