It’s about your financial wellbeing – Life circumstances change over time. Having the right level of cover in place (such as life cover or specified illness cover) is an essential part of good financial planning. Not only does it offer you protection, it also supports your financial wellbeing. For this reason we highly recommended you discuss your policy with your financial advisor from time to time to make sure it continues to meet your protection needs. Remember, the cost of protection increases with age. We have a range of options available to help you manage the cost of your cover into the future.
We have put together this practical guide to help you understand your policy and how it works.
What is a Policy Review?
Your policy is reviewable. This simply means at certain times we look to see if the premium you’re paying (along with any fund value), is enough to keep the same level of cover you have in place until the next review. Reviews are usually every 5 years but may be more frequent as you get older. We will write to you once we have carried out the review and let you know the outcome. The outcome may be that you need to increase the premium you are paying to maintain the same level of cover or reduce the level of cover you have if you don’t want to increase your payments.
We issue Annual Statements each year to help keep you informed. The Annual Statements contain important details about your policy and the valuable benefits you have chosen, so make sure to read them carefully.
Steps you can take now
We’ve developed some options that could help you manage the cost of your cover into the future. We highly recommend you meet with a financial advisor to help ensure:
- You have the right level of cover to meet your current and future needs.
- You are aware of the options available, including those which could provide premium certainty (no further reviews), providing life cover for a fixed term (a set amount of years) and fixed payments (so your payments won’t increase)
Contact our Team!
If you prefer, you can phone our Customer Service Team , Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm on 01 523 9806 or by email the team at info@bankofirelandlife.ie. We’d be delighted to answer any questions you may have and arrange a free financial review meeting with an advisor over the phone, at a time that suits you. Calls may be recorded for service, training, verification and analysis purposes.
See some stories from customers below
Jane is 62 years of age and has just received the outcome of a recent review. To maintain her current level of cover, the premium will need to increase. Jane feels that she will not be able to pay the new premium.
To discuss her options, Jane contacts her Financial Advisor. When she took out her policy she had 3 young children and a mortgage. Now, her children are adults living independently and her mortgage is paid off. She no longer needs the same level of cover for a mortgage or dependent children, but she still needs and wants to maintain some cover for funeral expenses and other reasons.
Because things have changed in her life, Jane reduces the life cover amount on her policy and her new premium is much more affordable.
Michael and Eoin are in their 50s and have just received their review pack. The premium needed to keep their same level of cover has increased significantly. They contact their financial advisor to discuss the options available to them.
Their financial advisor reminds them that protection costs increase with age and that they have a number of options. One of these is to take out a new life cover policy for a fixed term and a fixed premium which will not change. The cover will stop cease at the end of the selected term. As part of this review, they have access to a fixed term policy called Horizon without the need for medical underwriting.
Michael and Eoin decide to go with this option which means they both know exactly what their premium will be for the full term of the cover.
Deirdre and Mark are in their late 30s. They receive their review Information.
There is no change to their current premium in the review pack.
They took out this policy to cover their mortgage. At the time they had no children but they now have two young children and they know that having the right level of cover is important to their financial wellbeing. They decide to meet with their financial advisor who outlines the following options to them:
- They can apply to increase the level of cover on their existing reviewable protection policy which is likely to lead to an increase in the premium. They will have to answer medical questions at the time. Whether the level of cover is increased or not, the policy will continue to be reviewed at certain times and the cost of cover will increase as they get older.
- Apply for a new Life Choice policy for a fixed term to provide the additional cover they need. Both the premium and term of cover will be fixed for the additional cover that is put in place and their existing reviewable protection policy will continue as before.
Or
Joan and Michael are in their 70s.They have this policy for a number of years. They now want to try and reduce the cost of the premium making it more affordable for them.
At a recent visit with their financial advisor it was explained that indexation was on their policy. Indexation means premiums and benefits increase automatically each year by a certain percentage to help protect against increases in the cost of living. Their financial advisor explained they could remove indexation which means their benefits and premiums won’t have this automatic increase, making premiums more affordable for them in the future.