By Dennis Jarvis

So what happens when you’re approved for a life insurance plan that you applied for? The good news is that you’re approved. We now go into the phase known as policy delivery. There are some important tips to remember here and although each carrier is a little different in their requirements (we’ll help you with your particular life insurance company), some common threads run through them. Let’s look at how life insurance policies are delivered.

First, it’s important to understand how the life insurance contract works. When you submit your application, this is called the “offer”. Essentially you are making an offer to the carrier based on your pertinent information for a given rate. The carrier then decides whether to accept, decline, or change this offer (i.e. change the rates). At this point, the carrier will deliver you a policy. You do not officially have coverage until you return this policy back with your confirmation of its terms. This is important. You do not want to go through the entire application, paramedical exam, and underwriting process only to delay or possibly void the life insurance coverage due to mishandling this final confirmation. Let’s look at what is generally acknowledged and confirmed by you after policy delivery.

Common requirements for you, the applicant:

1) Acknowledgement of premium assigned. You need to confirm the rate that has been offered. Keep in mind, it might be different than original due to health status, paramedical, and underwriting results.

2) Acknowledgement of effective date or a request to update new effective date. This is important since effective date dictates when your coverage (and your payment) starts.

3) Contract policy review with agent for understanding of terms. Make sure to go through any question or contract terms with us as your licensed life insurance agent.

4) Copy of your application enclosed with policy. Keep this for your record.

5) Deadline for receipt of signatures. This is very important to make sure your policy goes into effect. You must return the signed contract by this date.

6) Premium payment (can be check, or electronic auth.) if not already submitted. Auto deduction and/or credit card can be a safer way to pay since there’s no “lost in the mail” scenarios that can jeapardize your coverage.

7) Premium modal frequency decision verified. This is where you decide to pay annually, quarterly, monthly, etc. Your premium modal can affect your rate (with shorter periods being more expensive)

8) Acknowledgement of policy delivery signature. You are acknowledging that you did in fact receive the policy.

9) Tax certification- some carriers want you to verify whether or not you are subject to backup witholding due to underreporting of interest or dividends.

10) Age change- if youve had an age change during the process,instructions are provided. You may/may not be able to lock premium rate by keeping effective date prior to birthday. Please contact if you’re straddling two ages so we can find the best rate and value.

The main take-away is that there is a time constraint. You can’t set this policy info aside and get to it in a few weeks or assume you were approved and therefore, have coverage. You have to acknowledge and confirm with the carrier once the policy is received and do so before the deadline. We can help with this process and in fact, we are an integral part of helping you successfully navigate your life insurance policy delivery.

About the Author: Dennis Jarvis is a licensed insurance agent concentrating on on finding the best

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Source:

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