By Craig Paterson, Underwriting and Claims Philosophy Manager, Royal London
Hard-hitting headlines
“Dying mother of two is refused life insurance payout.”1
“What a way to treat a dying man: Grandfather refused life insurance claim.”2
“A widow betrayed by a life insurance company.”3
With headlines like these, it’s no wonder some consumers don’t trust providers.
Trust is key. Your clients trust you to provide them with good, solid advice. And you trust providers to do what they say they’ll do. If it comes to the point where a customer has to make a claim, we know their situation is already pretty bad. The last thing they need to feel is they’re being let down by you or us.
The risk
We know clients are already under-insured. In fact, we found some shocking statistics when we commissioned our state of the protection nation research. It’s overwhelming how many people think it’s important that their family is looked after financially if they should pass away but at the same time don’t think they have a strong need for life insurance. Whether this is because they don’t have an understanding of the products or they don’t believe they will get a payout, there are a lot of people who could be leaving their significant others and children in dire financial straits – certainly not something they’d ever want to happen.
Seventy-four per cent of UK adults surveyed didn’t have a life insurance policy. And of these 50 per cent had no life insurance because they didn’t see the benefit in owning it, or they didn’t trust insurance companies to pay out in the event of a claim?4
So nearly three-quarters of people are without personal protection, leaving them at huge financial risk. And what are their views based on? Sadly, it’s common misconception.
It’s all a myth
As we know, good news doesn’t always make for a good story. Perhaps that’s why we don’t hear about these as often. But there are plenty of uplifting and reassuring statistics out there.
“60% of claims paid out in three days”.5
“£870m paid in individual protection claims in 2016”6
“92% of critical illness claims paid”.7
We need to shake off this stigma and perception that claims aren’t being paid.
We know convincing clients they need to take personal protection is hard enough, so we want to help you manage this myth by providing you with claims stats and aids that you can easily pass on to your clients.
Visit adviser.royallondon.com/protection/service/claims/ to see our latest figures and to access materials to help you help your clients.
Sources:
3 – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-482837/A-widow-betrayed-life-insurance-company.htmlA
4 – State of the protection nation – Royal London
5 – https://www.ftadviser.com/protection/2017/05/31/royal-london-pays-60-of-claims-within-3-days/
6 – https://www.aviva.co.uk/media-centre/story/17766/aviva-reveals-870-million-paid-in-individual-prote/
7 – http://adviser.royallondon.com/protection/service/claims/
