Life Insurance | Finance

Legal & General speeds up applications by tele underwriting

Legal & General now makes immediate decisions on 90% of applications for cover that are referred to its ‘little t' tele underwriting team, up from 66% in the past 4 months. Legal & General continues to speed up the application process through the increased use of tele medical interviews rather than requesting GP reports for applications that require further underwriting. Tele medical interviews enable customers to be put on risk quickly and efficiently.

Legal & General makes joint life policies fairer

Legal & General is now offering single life policies to people who would previously have had their joint life policy cancelled as a result of non-disclosure from their partner.

AEGON increases financial underwriting limits

AEGON has announced further improvements in the financial underwriting limits for its personal and mortgage protection proposition by increasing the sums assured at which the main residence mortgage offer letter is required for life and critical illness cover.

Aviva provides average of £80,429 to critical illness claimants

Aviva, the UK's largest insurer, paid out 744 critical illness claims during the six months to end of June 2009, totalling almost £60 million to people in need, with the average payment increasing to just over £80,000.

5 common reasons for the £2 trillion protection gap

Despite sales of life assurance climbing steeply over the last few years, the protection gap (the difference between the life cover we have and what we should have) still stands at over £2 trillion.

Over 50s fail to tackle a difficult subject

New research from Sainsbury's Loans reveals that there are currently just four lenders, of which it is one, offering an APR of less than 8% on unsecured loans on loan amounts between £5,000 and £15,000.

Financial crisis prompts more calls on care advice

Against the backdrop of a deepening financial crisis, leading independent care advisers, Grace Consulting reports more and more people are seeking help in the struggle to find elderly care solutions for themselves and their relatives.

Think twice before cancelling that protection policy

PruProtect, the joint venture between Prudential and South African market leader Discovery, has highlighted the potential dangers of cancelling existing protection insurance policies.

Kick the habit and save a packet on life insurance

With No Smoking Day (NSD) on March 11 and the second anniversary of the smoking ban on the horizon, moneysupermarket.com reveals those who kick the habit could see a difference in their wallets as well as their health; saving on average £8,404 on combined Critical Illness Cover (CIC) and life cover, or up to £1,725 on a single life insurance policy.

Swap ash for cash on No Smoking Day

No Smoking Day on 11 March will give smokers a great opportunity to kick the habit and save themselves thousands of pounds on their insurance in the process.

Young people are ignoring Life Cover

The number of young people who are buying life cover and other forms of financial protection is at an all-time low.

FSA leaves policyholders in the lurch

As the Financial Services Authority backtracks on its commitment to stop mis-selling costs being charged to inherited estates, Which? chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith, says: "The FSA has, once again, left policyholders in the lurch and sided with the financial services industry. This regulator repeatedly shows it's unwilling to stand up for the interests of with-profits policyholders.

AXA increases life cover age limit to 85

AXA has raised the age limit on its life cover from 70 to 85 in response to changing social trends.

Bright Grey launches a new low cost protection product

Bright Grey, a protection specialist within the Royal London Group, has launched a new simplified product aimed at consumers who choose to buy insurance without seeking professional advice first.

Don’t undervalue mums this Mother’s Day

Protection specialists LifeSearch have drawn up a three-point plan that every mother should keep in mind to make sure the family finances stay healthy.

£32,000 a year - that's the Value of a Mum

Legal & General's latest ‘Value of a Mum' survey finds that the value of the work that Mums do around the home is £32,812.

Why and how giving up smoking effects life insurance

Insurancewide.com - Facts and Advice: No Smoking Day on March 11 gave some the opportunity to give up the habit, but any day can be the perfect day to start a clean healthy life and save money too: smoking has a major effect on the cost of life insurance premiums.

Legal & General reduces declined CIC claims by 42%

Bernie Hickman, Managing Director of Protection said: "This is further evidence that Legal & General pays out when customers need it most, which is what really matters to a policyholder. Advisers should consider this as one of the most important factors when recommending critical illness cover to their clients. Our claims history demonstrates that the measures taken to reduce declined critical illness claims are working. In the last five years alone we have paid out almost £500m in critical illness claims to our policyholders."

No Smoking Day could help lighten life insurance premiums

With over 1 million people planning to quit on No Smoking Day this week (Wednesday 11th March), Norwich Union, soon to be Aviva, advises that people could get dramatically lower life insurance premiums by giving up the so called "evil weed".

Bright Grey launches instant acceptance life cover

Protection specialist Bright Grey, part of the Royal London Group, is launching Lifestyle Protection, paving the way for faster, cheaper and simpler life and critical illness insurance.

LV= launches level and decreasing term assurance online

Leading protection specialist LV= has announced that its Level and Decreasing Term Assurance products, as well as optional Critical Illness cover, are now available on the moneysupermarket.com price comparison website.