Best Cheap Term Life Insurance Rates

The Life, Disability and Health Insurance Agent

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:03:00 +0000

There are many ways to define the term, “insurance agent”. Fundamentally, an insurance agent is a licensed individual who solicits sales for an insurance company, or a number of insurance companies. The agent is subject to the state licensing laws of every state in which he sells life, health and disability insurance.

Captive v. independent agent

If an agent is licensed with only one company, he is referred to as a “captive agent”. And he can only sell the insurance products of that company. If he is licensed with many companies, he is referred to as an “independent agent” because he is not restricted to selling the products of only one company.
But every agent can only sell the products of companies for which he is licensed to sell. This is important for you to know because an independent agent who can sell for many companies, if he is conscientious, has a better likelihood of selling you the best product to meet your insurance needs because he has more products from which to choose. In order to make the sale (and earn the commission), a captive agent may try to convince you that his company’s product is the best for you when in fact there are better products for your situation in the marketplace.

The Importance of Dates in Your Insurance Policy

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:29:00 +0000

Dates (not to be confused with the social encounter or the fruit) in the insurance world are critical. There are three specifically that are often confused with each other, but are highly crucial in insurance litigation. And to make it more befuddling, insurance companies each have their own definitions of those terms in their policies which they are supposed to follow. The three terms are issue date, policy date and effective date. We will give you the generally understood meaning of these terms.

The issue date is normally the date on which the insurance company approves and accepts your application. The policy date is the date written on the policy. These two are sometimes the same, but insurance companies often add a few days to the issue date to name a policy date. This allows time for the policy to be delivered to the insured. The effective date is the date on which the legal obligation by the insurance company is created.
The policy date is important because so many time periods under the policy start with it: The suicide and contestable periods, due dates of renewal premiums, expiration date of grace periods, availability and amount of nonforfeiture values and the duration of any extended term insurance.

The effective date is significant because it is the date on which the insurance company becomes liable under the contract. Insurance companies usually try to make the effective date very clear in their policies and define it in the policy and the application. The date on which a policy first takes effect is determined by several factors, such as whether a premium was paid with the application and if a conditional receipt was given for the premium if a premium was paid.

Almost all applications read that coverage is not effective until the policy is delivered and the first premium is paid. Therefore, these criteria must be met before the policy is considered to be in place. Backdating a policy usually results in different issue and effective dates. In that circumstance, premium due dates are ordinarily computed from the date of issue, while contestable and suicide periods run form the effective date. The effective date under a conditional receipt depends on the language of the receipt and state law.

This is a very complicated area of the law and courts apply different legal theories, depending on the facts and circumstances of each case. To give you a few examples, one court determined that a suicide period in a life insurance policy ran from the date the policy was issued and not from the date of the conditional receipt because the court considered the policy and the receipt to be two separate contracts. If the date of the conditional receipt had applied, the suicide period would have expired and the insurance company could not have used it as a defense and would have had to pay the death benefit. However, because the two year suicide exclusion ran from the policy date (also the issue date in this case), the court determined that the insurance company properly denied the claim.

In another case, the court held that coverage began when the insured first paid his premium and not on a later date defined in the policy because that was what the insured could reasonably have expected (in legal parlance, called the “doctrine of reasonable expectation”). The policy excluded death from suicide within two years of the effective date of coverage, and the insured committed suicide more than two years after the first premium was paid but less than two years from the coverage date.

As you can see, if determining the date from which to begin counting a particular time period is critical to your outcome, you would be well advised to seek the advice of attorney. There are policy definitional issues, state law issues and judicial interpretation issues, all of which call for expert legal guidance. It is not an area for a novice.

Determination of insurable interest

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 02:10:00 +0000

Courts and state laws have established guidelines for those persons and entities presumed to have insurable interest. They fall into three general categories – relations by blood or marriage, business relationships, and creditors.
Blood or Marriage: People generally have an insurable interest in the lives of their spouses and dependents. Based on this relationship, the general rule of thumb is:
Insurable InterestHusbands and wivesParents and children(including adopted children)Grandparents and grandchildrenBrothers and sistersEngaged couples (some states)
No Insurable InterestOther relatives by marriageNieces and nephews CousinsUncles and auntsStepchildren and stepparents
Business Relationship: An insurable interest may be created in an otherwise non-insurable interest relationship by the creation of a financial dependency or a business relationship between the parties. For example, an uncle may be deemed to have an insurable interest in a nephew because the uncle’s business is run by the nephew and the business, as run by the nephew, is making a lot of money for the uncle.
One who receives economic benefit from the continued life and good health of another has an insurable interest in that person’s life. For example, employers can take out key person life insurance on key employees, corporations can take out insurance on the lives of their officers, business partners can take out life insurance on each other.
Creditors: Creditors are allowed to take out life insurance on the lives of their debtors, with the debtors’ consent, up to the limit on the debt. Mortgage and credit insurance are examples of this type of insurance.
Insurance companies have a duty to exercise reasonable care in determining whether insurable interest exists and whether the consent of the insured has been obtained. If they don’t, they may be sued.
For more information on life insurance contracts, read our section on Life Insurance.

