iTerm , Term Insurance Aegon Religare

POSTED BY Jagoinvestor ON November 30, 2009 COMMENTS (599)

Did you recently bought a Term Insurance from some other Company ? Because here comes iTerm, the new sensational Term Insurance from my favorite Aegon Religare. This product has power to change the way Indians Look at Insurance. iTerm is currently the cheapest Term insurance in market, not only cheap, its dirt Cheap.

Imagine how much Rs 8162 provide as an Insurance cover? I went to their website and found out that I can get astonishing Rs 1 crore Insurance for tenure of 25 yrs (My age is 26) just for Rs 8162 (including Service Tax)

iTerm insurance policy by aegon religare

Update 18th Dec 2009 :

Disclaimer : Please note that this is my personal View and should not be taken as Promotional Review , Hence take decision only after you are satisfied . The customer care of AR is not working well and hence the user experience is not that great . I personally feel it will get better in coming week and months . So I will buy mine only after that .

If you are concerned about Security and do not understand Insurance products and their pricing , please do not get into this product and stay will well known names like LIC and SBI or HDFC . Thanks

Main features  of iTerm Term Insurance

  • How to Buy : Can be bought “only online” from Aegon Religare website. (Only Internet Explorer Supported)
  • Sum Assured can  be Minimum – Rs. 10,00,000 , Maximum – No limit (subject to underwriting requirements)
  • Entry Age : Minimum – 18 years , Maximum – 60 years
  • Policy Term : Minimum – 5 years , Maximum – 25 years
  • Maturity Age : Maximum – 65 years
  • Premium Payment Frequency : Only Yearly
  • Free Look up Period : 15 days (you can return the policy if you dont like it)
  • Service Tax : Right now iTerm Shows you all the figures inclusive of Service tax . So in the above example I took , The total premium is just Rs 8162 (Smart company)
  • More Details : iTerm Brochure or get more Information by calling on 1800 209 9090 .

Comparison with other Insurers

If I compare Term Insurance Premiums of Different Insurance Companies , iTerm Comes out to be really really cheap , The second cheapest Policy around was 85% more costly than this , and it was ICICI Pru Protect  . I found this amazing tool which can compare Premiums of Different Insurance Companies with iTerm Term plan (Thanks to Ganesh)

Some Quotes

  • 30 years Male, Tenure 25 years, Insurance Cover  50 Lacs, Premium 5600
  • 30 years Female, Tenure 25 years, Insurance Cover  50 Lacs, Premium 4850
  • 35 years Male, Tenure 25 years, Insurance Cover 1 Crore, Premium 14500
  • 35 years Male, Tenure 25 years, Insurance Cover 1 Crore, Premium 11800
  • 50 years Male, Tenure 10 years, Insurance Cover 50 lacs, Premium 17200
  • 40 years Male, Tenure 20 years, Insurance Cover 75 Lacs, Premium 14925
  • 35 years Male, Tenure 20 years. Insurance Cover 60 Lacs, Premium 8220  (11640 if Smoker)

My Notes

iTerm Term Insurance was announced at Bloggers meet in Mumbai on 21st Nov, 2009 and I feel proud to tell you that “Jagoinvestor was also invited” to be part of the Blogger meet and part of Discussion on iTerm and overall Insurance Industry. Though I was not able to go there personally, I had one representative attend the meet on my behalf  (Thanks Abhishek Chandran) .

From the day Aegon Religare was Launched, I always knew that this Company has an attitude , It really know what to do and How to do it in Indian Insurance Sector . I think iTerm is one of the best products launched in the history of Indian Personal Finance System .

You can not miss this product , especially if you are still looking for Insurance. iTerm is a value for Money . India had a total internet base of over 60 million .  I am sure that this product will rock our Insurance Industry and in coming years Aegon Religare will lead the Industry for at least Pure Protection Plans .

Important Doubts

What should you do if you already taken Term Insurance recently ?

You don’t have Term Insurance but you are Planning to take one?

