What causes delays and can delays be reduced?

The most common cause of delay is enquiries about your health.

STEP 1 of 2
Type of cover
Life Insurance       Mortgage Life Insurance
 
Cover Level (£)

Number of years
Do you want:  
Critical illness cover
Family income benefit
 

Hot Topics

How much will the premium be?
Your premium reflects the level of cover you want and how long you want to be insured for. It also reflects the risk to the Insurance Company that you may make a claim. This risk is conditioned by your age, sex, occupation, health record and life style etc.
Is the price you’re quoted, the price you pay?
Not always. It depends upon the details you disclose in your full Application form.
Will your medical history affect your premium?
Yes, your medical history is a very important factor.
Will your Mortgage Lender charge a fee if you buy your Life Insurance from someone else?
No! By law mortgage lenders are not allowed to charge a fee if you buy elsewhere.
Does your age affect your premium?
Yes, your age is one of the most important aspects that determines your premium. (Other important aspects include the level of cover you want, whether you are male or female, whether you are a smoker, your occupation and health record.)
But other things can cause delays too. For example, some customers forget to sign and return important documents without which they cannot be insured.

Let’s start with the easy part first – things you can do to reduce delays! After your Application has been sent to the insurance company there are a number of letters you may receive. The following three letters are the ones you are most likely to receive.

ALL OF THESE LETTERS REQUIRE A PROMPT REPLY FROM YOU:

  • If you have completed an Application over the phone, you will receive a letter from the insurance company enclosing details of the answers you provided over the phone and asking you to confirm that the details are correct. Please check the details carefully. This letter may also ask your permission for your Doctor to provide the insurance company with confidential information about your health. If you do not answer this letter you Application will be put on hold.
  • If your premium is over £50 per month you will receive a letter asking you to provide proof of your identity. (This is a requirement under UK Law.) The letter will explain what documents they need to see – photocopies will be OK. If you do not answer this letter your Application will be put on hold.
  • Sometimes you may receive a letter asking you to sign and return your Direct Debit. Your insurance cannot start until you have replied to this letter.

So what else can cause delays?

The initial quotation provided will assume you are in good health for your age, you have a generally healthy lifestyle and neither your occupation nor your hobbies represent a risk to your health.

Then, if you wish to proceed, you’ll need to complete an Application Form for the insurance company. This Form collects more detailed information about yourself to enable the insurance company to confirm whether the initial quotation stands or whether they want more information before making a final decision.

In our experience, once the insurance company has your Application, about 1 in 3 are accepted immediately. You can then be placed “on risk” within minutes.

If there is anything on your Application that needs to be looked at by one of the Insurance Company’s specialist Underwriters then, quite honestly, delays are inevitable. If, having considered your Application, the Underwriter is happy to approve your Application, then the delay will typically be up to two weeks.

However, in perhaps 1 in 7 cases the Underwriter will decide that he/she needs more information about you. Health issues are the most common area of concern but your job or even hobbies can prompt the insurance company into wanting more information. If it’s a query about your job or hobbies etc, you will receive a supplementary questionnaire in the post which you will need to complete and return.

With health queries, the Underwriter may decide to write to your Doctor for information or to ask you to have a very quick “mini-medical”. Alternatively, he/she may ask you to have a full medical. (Incidentally, the insurance company picks up the entire cost of all these medical reports.) In our experience, the insurers asks 1 in 10 of applicants for additional medical information – so if you get asked don’t be alarmed it’s fairly common.

However, medical reports do slow down the application procedure. Doctors are particularly busy people and are not renowned for their speedy response to insurance company’s requests for information! Delays of 6 to 8 weeks for medical reports are not unheard of.

Of course, if you want to arrange the insurance now but delay the starting date for a few weeks, or maybe a month or more, then that can easily be arranged. Better to get it sorted out now than wait and find out there’s going to be a delay.

Frequently Asked Questions related to the above topic.
Click below if you wish to read them: -