The Insurable Interest in a Life Insurance Policy

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 03:30:00 +0000

To stop your good neighbor Sam from taking out a life insurance policy on you and then killing you to get the life insurance money, your neighbor, as the purchaser of the insurance policy, must have an insurable interest in the life of you, the person being insured at the time of application. In dealing with life insurance, a person is deemed to have insurable interest when the purchaser has a reasonable expectation of profit or benefit from the continued life of the insured.
Every state requires that an insurable interest exist at the time of application. Policies issued on lives where there is no insurable interest are regarded as void from the beginning because they are against public policy. They are against public policy because they encourage murder for profit. If there was no insurable interest requirement, some people would be tempted to purchase life insurance policies to collect the death benefit by killing the insured.
A person is always considered to have an unlimited insurable interest in his own life and health. Therefore, the beneficiaries of the policies that an insured purchases on his own life do not need to have an insurable interest. It is presumed that the insured would name as a beneficiary only people who want the insured to live a long and healthy life. A person, therefore, can obtain as much insurance as he wishes on himself – subject to other limits an insurance company might have. For example, insurance companies commonly limit the amount of insurance they will place on a person to that appropriate to his income and life style.

Check for premium included in application

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:42:00 +0000

Check for premium included in application
When you attach a check to your application for health, life or disability income insurance, the insurance company may accept or decline your offer.
Nor surprisingly, this also depends on the application’s wording. For example, the insurance company application, by its terms, may state that your offer is not accepted (even though you have included the check for the first premium) until the application is approved by the company’s underwriters. In this situation, if you incur a claim before the underwriting is completed, the insurance company has every right to decline and return your premium.
Alternatively, the insurance company can unconditionally accept both your application and your premium. When they do this, they have formally accepted your offer and a legal contract of insurance is formed.
Or the insurance company may reject your offer and end negotiations.
Or the insurance company may reject your offer by making a counter-offer. A counter-offer is a new set of terms and conditions given in response to your original offer. The difference between the original offer and the counter-offer may be an increase in premium, for a health insurance policy the addition of a rider excluding coverage for treatment for certain health conditions, or for a disability income policy a change in the terms of coverage, such as offering to issue for a reduced monthly benefit from that for which you applied. If you do not accept the new terms, there is no contract of insurance.
Check not included in application
If you do not attach a premium check to your insurance application, you are inviting the insurance company to make an offer to you. The insurance company may end the negotiations or may make an offer of insurance. You accept when you receive delivery of the policy and pay the first premium.
Whether an offer or a counteroffer is made, the second component—acceptance—must occur by you as the prospective policyholder.
If you have included the first premium with your application and you are otherwise insurable on the date of your application, you ordinarily have the right to expect to have coverage from the date of application even if you are injured or killed while the insurance company is deciding whether to accept your offer. In this case, you are generally protected by the terms of the premium receipt given to you at the time you completed the application.
The technicalities of offer and acceptance, often controlled by the precise wording of your application and the premium receipt can be tricky. If you have an issue with an insurance company, you should contact an attorney for guidance.

The Making of a Life, Health and Disability Income Insurance Policy

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:25:00 +0000

An insurance policy is a contract between the policy owner (this can be the insured or someone else) and an insurance company. And because it is a contract, it is governed by rules that apply to general contract law.
One of the principles of contract law is the concept of “offer and acceptance. Each insurance contract requires an offer by one party and an acceptance of that offer by the other party.
The insurance application is the starting point. When you fill out and sign the insurance application for life, health or disability income insurance and you include the first premium with it, you are usually considered to be the party who is making the offer. As previously stated, an offer is the first step in forming a contract. The next step is the insurance company’s acceptance of the deal.
Insurance companies act through their agents. An agent having proper authority to act on behalf of a life, health or disability income insurance company can only invite an offer of insurance. (The life, health and disability agent cannot make a binding insurance contract. This differs from some other types of insurance, such as property and casualty insurance. Often agents selling auto or homeowners insurance, acting on behalf of the insurance company they represent, are able to make binding contracts in the field.)