  • You are the perfect person , Not that you have not done the sin of being without Term Insurance till now , Your timing is perfect 🙂 . Go for this .

Make sure you dont miss the future Updates , Subscribe through Email for FREE !!

But I am a hardcore fan of Endowment and Money back Policies ? Why do I take Term Insurane when it does not pay me anything back at the end ?

Is it Safe to Buy Online Product from This company , I trust public limited Companys only ?

  • Here is the Answer of Are private Insurance Companies Safe . Regarding Buying online products, don’t worry .. Indian Insurane market is much advanced these days and we already have companies like ApnaInsurance and InsuranceMall where you can Buy, Sell, Manage and even make the Claims for your Policies.

I want to go for a Big Enough Cover and Want to take only iTerm , no other . What should I do ?

  • Break your Policy into two and take two policies . so Instead of taking one Policy for 1 crore ,  take two policies of 50 Lacs .

How to Buy iTerm Term Insurance online ? Can I get a Demo Please ?

Below is a Presentation with each slide showing you each page you need to fill while Buying iTerm Term Insurance online , Make sure you see it in Full screen to get a better feel .

“I Term Term Insurance From Aegon Religare Online Buying Demo”

View more documents from manish.pucsd

If you are reading this in Email , you can see the presentation on the Blog .  Readers with decent Internet Speed can also see Video Demo on Youtube.

  • Are you a Jagoinvestor Fan , let Manish know what do you think about this Blog ,  Fill the Guest Book

Shortcomings

Nothing is perfect and Everything has shortcomings , and so has iTerm , Which are

  1. Will take time to reach in Rural Areas as iTerm can only be bought Online , because of this the first layer of target audience are people who have access to Internet . Aegon Religare need to formulate a Strategy to Capture Rural market .
  2. As their is no agent involved in between there are many people who would not be able to keep track of yearly payments and they are more vulnerable to forget the payment unlike the scenario where agents made sure premium was paid on time , Not sure how far its an issue , tough not a big one .
  3. iTerm came out with this Policy without Much Advertisement and hence it would take some time for people to know about this .
  4. There are no Riders available with this Policy , which  may look little bad , but the primary objective of Cheap cover is provided , so I think its fine .
  5. Company is pretty new , so it will take time for the company to gain confidence , and given its pretty cheap premium , its subject of Crticism and Suspicion form general public .

Conclusion

iTerm is a innovative Term Insurance, Its a must have Product in everyone Portfolio because of its Value for money and amazing simplicity and importance as a Life Insurance Protection . Aegon Religare is showing some great leadership in Insurance Area and the only thing I am waiting for is its IPO 😉 .

Comments Please , Are you going to take iTerm Policy ? Do you need any more Insurance , Please share with us in comment and feel free to raise more doubts .

599 replies on this article “iTerm , Term Insurance Aegon Religare”

  1. Ashish Shrivastava says:

    Dear Sir,
    Thank you very much for all your hard work and reply on various post.

    I am 28/M working in Software industry as Team Lead and my CTC is 9.2 LPA. I am looking for term plan of 1 Cr and I am very confused on which company I should go for and how long should be term of policy. I am thinking on 2 things
    1) If I buy policy for next 35 year then I think Max life is the best option to go for (or please suggest me best company for 35 year of policy term).
    2) If I want to cover my self till 75 year of age then Aegon is the only option.

    My confusion/problem is that, I am keep on thinking if I take term plan for next 35 year and any where after 50 year If I feel I should have taken term plan with more tenure so at that time I’ll not be able to buy another plan and if possible premium would be much higher and If I take plan till 75 so I have a option to discontinue plan whenever I feel its not required , which is like in my control.

    Since Aegon CSR is not very good also hardly anyone suggested to go with Aegon so I am worried to go with Aegon.

    Could you please tell me wheather going with Aegon is not a bad choice ? I mean is Aegon is good company like HDFC / MAX ? and Can I think of taking term plan of 35 year of term from Aegon also ? Because every time when I ask any adviser for 35 year policy term they never suggested to go with Aegon , they always suggest to go with Max or HDFC.

