Follow this topicThe bonus perks of life insurance
Take a look at these bonus perks hidden within life insurance policies...
The key benefits of life insurance are not usually reaped by the policy holder.
But nevertheless, there are still a range of bonus perks, from counselling services to legal advice that could prove useful throughout your life.
A full table detailing all of the free additional benefits offered by seven of the main insurers is at the bottom of this article, but first let's take a look at some of the most popular added perks.
Critical illness cover
First up, children's critical illness cover. This insurance is designed to allow you to take time off work or pay for private treatment if one of your children is diagnosed with a critical illness. All of the providers listed below offer this cover to the tune of around £20-25,000 or 20-50% of the sum insured, whichever is lower.
Standard critical illness cover operates in a similar way, although it will push up your monthly premiums. The cover pays out a tax-free lump sum if you are diagnosed with a life-threatening condition or have to undergo major surgery that will stop you from working. However, the conditions covered and small print varies between providers, so make sure you read every last word of your prospective policy documents before signing up.
Financial advice and counselling
Several insurers now offer helplines and counselling services to all customers.
Bright Grey provides a legal, medical and career helpline to all customers. The insurer’s ‘helping hand’ service also offers person-to-person counselling and nursing.
Zurich offers both face-to-face and telephone counselling, while Scottish Provident has a ‘lifeline’ service for legal, tax, media, stress and bereavement advice.
LV= also has a member care line with 24-hour help and counselling as well as a member support fund. Grants from this fund are awarded on a case-by-case basis to applicants in financial hardship to help cope with a disease or illness.
Friends Life offers a Bupa 24-hour helpline along with a ‘Best Doctors’ service. This is a second opinion service available to policy holders, their spouses and immediate family. It uses a network of doctors to provide a second opinion on diagnoses.
Friends Life also has a unique Fracture Cover add-in that, for £2 per month, pays out up to £2,100 upon the diagnosis of any of 18 different fractures.
Aegon used to provide a Care First helpline. However it was withdrawn to new customers last September due to low demand. The insurer has said that it will be providing all required support to those who took out policies prior to September 2011.
Home move cover
For customers who take out a life insurance policy that covers their mortgage, Legal & General will throw in a 24-hour moving home service called SmoothMove. This cover provides car recovery, a replacement removal van and emergency hotel accommodation if anything goes wrong on your moving day.
Premium waivers
A premium waiver is a paid-for extra that essentially insures your insurance policy.
The add-on, which will typically increase the cost of your policy by up to 10%, will guarantee to pay your monthly premiums if you are unable to work due to an accident or illness. This enables you to stay fully insured even if your wage packet dries up.
Guaranteed insurability
Guaranteed insurability allows you to increase your level of cover without supplying further medical or lifestyle information. Policies can typically be inflated by up to 50%. This add-on is often used to adapt insurance to specific events, for example a marriage or birth.
Guaranteed insurability could also be useful if you have taken up smoking, suffered a non-fatal heart attack or gained a lot of weight since the start of your policy. You do not ordinarily need to alert your insurer to any of these changes, providing you answered completely honestly on the initial application form. However if you attempt to expand your cover and do not have guaranteed insurability, you could find your insurer asks for up-to-date lifestyle information. And if these new facts mark you out as more of a risk, your premiums will be inflated.
Get the best deal
Of course, whatever the additional benefits built into a policy, you’ll still want to make sure that you get the right cover at the best price. Have a read of Your phone and your car are more important than your life for some tips and advice and head over to our life insurance calculator to get hold of an instant quote.
What the insurers offer
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Insurer |
Additional benefits |
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Children’s critical illness cover* (£25,000 or 50% of sum insured – whichever is lower). |
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Children’s critical illness cover* (£20,000 or 50% of sum insured – whichever is lowest). Legal, medical and career advice line. Helping hand: nurse/therapist/counsellor service available at any time. |
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Children’s critical illness cover* (£25,000 or £25% sum insured). 24-hour, Bupa-run health advice line. Best Doctors: second opinion diagnosis service. |
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Children’s critical illness cover* (£20,000 or 50% of sum insured – whichever is lowest). Lifeline: legal, medical, tax, stress and bereavement advice. |
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Children’s critical illness cover* (£25,000 or 50% of sum insured – whichever is lowest). Mastectomy cover* (£25,000 or 25% of sum insured – whichever is lowest). |
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Children’s critical illness cover* (£25,000 or 50% of sum insured – whichever is lowest). Member care line – 24-hour legal and medical advice and counselling. Member support fund – customers in severe financial hardship can apply for help from this managed LV= fund. |
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Children’s critical illness cover* (50% of sum insured up to a maximum of £25,000). Telephone and face-to-face counselling. |
*Free children’s critical illness cover only available if you have critical illness cover as part of your policy.
More: Get a life insurance quote | Buying insurance from supermarkets could cost extra £600 | Fifth of us would flog our partner for less than £1m
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