Knowledge of the Health Insurance and Life Insurance Agent

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:47:00 +0000

Under the law of agency, the knowledge and acts of the legal agent are considered to be the knowledge and acts of the legal principal. In the area of health and life insurance, your insurance agent is the legal agent of the insurance company. In other words, the insurance company is responsible for the acts of the agent when dealing with you and is assumed to have all the knowledge that the agent has. This is important for you.

For example, if your insurance agent is aware of a medical condition you have that would make you uninsurable, completes your application for insurance and, without your knowledge or consent, leaves off any mention of your uninsurable medical condition, the insurance company is regarded under the law as having knowledge of your medical condition.. Assuming no other complicating factors, in this case the insurance company, because of this, will not be allowed to assert a misrepresentation on your application to later deny a claim and void your policy.

If an insurance company is attempting to deny your claim on the basis that your medical condition existed prior to the effective date of your insurance policy (a preexisting condition excluded by the policy) or on the basis that the medical information left off of your application is grounds for voiding the policy (which, of course, makes the claim unpayable), you may be able to assert, as a defense, knowledge of the agent and, thereby, of the company.

This defense will not always work. Most insurance companies now have a statement on their applications that the agent does not have authority to alter the application. Many courts have looked to this wording in the application as a basis for refusing to attribute knowledge of the agent to the insurance company when changes have been made to the application. If the court takes that position, then the inaccurate application would be your fault, not the insurance company’s.

Other courts, however, have found the statement limiting the agent’s authority to be insufficient and have held that the agent’s actions and knowledge are those of the insurance company. In these cases, the inaccurate application would be the insurance company’s fault, not yours. Obviously, if your health insurance provider denies your claim based on medical history not shown on your application but you know the agent has knowledge of, you should seek the advice of an attorney experienced in bad faith claims to protect your rights.

Another approach to this issue taken by many insurance companies is to attach the completed application to the insurance policy when the policy is issued to you. This practice is actually required by law in many states. When an insurance company attaches a copy of the completed application to the issued policy, some courts have ruled that you, the insured, have a duty to read the application attached to the policy when you receive the policy and that you must immediately notify the insurance company of any incorrect or incomplete answers.

Whether the court will attribute the alleged actions and knowledge of the agent to the insurance company depends on the facts and circumstances of each case and on state law. Even if your completed application is not attached to your issued policy, some courts have ruled that you have a duty to read your completed application before signing it, and if you do so, it is presumed that you will notice that the agent has improperly completed it. Most applications do have a statement above the signature line whereby you acknowledge having read the completed application.

But each case depends on its own facts. Courts have been known, for example, to attribute knowledge to the insurance company even when the agent advised the insured to change information on the application so the insured could obtain the insurance. This sounds like collusion, which is a secret agreement between the agent and the insured to misrepresent information to the insurance company to defraud it. Ordinarily when collusion is found, knowledge is not attributed to the insurance company, and the courts will not allow the colluding parties to benefit from their wrongdoing.

Revocation of agent’s license

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 03:38:00 +0000

An insurance agent can have his or her licensed revoked or suspended for number of reasons, including fraud, embezzlement, and forgery. Insurance agents can also lose their license for an activity the insurance industry refers to as twisting. Twisting happens when your agent improperly pressures you into dropping your existing insurance so he can sell you a new policy. His primary motivation for selling you the new policy may be so that he can get the first year commission on the new policy. To motivate agents to bring in new business, insurance companies usually offer a high first year commission that is dramatically reduced for the second and later years of the policy. However, if the policies are relatively similar, there are disadvantages to you in canceling your old policy and buying a new policy. For example, the incontestable (time limit on certain defenses) and suicide periods in your old policy may have expired. They will start anew with your new policy, which is not to your advantage.
Another practice that can result in the agent forfeiting his or her license is rebating. This occurs when an agent forks over to you, directly or indirectly, a chunk of his commission or its equivalent, such as a rebate of the policy fee, a valuable gift (such as prime tickets to a big game) to induce you to purchase a policy from him.

If you believe your life or health insurance agent has engaged in fraud, embezzlement, forgery, twisting, rebating, has made an inappropriate or inaccurate sales presentation to you or is not properly licensed with your state insurance department and, if necessary, with the NASD, you should contact an attorney to protect your rights.