    Please help

    Thanks
    Ashish

    1. Hi Ashish Shrivastava

      I can see that you are thinking of buying a term plan. ALl you need to do is leave your details at http://jagoinvestor.dev.diginnovators.site/solutions/buy-life-insurance-plan

      Our team will get in touch with you

      Manish

  2. Padmn says:

    Hi Manish,
    I had purchase HDFC Click to protect term policy last year . Currently I also want term policy with critical illness feature, but for this i need to purchase a new policy. So My question is Is it good to have this critical illness feature
    in term plan. If Yes then is that good to go with same HDFC or should i go for another company like aegon(reason for aegon is they have low premium rate)
    Please suggest. Thanks

    1. Its only you who can decide is its a good thing for you or not . Its your requirement. You can buy from HDFC itself , there is no harm. Infact we also have a tie up with HDFC for our readers ! . Let me know if you are intereted in that !

  3. Abdul says:

    Hi Manish,
    Needs some suggestions from you. Given today’s situation, which is the best company to take a 1Cr term insurance? Please guide as to which is the best choice.

    1. Hi Abdul

      You can go with HDFC term plan.

      ALso , we have special tie up with HDFC on term plans. Do let us know if you want us to connect you with them?

  4. lokesh says:

    aegon-religare is fake they offer me double my investment in 2 year and when i ask to agent to sign a 100 rs stamp paper at the time of receiving money from me he started excused. 🙂 becaue they are fraud

    1. Thanks for your comment lokesh

  5. Saket says:

    Hi Manish, Due to still view Aegon Religare as the best online term insurance provider or due you have any other suggestion. I am seriously thinking of buying a term plan this month.

    1. Hi Saket

      Not now . While there is no issue with Religare . I suggest you can look at Bharti Axa, HDFC and other companies

  6. Sasikumar says:

    Thanks Manish for this article. Really useful.

    Actually I was planning to take a term policy instead of Endowment plans. I did lot of research based on CSR, Solvency ratio and Premium amount. And i was about to take the SBI’s offline Policy. I got a quote of ~15K for 50L base insurance and 50L for Accidental disability. Also i was bit worried about of having “Multiple Lipoma – Beningn fatty swellings” in my body.

    After reading this article, specifically your’s and Sourav Shah’s comments i have decided to chose Aegon iTerm. Also i realized that we should not hide any informations about the Medical history and current health status.

    On 01-Apr-2015, I paid the premium of Rs.10882 for 75L base cover, 10L Critical illness and Waiver rider. Also declared that i have lipoma.

    On 04-Apr-2015, Medical test was done in my home.

    After one week, i got a mail to provide a Doctor Certificate for the Lipoma and current Health status. Provided the same after two days.

    Then waited for 15days..Finally i received a policy document on May 04 2015.

    Overall experience is good except some delay in the process. Anyhow it is acceptable.

