Life Insurance in Pune

All you need to know about life insurance

People insure their cars against any theft or damage, their homes in case, anything goes wrong, but they forget the most valuable thing of all; their lives. It’s comforting to know that we have people around us who love and care for us deeply. But how would they manage if we are no longer around? The death of our loved ones comes with its own challenges. It is important to ensure that in this period of mourning and loss, life continues as comfortably as possible. The void created by the death of the family member is hard to fill but it should not disrupt the financial future of the family. Therefore, it is important to realize the value of life and get a life insurance.

What is life insurance?

It is an arrangement between the Insurance Company and the policy holder in which the insurer guarantees compensation for the loss of life in return for the regular payment of a specified premium. In Life Insurance, the name of the beneficiary is mentioned in the contract who gets the specified sum from the insurance company in case of any mishap i.e. Loss of Life.

What are the key benefits of life insurance?

1. Risk Coverage:Insurance offers risk coverage to the insurance holder and his family in form of monetary compensation.
2. Different plans for different uses:Insurance firms offer different types of plans to the insurance holders depending on their need for insurance. Higher is the premium, greater will be the benefits.
3. Cover for Health Expenses: The insurance policies may also cover hospitalization expenses and some critical illness treatments.
4. Promotes Savings: Some insurance policies come with saving plans i.e. the insurer invests the money in profitable ventures.
5. Guaranteed Income:  There is a guaranteed sum assured amount in the insurance policy which is payable at the time of completion of the policy tenure or if the death of the insurance holder occurs.
6. Loan Facility: Insurance holder can borrow a certain amount of money from the insurer. This option is available only on selected policies.  
7. Tax Benefits: Insurance holder can get tax benefits under the section 80C of the income tax Act, 1961.

What are the different types of life insurance?

There are many types of life insurance policies that can aid you in meeting needs of different life stages:

1. Term life insurance: Insurance holder gets coverage for a tenure which you choose by yourself. These policies can be availed by people who find it hard to pay lump sum money.
2. Whole life insurance: This policy covers the insurance holder for entire life.
3. Endowment policy: Risk is covered for a definite period and at the end of the policy tenure, the sum assured along with the accumulated bonus is given to the policyholder.
4. Money back policy: This insurance policy repays the survival benefits periodically.
5. Savings & investment plans: It helps in investments to make your money grow.
6. Retirement plans: It is a retirement plan. You can make your retirement corpus according to your risk and after completion of the specified period, a certain amount of money is paid to the beneficiary in the form of pension, annually, half-yearly or monthly.
7. Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs): A part of this investment goes in providing life cover whereas the residual portion is invested in bonds or stocks.
8. Child insurance policy: These life insurance plans are designed to meet the rising education and other needs of children. A child plan provides a lump sum amount on the event of death of the policyholder, but the insurance plan doesn’t end. All the future premiums are waived off and insurer continues investing money on behalf of the policyholder. The child gets the amount at specified tenure as per the plan.

What are the different life insurance claims?

Life insurance claims are classified as below:

Death Claims: In case of the death claim, the beneficiary needs to submit following documents:

• A filled claim form
• Original policy bond or contract
• An original or certified copy of the insurance holder’s death certificate
• Proof of identity as the beneficiary

Maturity Claim: In order to avail the maturity benefits of the life insurance, you need to submit the following to the insurer

• Original policy bond
• Maturity claim form 

What are the top 10 insurance companies?

• Life Insurance Corporation of India
• ICICI Prudential life insurance
• SBI Life insurance
• HDFC standard life insurance
• Max Life Insurance
• Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance
• Birla Sun Life Insurance
• Reliance Life Insurance
• Tata AIA Life Insurance
• PNB Metlife India Insurance

What are the documents required while buying a life insurance policy?