State Insurance Department or Commission

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:12:00 +0000

Every state in the nation has an insurance commissioner. They normally report directly to the governor of the state just like the attorney general of each state reports to the governor of that state. The NAIC is an association of all the state insurance commissioners. The NAIC spends a lot of time drafting and holding hearings on new model laws and regulations for the insurance industry. This work of the NAIC has a gone a long way toward providing some degree of uniformity between the insurance laws and regulations of the various states. Their work has also acted as an impetus for the implementation of laws and regulations when a new area of significant need arises. Recently that area of need has been the sales methods of agents.
Insurance agents must obtain a license from each state (through the insurance commissioner’s office) in which they are soliciting business. If an agent is not a resident in a state in which he wishes to sell insurance products, the agent may ordinarily obtain a nonresident license from that state. You can check on the licensing (or disciplinary) status of your agent by simply contacting the insurance commissioner’s office of your state. Agents who sell variable life insurance products or other investment-related products must also obtain a license from the

Relationship between agent and insurance company

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 08:41:00 +0000

The law of agency, a separate and distinct area of the law, applies to the relationship between the insurance agent and the insurance company. A basic rule of agency law is that the principal is liable for the acts of its agents done within the scope of their agency authority. It is not to the life, health or disability income insurance company’s benefit to have agents who are acting inappropriately or illegally while they are representing the insurance company. Lawsuits against the agent invariably include the insurance company as a co-defendant for two reasons--because of the principal/agent relationship and also because the insurance company usually has deeper pockets than the agent.

Why is agency law important to policyholders? Because, unlike property and casualty insurance (homeowners and auto), the agent who sells life, health and disability income insurance is almost always regarded as the legal agent of the insurance company. Therefore, as a general rule, any wrongdoing by the agent, such as incorrectly completing your application for life, health or disability insurance, will legally be regarded as wrongdoing by the insurance company. In laymen’s terms, the insurance company of a life, health or disability income insurance agent is responsible for the acts of its agents while they are selling insurance to you. (Of course, if you are conspiring with the agent to cheat the company, that’s a different story.)

American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI)

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:56:00 +0000

The conduct of insurance agents has come under closer scrutiny in recent years as a result of the initiation of numerous class action law suits alleging inappropriate and inaccurate sales presentations by insurance agents. In response to this, organizations such as the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) have proposed model regulations, market conduct principles and use of databases to improve agent practices.
The ACLI is an association of life insurance companies through which the industry is attempting to police itself.

Captive v. independent agent

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:58:00 +0000

If an agent is licensed with only one company, he is referred to as a “captive agent”. And he can only sell the insurance products of that company. If he is licensed with many companies, he is referred to as an “independent agent” because he is not restricted to selling the products of only one company.
But every agent can only sell the products of companies for which he is licensed to sell. This is important for you to know because an independent agent who can sell for many companies, if he is conscientious, has a better likelihood of selling you the best product to meet your insurance needs because he has more products from which to choose. In order to make the sale (and earn the commission), a captive agent may try to convince you that his company’s product is the best for you when in fact there are better products for your situation in the marketplace.

The Life, Disability and Health Insurance Agent

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 10:15:00 +0000

Dental Insurance - Advice on choosing a policy

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 08:17:00 +0000

Dental insurance opens up a number of new medical options, and will ensure protection for the teeth of you and your family in case of dental treatment being required. Currently 50% of Americans do not have a good dental health care insurance plan in place, something which can cause inconveniences when dental health care is required. It's said by some that the pain of toothache can be worse than childbirth, and without a good dental health plan in place, you may be tempted to attempt to live with the pain for far longer than you would have if you'd been assured that the price of your dental care was taken care of. Neglecting your teeth in this manner will only make the problem worse, and so having a good dental health care insurance plan is only good sense. Growing children requiring braces or other such orthodontic devices may also come as a surprise to you and to your pockets, and being assured of discounted dental health care thanks to your and your family's dental health care insurance plan should be a load off your mind.

Some people fear that individual dental health insurance or dental insurance plans will be expensive, and in many cases these fears are unfounded, with companies such as MetLife and delta offering affordable dental insurance plans.
Dental insurance plans come in two basic types; Preferred Provider Organization and Dental Health Maintenance Organization. Each dental insurance plan has its own benefits and each is considered managed care.

A preferred provider organized dental health plan aims to provide people who have a dental health plan that involves preferred provider organized health care with a substantial discount to their dental health care. The holder of such a dental health care policy can visit any participating dental health service provider and receive a discount on their dental health care. In theory, this is mutually beneficial to both the client and the dental health care service provider. While the holder of the dental health care insurance policy receives discounted dental health care treatment, the dental health care provider will see a rise in their number of customers. Lower costs to the insurer will also result in lower premiums, a saving which is then passed on to the dental health care policy holder. If the customer chooses to receive dental health care from a health care service provider who is not a part of the participating provider organization, their insurance policy will, usually, still refund the cost of part of the procedure, but it will be a much lower amount than if the patient had received treatment from a dental health care professional who was a part of the participating provider organization.
Preferred provider organizations differ from dental health maintenance organizations in that, if you receive dental health care from someone who is not a member of the organization while on a dental health maintenance organization policy, you will not normally get any kind of discount to your treatment, not even a small amount like you would receive if you were on a preferred provider organizations policy.
When buying any kind of insurance, it's important to shop around and find an insurance policy which is suitable for the needs of you and your family. Dental health insurance is often a lot cheaper than many people believe it will be, and shopping around ensures that you will find the best deal available. Finding cheap dental health plans will serve you well in future, and although

Whole life insurance - what do you need to do about it?