    1. Great .. thanks for sharing that !

  7. Ravinder Sharma says:

    मेरा नाम Ravinder Sharma है और कुछ महीने पहले मैंने HDFC Bank के Customer Care मे Loan के लिए Apply किया था. जिसके 2 दिन बाद मेरे पास एक फ़ोन आया और कहा कि हम HDFC Bank के Loan Depratment से बोल रहे हे आपने HDFC Bank मे लोन के लिए Apply किया था. जब मेने कहा हा तो उसने कहा थोडी देर बाद हमरे Sir का Call आएगा वो आपको Loan का सारा process बता देंगे आप Please Recive कर लेना. फिर उसके कुछ समय बाद मुझे आकाश शर्मा (7053404901) का फ़ोन आया और कहा कि मै HDFC Bank के Loan Department से बोल रहा हु. आपने लोन के लिए Apply किया था. हम आप को लोन दिला सकते है लेंकिन आपको एक Life Insurance Policy करनी होगी जो कि 7 लाख कि है. उस पॉलिसी से जितना भी maturity amount आएगा जोकि लगभग 14 से 16 लाख का होगा वो बैंक का होगा ना कि आप का आपको सिर्फ़ 10 साल मे 7 लाख रुपये ही देने होंगे. अगर आप ये पॉलिसी लेंते है तो हम आप को इस पॉलिसी पर लोन दिला देंगे. अभी आप को 70 हजार रुपये देने होंगे इस पॉलिसी के लिए फिर आपको अगले 9 साल तक 70 हजार रुपये हर साल तक देने होंगे. अभी कुछ देर बाद आपके पास aegon religare life insurance company से एक फ़ोन आएगा. और जब आपके पास aegon religare का फ़ोन आए और पुंछे के आपको इस Policy ले लिए कोई Loan या bonus तो नही मिल रहा है तो मना कर देना वो company के agents का कॉल होता है और वो अपनी commission बनयेगे अगर आपने आपने उन्हे लोन के बारे मे बाता दिया तो आप को loan का पूरा 7 लाख नही मिल पायेगा
    फिर उन लोगो ने मुझे Aegon Religare कि Life Insurance Policy 141014227343 कराई. जिसके एक महीने बाद मुझे policy के document मिलें. फिर लगभग 5 दिनों बाद मुझे आकाश शर्मा (9582577756) का फ़ोन आया और कहा कि आपका Loan Approve हो गया है और 3 से 4 दोनों मे आपको लोन Amount मिल जयेगा. उससे पहले Loan Department से आप को एक Call आएगा. जो वो पुंछे आप बता देना. उसके बाद मेरे पास विकास यादव (7532032533) का फ़ोन आया और कहा Ravinder Sharma आपका लोन Approve हो गया है लेकिन लोन कि रकम demat account मे ही ट्रांसफर होगी उसेके लिए आपको एक demat account खुलबना पड़ेगा. जिस के लिए आप को 25 हजार रुपेये देने होंगे. जोकि HDFC Bank के Loan Department की मैनेजर ममता सिंह के Account number 00921050225510 में रुपये जमा कराने. 4 दिसम्बेर को मेने HDFC Bank Vishal Enclave Branch in Rajouri Garden से 25 हजार रुपये जमा करये. उसेके बाद जब मुझे लगभग 1 हफ्ते तक कोई Document Receive नही हुए तो मैंने आकाश शर्मा को फ़ोन किया तो मुझे आकाश ने कहा कि 7 लाख का लोन आपके demat account मे आ गया है. और आपको 2 या 3 दिन में Document Receive हो जयेगे. उसके कुछ देर बाद मुझे विकास यादव का फ़ोन आया और कहा कि आपको Life insurance की NOC बनबनी पड़ेगी तब ही हम आपको सारे Document भेज पाएंगे. हम आपकी NOC बनबा सकते है पर उसके लिए 10 हजार रुपये और लगेंगे जो कि आप को NOC Department के लोकचंद जी के बैंक Account में डालने होंगे. फिर मुझे लोकचंद (9555491677)का फ़ोन आया और उसने अपना state bank of patiala का Account नम्बर 55153034708 दिया और कहा की आप इस Account में 10 हजार रुपये जमा करादो 2 दिन में आप का Loan Amount ओर Demat Account के Document आपको मिल जयेगे लेकिने जब मैंने वो रुपये जमा नही करये तो उन लोगो मे मुझे कहा मुझे कहा कि आप अगर कल तक रुपये जमा नही कराओगे तो सारा process cancel हो जयेगा 2 दिन बाद उन लोगो में अपने सारे फ़ोन switch off कर लिए. तब से ही लगभग 45 दिनो से मै Agone Religare Customer care में compland करा रहा हूँ. पर कंपनी मेरी पॉलिसी रद्द नही कर रही है Please Help इस कंपनी के एजेंट लोगो को झूठ बोल कर पॉलिसी बेच रहे हे. और Agone Religare compnay उन Policy को रद्द नही कर रही है. Agone Religare company को सिर्फ़ अपनी policy बेचनी है चाहे Agent कुछ भी बोल कर बेचे ना सिर्फ़ इन लोगो ने मुझे ये प्लॉसी बेची बाल्कि 25 हज़ार रुपये और भी लिए है ओर ना जाने ओर कितने लोगो के साथ ये इस तरहा का धोखा कर रहे होंगे इस लिए इन लोगो को रोकना बहुत ज़रूरी है

