Insurance Bytes

With an ULIP, you can access your funds when in need. This can be done by way of a partial withdrawal without surrendering your policy. Also, as in a traditional money back plan you don’t have to wait for the pre-defined dates to make the withdrawal. Sounds simple and flexible, doesn’t it? Now let’s have a look at how to make a partial withdrawal and the guidelines which govern these withdrawals: How to make a partial withdrawal?      1)       Partial withdrawal form in prescribed format signed by the policyholder (no letter, email requests are entertained by most insurance companies). The form is available on the insurer’s website. 2)       NEFT details for direct transfer of funds (original cancelled cheque/passbook page showing required details) 3)       Self-attested identity/address copies Most companies insist that the policyholder visit the nearest branch office with t...

As Ashok poured through his wife Lata’s discharge summary and hospitalization bills, he rued the fact that he had not listened to his friend’s advice, given a few years back. His friend had advised him to supplement his employer given health insurance plan with a top-up health plan. He had then shrugged off the suggestion.  The hospitalization expenses for his wife’s stroke related treatment exceeded his employer's health plan by Rs 4 lakhs. This amount was paid from his savings leaving him in a tight spot financially. You may be wondering how a top-up plan could have helped him in this situation. Let’s see how. A top-up health insurance plan is a reimbursement plan which has a deductible or comes into effect after a certain threshold limit only. One has to choose the deductible amount while buying the plan. The expenses till the deductible limit are to be met either from your own pocket or by way of an existing health insurance plan. For eg: Let us assume you have h...

Rajesh is an ULIP policyholder with an equity-based investment fund. The recent volatility in the stock market spooked Rajesh, a conservative investor. He immediately switched his funds into a debt-based investment fund. After a few days, he paid his renewal premium. Subsequently, he received his annual policy account statement. He was shocked to see that the last premium paid by him was invested in his earlier equity fund.  Enraged, he shot out an email to the insurer attaching copies of his 'switch of fund' request and the insurance company’s letter confirming the switch to the debt fund. He demanded that the insurance company correct their error immediately and ensure that his last premium is transferred to the debt fund without any losses to him. The insurance company responded stating that there was no mistake at their end. The request given by him was only for switch of funds and not for premium redirection. Accordingly, they had switched the existing funds t...

As we cruise along, busy in our daily lives and routine, sometimes we wake up to depressing news about a dear family member, friend, colleague or acquaintance contracting a critical ailment. This leaves us wondering about the unpredictability of life. The silver lining is that medical advancements have made it possible to treat and cure many critical ailments; however, this does not come cheap. Critical ailments like cancer, cardiac diseases, stroke etc can strike suddenly and in its wake not just cause physical and emotional trauma but can also cripple one financially. Most people are forced to dip into their savings, accumulated carefully for a glorious future, for treatment and even run up debts in their fight against the disease. We come across many crowd funding requests in Facebook and other social media requesting financial aid for someone suffering from a critical ailment. These are mostly cases where the families have exhausted all their financial resources and are loo...