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 01:03:00 +0000

Whole life insurance is one of the most famous and one of the most sought after insurance policies in the market today. It is nothing but an insurance policy which will pay a lump sum of amount on the event of your death or during a critical illness. This is considered one of the best policies there due to a couple of reasons. First of all, it pays a lump sum of amount on the event of the policyholder's death. This can be greatly useful for the kith and kin of the policy holder. Second of all, it also pays you on the account of critical illness. This is considered a great benefit as usually you will have to pay through the nose in case of a critical illness. This lump sum of amount can be greatly helpful to you at that point of time. The premium insurance of this policy can be determined in many ways. You also have to think whether it is life insurance taxable or not. In fact, whole life insurance sometimes is linked with life insurance universal or universal life insurance, which is yet another important insurance policy available in the market. This policy is separated from other policies and it stays different and unique from other policies due to a couple of reasons. First of all, universal life insurance differs from whole life insurance or any other insurance for that matter to a great deal. While in most other insurance policies the premium amount is usually fixed for life time, in case of universal life insurance, the premium can vary according to the ups and downs in the market conditions. Now whole life insurance policy can be sometimes linked to universal life insurance and the policy can have the features of both these policies. The same analogy can be applied in the case of standard life insurance also.

One of the most important things you need to think about while choosing whole life insurance is whole life insurance quote. You can get whole life insurance quotes from insurance advisors who are in the best position to guide you through the process. Globe life insurance is one such company which has knowledgeable insurance advisors who can help you through the process. You can also opt for group life insurance, but you need to inquire your insurance advisor properly about the different terms and conditions of the policy which differ greatly from conventional policies. Life insurance annuity is a great help for people who want to go for insurance policies with the lowest risk possible and also get returns. The annuity can be received by the policyholder immediately or at a deferred date, depending upon the nature of the policy. Life insurance general is one of the most important generators of such policies. You can also check out life insurance jobs, which have a very positive growth rate. You can check out newspapers and websites which have adverts regarding life insurance jobs. If you have a knack for selling and understanding complex calculations, then these jobs will be suitable for you. You can also try your hands on life insurance medical which is one of the most used policies. Life insurance settlement is one issue which differs from policy to policy. In case of medical life insurance, different insurance providers have different set of rules for the payout for the policyholder. You need to check them out before choosing a policy.

Things you must know about term life insurance

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:57:00 +0000

Term life insurance is nothing but insurance assured for a particular period of time. You have to pay the premium as expected by the insurance company for a particular period of time mentioned in the term insurance policy you have taken up. During the period, if something were to happen to you or your property, the insurance amount will be given to you or your beneficiary on the event of your death. It is also considered long term care insurance because of the kind of protection it offers. In fact, the policy is so brutally honest that you will sometimes find it difficult to ignore this kind of policy. The insurance advisor should be able to tell you everything about the policy and because it is one of the most straight forward policies available in the market, you can find yourself easily relating to the terms and conditions provided and you can go ahead with the policy. The advisor should be also able to give you term life insurance quote. Term life insurance quotes are easily available from various other sources also. Some of the most popular and the most accessible sources apart from the insurance advisors are magazines, internet, and the concerned insurance companies' information centers.

As is the case with any other kind of insurance policy available in the market, you can also find cheap term life insurance. It is also one of the most popular ones available in the market as it is affordable for many lower middle class people. You can get to know about that from your insurance advisor and the internet. In fact, you can find a lot of information about term life insurance online. The internet has become an excellent source for insurance related queries and you can find a huge amount of resources available in the internet, which you can check out in a matter of minutes. One of the most important things you need to consider while taking a term life insurance policy is the term life insurance rate. The affordability factor comes into the play and you need to educate yourself with term life insurance rates. This is very important as this is the only way in which you can decide whether you would be able to afford the policy or not. While going for a policy, you should think whether it is an affordable term life insurance or not. Only an affordable term life insurance policy can be the best term life insurance policy for you. Also, you need to do some research on your part in order to find out the best term life insurance policy available in the market. You can also get into some deep research and come out with the best results. You can also see a lot of people going for instant term life insurance.

When you are planning to go for term life insurance, you should get in touch with a financial advisor or an insurance advisor. They should be able to give you an idea about the cost term life insurance. They should also be able to give you instant term life insurance quote in order to help you make a decision. You can check out various factors like the premium to be paid, life insurance term life, and other things. You can also go for low cost term life insurance if you are not sure whether you would be able to afford the high cost policy and the respective premium.