  8. Ravinder Sharma says:

    company agents are fraud and they are selling AEGON Religare Life Insurance Company policy with fraud and use your document for any other uses. and company not take any responsibility of agent that how they sell there policy AEGON Religare Life Insurance Company want selling there policy only.

    1. Can you explain your case ?

  9. Giri says:

    I am a bit confused about couple of things in term insurance:

    The policy document of the i-term policy mentions “premium loading” under surrender benefit but no where else. Are there scenarios where premium loading can happen in term insurance as well like in health insurance plans?

    1. Health Insurance YES – it can happen and it happens .. the premiums is not fixed for lifetime .

      For Term plan – I doubt that it happens ! .. Where did you see that ?

      1. Giri says:

        The religare i-Term policy document has the following statement under the section :

        3.4 Surrender Benefit

        – Surrender value for single premium policy = 0.7 * single premium (excluding any extra premium loading and service tax) * outstanding policy term
        (rounded off to a lower integer) / policy term.

        1. That’s only for 1 time premium payment

  10. jayaprakash says:

    941 user reviews on mouthshut say 96% satisfaction, that’s pretty impressive. Have a look at it – http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/aegon-religare-life-insurance-reviews-925097180-srch

    1. Jayaprakash

      Mouthshut.com is ill famous for fake reviews !

  11. Vikram K P says:

    Hi Manish,

    Please share the link so that I can read your blog.
    Further, thank you so much for writing down and clarifying the queries of so many probable investors. Thank to technology as well through which you are able to provide such great service. Happy to know about you.

    I was looking for a Term Insurance and when searched in Google, I stumbled upon this website. Information has been given in granularity which makes lay man to understand it easily. Great knowledge drive and educating the folks.
    For the time being I am going ahead buying a term insurance from AR for 50 Lakhs.

    Regards,
    Vikram Premkumar

  12. Mohua says:

    My husband has a iTerm policy, and now my brother in law is also interested in getting one. However, he is apprehensive since he is a civil engineer and works at a large infrastructure work-site in remote Himachal. Will he be eligible to apply?

    1. This can only be confirmed by the company only.

  13. srikanth says:

    Hi Manish,

    I have taken Aegon religare policy 3 weeks ago. My experience is too worst. While filling the insurance details online I got few doubts and stopped continuing. The AR guys started calling me every 10 mins Is there any problem? You aren’t completed the payment etc. After paying the premium that is the end of the communication and the situation went worse. I got a mail from AR to choose a date for undergoing medical tests. I choosed one date and uploaded the address and ID related documents in their website. But I didn’t received any communication to under go medical tests so I sent an email regarding the same. One guy from AR called me introducing him as my relationship manager and told the medical will happen tomorrow morning. The medical guys called me and told that they can’t come on the scheduled day and told they will come on other day. I told ok and they came and collected the medical details. After that there is no communication. I sent an email requesting for the status of my policy after one week and there is no reply. After calling their customer and waiting in their phone line for 20 minutes it got connected and they told some apologies and told I will receive the soft copy by end of the day. I asked regarding the turn around time to the email response and they told that their turn around time is 3 days. I sent an email today for cancelling my policy as it’s still not yet issued. The problem I faced is there is no ticket mechanism I have to wait till they sent reply not sure whether they will reply to the email also. I have lost trust as once the payment is done they won’t bother about you they will concentrate on getting new customers for earning more amount. I hope when the family members go for the settlement of claim amount it will definitely going to turn out to be a nightmare. So I advise the people to take the policy who will provide better customer service and good claim settlement ratio.