The life insurance companies will ask for the following documents before issuing you insurance policy:

• Income documents
  • Last 3 months salary slips
  • Income Tax Returns of last 2-3 years
  • Latest 6 months Bank Statement with salary entries in last 3 months
  • CA certificate in case of Businessmen
  • Latest Form 16 
• Address Proof
  • Bank Statement or Passbook with latest entries for 6 months
  • Credit Card statement  less than 3 months old
  • Driving License with address mentioned
  • Electricity / Telephone / Water / Gas bill (less than 3 months old)
  • Leave & License agreement
  • Passport
  • Ration Card
  • Voter ID card
  • Aadhar Card
• ID Proof
  • PAN Card
  • Passport
  • Aadhar Card
  • Voter Id card
• Age Proof
  • Aadhar Card
  • Voter Id card
  • Ration card
  • PAN Card
  • Passport
  • Marriage certificate
  • Birth certificate
  • Driving License
  • School/College leaving certificate

What are the factors that affect the premium of a life insurance?

The factors that affect the premium of a life insurance are:

• Age: If you’re young policy holder then the rates will be lower in comparison to someone older. Since the possibility of a young person having a life threatening disease or to pass away in his youth is very unlikely.
• Gender: Insurance companies believe that there is a different life expectancy for different genders. As per the statistical findings, women are believed to live 5 years more than men. Therefore affecting the premium they pay for their policy.
• Smoking: Smoking puts the insurance holders at higher risk of ailments, so if you’re a smoker then you have to pay a premium twice as much as any non - smoker does, thus affecting the premium to a great extent.
• Medical history:  If a policyholder has some medical history of serious illnesses like cancer, heart diseases or any other, then they are susceptible to get them from a hereditary perspective which increases their premium by a larger margin.
• Health records:  The health records ensure that you don’t have any chronic diseases or potential health issues, thus, keeping your premium also in check.
• Drinking: Drinking is injurious to health in many ways. As a policyholder, if you are a heavy consumer of alcohol then you have to give high premium.
• The Policy: The type of insurance policy can also affect the premium. The longer the tenure of the policy, the larger will be the benefit at the time of death, as you will pay it for that period of time.
• Profession: Your profession also plays a vital role in the premium you need to pay. If the policyholder has a risky profession then premium will be high.
• Lifestyles choices: Many insurer take higher premiums from the people who love to take risks like climbing treacherous mountains, speeding cars or other high risk activities.
• Obesity: Obesity is another factor which can affect your premium as a policyholder. Since obese individuals are prone to a number of health problems like high blood pressure, stroke, coronary heart disease, Osteoarthritis and cancer, in the future, this increases their premium.

What are insurance riders?

These are additional benefits which you can get along with your current life insurance policy at affordable rates. They are valuable tools that help you in expanding your life insurance coverage. There are different types of riders like:

• Waiver of premium: This life insurance policy stays active even if you are unable to pay the premiums with the continuation of the policy benefits.
• Critical illness: Under this rider, the policy holder pays an extra amount to get themselves covered, in case they are diagnosed with any of the critical ailments mentioned in the document. This rider acts like an income replacement plan where the amount received under the rider can be used for both medical and household expenses.
• Accidental death rider: All the life insurance policies cover accidental death. The accidental death rider ensures that the beneficiary gets double the sum assured in case of accidental death of the policy holder.
• Permanent & partial disability: It is helpful if the policy holder becomes temporarily or permanently disabled due to an accident. The insurer gives a certain sum assured for the next five or ten years and all the future premiums on the insurance policy are waived off.
• Income benefit rider: This rider offers a regular source of income to the family members in case of the demise or disability of the insurance holder.

What is the process of insurance claim settlement after the death of policy holder?

In case of the death of the policy holder, the beneficiary is required to send claim intimation form to the insurer as soon as possible. Claim intimation must contain details like Date, Place, and Cause of Death. On successful submission of the claim intimation form, the insurance company will ask you for some additional information such as:

1. Certificate of Death
2. Copy of Insurance Policy
3. Legal Evidence of title if the insured has not appointed a beneficiary
4. Deeds of assignment

After successful submission of all the above documents, the insurer will verify the claim and settle the same.