Tips on shopping for cheap life insurance quotes

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:11:00 +0000

Life insurance helps in the protection of economic value of assets. What this would mean to you in turn is that a life insurance quote that decides your policy will help you in being sure of your future. Life insurance is there to provide financial security. While most of us are aware of the need for life insurance, a lot of us are not aware of the factors that determine life insurance cost. The type of life insurance policy that you go in for decides the insurance rate. Other factors such as a person's age and his/her health too play an important part in the insurer determining the insurance risk that is involved with that particular person. This in turn would dictate the premium that one pays towards a life insurance policy.
You can find a lot of useful information on life insurance over online sources dedicated to the subject. From getting a free life insurance quote to information on the various aspects of life insurance you can find them online these days. Getting life insurance quotes online is a very simple process. In order to get life quotes insurance companies will request you to provide certain information. Once you key in the relevant information you can then get your life insurance quote in a matter of minutes. The actual cost insurance life low or high is dependant on several factors such as the age of the person and medical condition, to mention only two.
The first important decision that you need to make while going in for life insurance is to make a choice between permanent and term insurance. Term insurance is less expensive and provides coverage for a specific term as the name suggests. If something were to happen to the life assured then the death benefit is paid to the beneficiary in the case of term insurance. Permanent life insurance is designed in such a way to provide protection for the entire life of a person. Since there are several life insurance companies in the market you can always find some insurer who can offer you low cost life insurance. Contrary to what people think, cheap life insurance is not difficult to find. Since the competition is intense you can always find a company which can offer you lower rates. A simple search is all that you need to find out a low life insurance quote online.

You should also consider life insurance rate quotes based on some other 'riders' that are part of insurance policies. For instance you may want cover for health care costs for something extra along with your life insurance policy. All these factors will determine the premium that you need to pay for your life insurance. Even if you were to find an insurance company offering discount life insurance, you should make sure that you are dealing with a reputable insurer. Just because someone is offering you a life insurance price that is low does not mean that you should compromise on some aspect. These days with the advent of the internet getting a life insurance quote has become very convenient. You can easily get life insurance quotes online. You can also shop for some of the cheapest life insurance available online. Although this is the case it is always advisable to seek professional advice before you settle for the best option suited to your needs.

During your initial search phase for a life insurance policy try and get in touch with multiple life insurance companies. You should make it a point to find out every thing in detail from the customer service representatives of life insurance companies on all the aspects of a policy. Your insurance agent is another person who can help you in deciding the right life insurance policy which suits your circumstances best.

How Life Insurance Premiums are Determined

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:09:00 +0000

Many people have bought life insurance plans mainly for investments, tax benefits and the life cover that they offer. They have rarely tried to understand how their life insurance plan works for them or for that mater, how their premium is determined.

In this article, I will give you an overview of how premiums are determined and which life insurance plan proves to be a better option.

First and foremost , the primary purpose of life insurance is to insure the financial future of the nominees in case of an eventuality to the insured. It does so by paying a 'sum assured' to the nominees.

The sum assured is decided upon at the time that you buy the life insurance plan and the premium is paid accordingly. The premium consists of three important elements which you need to know in order to choose the right insurance plan.

1. Mortality charges
Mortality charges are incurred by the life insurance company to cover the risk of an eventuality to the policyholder. The mortality expenses vary based on the age of the individual and the sum assured. The higher the age and sum assured, the higher the mortality expenses.

2. Sales and administration expenses
These expenses are incurred by the insurance company for operational purposes and recovered from the premiums that the policyholder pays towards his or her policy. Agents' commissions, sales and marketing expenses and the general overhead costs incurred to run an insurance comapny every day are examples of sales and administrative expenses.

3. Savings component
This part of the life insurance premium is invested by the insurance company in various investments such as bonds, government securities, money market instruments and equities.

The savings component generates a portion of the returns that insurance companies pay to a policyholder by way of bonuses and the maturity amount.

Two Basic Types of Life Insurance

Now that you have a better understanding of the basic premium structure, I encourage you to evaluate their own needs and buy insurance coverage accordingly. To do this, you need to understand the two basic types of life insurance plans - term life insurance and endowment life insurance plans.

Term life insurance plans are pure risk cover plans. The premiums charged by term plans cover only the mortality charges and sales and administration expenses, not the savings component. With no savings element in the premium; there is also no maturity amount accrued. For this reason term life insurance plans are the cheapest form of life insurance coverage available.
Unlike with term plans , the premium towards an endowment type plan also includes a savings component. As already explained earlier, the savings component is what helps the insurance company in generating a corpus over the tenure of the policy.

But it is also for this reason that the premium paid for an endowment plan is a lot more than what you would have to pay for a comparable term plan.

A major portion of the premium difference between the term plan and endowment plan is the savings component, which is invested by the insurance company to generate returns for the policyholder.

What this also means is that the term plan premium works out approximately 87% cheaper than the endowment plan premium every year. Or in other words, the individual has to pay 7.5 times more premium for an endowment plan for the same amount of coverage!
In my view, you should ideally keep their life insurance needs and investment needs apart. Consider buying a term life insurance plan for the desired amount of life insurance coverage and devote the remaining 'investible surplus' to other investment avenues like mutual funds for instance.

You should therefore be certain that they have done you homework on understanding your life insurance needs. This will not only help you in making wiser decisions, it will also lead you to a better and more prosperous future.

Where can I get additional information on life insurance?

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:37:00 +0000

For more detail on life insurance, you can contact:

American Council of Life Insurers 1001 Pennsylvania AvenueN.W., Washington, D.C. 20004-2599202-624-2000www.acli.com
Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education www.life-line.org

How can I locate a lost life insurance policy?

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 08:09:00 +0000

If a family member dies and you are unable to locate his or her life insurance policies, there is, unfortunately, no national or statewide database of all life insurance policies that you can consult. However, you can try to determine:

which insurance company might have issued the policy
which agent or broker might have sold or serviced the policy
whether the deceased might have had insurance through an employer, union or trade association, or other group to which he/she belonged.

Here are some strategies that might turn up useful information:

Look for insurance-related documents. Search through files, bank safe deposit boxes, and other storage places to see if there are any insurance-related documents. Also, look through address books to see if the names of any insurance agents or companies are listed. An agent or company who sold the deceased their auto or home insurance may know about the existence of a life insurance policy.
Contact current and prior financial advisors. Contact current or prior attorneys, accountants, investment advisors, bankers, business insurance agents/brokers and others who might have known about the deceased’s life insurance.
Review life insurance applications. The application for each policy is attached to that policy. So if you can find any of the deceased’s life insurance policies, look at the applications for them. The application will have a list of all other life insurance policies owned at the time of the application.
Contact previous employers. Former employers may have a record of a past group policy or policies.
Check bank books and canceled checks. See if any checks have been made out to life insurance companies over the years.
Check the mail for a year following the death of the policyholder. Look for premium notices or dividend notices. If a policy has been paid up, there will no notice of premium payments due. However, the company may still send an annual notice regarding the status of the policy or it may pay or send notice of a dividend.
Review the deceased’s income tax returns for the past two years. Look for interest income from and interest expenses paid to life insurance companies. Life insurance companies pay interest on accumulations on permanent policies and charge interest on policy loans.
Contact all relevant state insurance departments. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has a “Life Insurance Company Location System” to help you find state insurance department personnel who might help identify companies that might have written life insurance on the deceased. To access that service, click here.
Check with the state's unclaimed property office. If a life insurance company knows that an insured client has died but can’t find the beneficiary, it must turn the death benefit over to the state in which the policy was bought as “unclaimed property.” If you know (or can guess) where the policy was bought, you can contact the state comptroller’s department to see if it has any unclaimed money from life insurance policies belonging to the deceased.
Contact a private service that will search for “lost life insurance.” Several private companies will, for a fee, contact insurance companies for you to find out if the deceased was insured. This service is often provided through their Web sites.
Do you think the life insurance might have been bought in Canada? If so, you might contact the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (phone: 1-800-268-8099; Web site: www.clhia.ca).
Try the MIB database. There is a database of all applications for individual life insurance that were processed during the last 12 years. There is a $75 charge per search. Many searches are not successful: a random sample of searches found only 1 match in every 4 tries. For information, click here.

How do I file a life insurance claim?

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:20:00 +0000

To begin the claims process:

Get several copies of the death certificate.
Call your insurance agent. He or she can help you fill out the necessary forms and act as an intermediary with the insurance company. (Don’t keep life insurance policies in your safe deposit box. In most states, safe deposit boxes are sealed temporarily upon the death of the owner, which can delay the settlement. ) If you don’t have an insurance agent, or don’t know who the deceased's agent was, contact the company directly.
Submit a certified copy of the death certificate from the funeral director with the policy claim. Once the claim is submitted, a settlement should be issued to you shortly. Once a life insurance claim is submitted, you must determine how the proceeds will be distributed. These are some of the options available:

Lump sum -- You receive the entire death benefit in a single
amount.
Specific income provision -- The company pays you both principal and
interest on a predetermined schedule.
Life income option -- You receive a
guaranteed income for life. The amount of income depends on the death benefit,
your gender and your age at the time of the insured's death.
Interest income option -- The company holds the proceeds and pays you interest on them. The death benefit remains intact and goes to a secondary beneficiary upon your death.

If I can’t pay my premium, what should I do?

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:22:00 +0000

If unexpected expenses come up and you can’t pay your life insurance premium, you should know the possible consequences. The effect depends on the type of policy and coverage you have and the policy terms and conditions.

Term: If you stop paying premiums, your coverage lapses.
Permanent: If you have this type of policy, you will have the following choices:

Cash out the policy. This means that you can stop paying the premium and collect the available cash savings. You will no longer be covered by life insurance, but you will at least save some of the proceeds of the policy. You may, however, have to pay taxes on some of the cash value if the sum exceeds what you have paid in premiums.
Non-forfeiture options There may be a “reduced paid-up” option. This means that you can stop paying premiums completely in return for a reduced death benefit and no cash saving. You may also be able to convert the permanent policy to an extended term policy for a time period based on the accumulated cash savings in the policy.
Policy will lapse If this happens, see if the policy can be reinstated. Some insurers may allow this if you do it within five years of lapsing. You will most likely have to pass a physical examination for the reinstated policy and pay back the premiums you would have paid plus interest. Annual premiums for the reinstated policy may be lower than those for a new, comparable policy.

HELP!

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:00:00 +0000

How often should I review my policy?

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:30:00 +0000

You should review all of your insurance needs at least once a year. If you have a major life change, you should contact your insurance agent or company representative. The change in your life may have a significant impact on your insurance needs. Life changes may include:

Marriage or divorce
A child or grandchild who is born or adopted
Significant changes in your health or that of your spouse/domestic partner
Taking on the financial responsibility of an aging parent
Purchasing a new home
A loved one who requires long-term care
Refinancing your home
Coming into an inheritance

KEEPING YOUR LIFE INSURANCE CURRENT

noreply@blogger.com (PungPond) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:55:00 +0000

How should I organize and store my life insurance records?

The last thing you want to happen after you die is for your beneficiaries to be unable to locate and submit a claim on your life insurance. To prevent this, you should have copies of your life insurance records in at least two places. This is to make it less likely that you’ll lose them (to fire, flood, accidental discarding, etc.) and more likely that, after your death, your beneficiaries will find them.

What information should I keep?

For each individual life insurance policy on your life, you should record the following information:

The full name of the life insurance company that issued the policy
The city and state of the home office of the company that issued the policy
The name and U.S. headquarters of the group, if the issuing company belongs to a group of companies
The policy number
The date the policy was issued
The amount of the death benefit
The name and address of the agent/broker who sold you the policy
The type of policy (e.g., term, whole life, etc.)
The location of the original life insurance policy

You might have life insurance automatically from your employer. Your employer also might offer you the chance to buy additional life insurance under a group policy. And you might be eligible to buy life insurance under a group policy from your union or trade association or other group you belong to (such as a college alumni association or an automobile club). For each of these life insurance benefits, you should record the following information:

The name of the employer or group that sponsors the insurance
The office or person to contact when it’s time to file a claim
The certificate number (comparable to the policy number under an individual policy)
The date the insurance was started
The amount of the death benefit

Sometimes financial programs that are mainly designed for income or other purposes have death benefits as additional features. This might include pensions, annuities, workers compensation programs, disability insurance, travel accident insurance, etc. For each such program, you should record the following information:

The type of policy that has a death benefit as part of its features
The full name of the life insurance company that issued the policy
The city and state of the home office of the company that issued the policy
The policy number
The date the policy was issued
The amount of the death benefit
The name and address of the agent/broker who sold you the policy
The location of the original insurance policy

Credit cards and lending institutions may offer life insurance to pay off your outstanding loans in the event of your death. For each life insurance benefit on your life dedicated to paying off a loan, you should record

The full name of the lending institution through which you obtained the life insurance
The loan number and issue date of the loan
The name of the person or office to contact when it’s time to file a claim
The policy number of the life insurance policy that pays off the loan

Where should I keep the information?

Keep one set of these records in your home, in a place where others who need this information are likely to find it (and after you put the information there, tell the people who’ll need it where it is). This might be with your other financial records (such as income tax, checking account, investment records), with your other legal papers (such as a copy of your will, living will, health care proxy, etc.), or anywhere your survivors are likely to look for them.

Keep another set of these records “off site”—that is, outside of your home, perhaps in a safe deposit box, or with a professional or a relative who can be counted on to produce them when they’re needed.On each page, record the date on which the information was last updated. That way, if the copy in your home differs from the one in the safe deposit box, it’s easy to tell which is the more current.