    1. Thanks for sharing your experience with Aegon Religare Life Insurance. I must say this is a serious issue and customer care support is one of the critical thing ! . You can take your own decision from where onwards !

  14. vinay says:

    Hi,
    I have looked at the claim history from aegon website.
    there it is shown like 29 are claimed and 26 are approved. that ok to reject if they have valid reason.
    but there is one thing I was really shocked…they cleared the claim for suicide cases also. there were two cases like that and aegon gave money around 1 crore to those.
    and if i talked to costomer care, they are saying suicide is also valid death in their conditions from second year.
    I am really sure how much faithful answer that is?
    please comment.

    -vinay

    1. Yes Vinay

      In life insurance, suicide is covered after 1 yr !

  15. Pradeep says:

    Hi Manish,
    I am 29 years of age and not married. Planning to take the iterm insurance policy.
    ist better to take for 50 lakhs or 1 crore?

      1. Pradeep says:

        actually third party asking me to take 50 lakhs in aegon religare and 50 lakhs in Bharti axa, is this good idea?

  16. Sachin says:

    I was thinking about buying an online term insurance plan for sometime.
    Earlier i was apprehensive about it since all the insurance companies offering online term plan are private sector companies. The 2 major PSU companies LIC and SBI Life have still not come up with online term plan. While researching i found Indiafirst Insurance company suitable as it is backed by 2 strong PSU banks – Bank of Baroda and Andhra Bank.
    So that was it. I contacted the customer care and understood the plan. The Customer care executives were good and responsive and answered all queries i had.So i decided to buy term plan from Indiafirst.
    Regarding the product offering, i would say i am dissapointed not to have any riders in the plan.
    It is plain vanila insurance. Accidental Death benefit rider ,critical illness riders should have been there.
    But my first priority was to get “insured” from company i TRUST(I am very old customer of BoB with my home loan and health insurance with it).So natuaral choice.
    One more limitation of the product is the max sum assured is limited to 49L only which nowadays is very less amount in online term insurance space in my opinion.
    The cost is competative though a bit higher (10% maybe) but thats ok if you TRUST the insurer.
    Though my insurance proposal was rejected as my weight being very less than the norms,after very high negotiations and persuation they finally agreed to give insurance.
    I will recommend this product to everyone who are looking for online term insurance plans and are vary of private insurers.
    (Once they agreed to insure me i have applied to Aegon Religare iterm plan for 50L with ADB as it is cheap….).

    1. Sachin

      When you say they are backed by BOB and Andhara Bank , what does it mean ?

      1. Sachin says:

        Promoted…..

  17. Kunal says:

    Hi Manish,

    I am 26 years of age and not married. Is this policy still the best even in today’s market for me?

    1. Who will be financially impacted if you are not in world tomm ? If there is no one, then what will you do with the policy ?

  18. m.surya says:

    Below is relevant to all policies and to all potential clients.
    The money lost as Agent Commission is huge and the expense is borne by the clients. Everyone knows these facts, but still why do people fall into the trap?. The reason is the shameless pestering of the agents. Most often the agent will be a neighbor or a relative or a friend’s friend. These people just shamelessly pester you into taking an insurance irrespective of whether you earning or receiving a pension. Most of them have no financial literacy and will not be open to reasoning. Their only financial education will be the 3 day course provided with lunch by the insurance company. But they will talk as if they are financial advisors. They will not listen if you talk to them about the premium to benefit ratio. If you do not want to be rude to them and end up taking a policy, they would next insist on taking a policy for your wife, daughter and son. The worst part is most of them will quit their agency business after a period of time. But it is you who lost your money. The agents commission should be restricted to just 0.5%, not a paise more so that agents can behave like reasonable beings and not as greedy pigs. The people do not need this shameless breed pestering them to part with their hard earned money. Are you listening, Aegon Religare!?

    1. Thanks for sharing your views on this topic !

  19. Sitara says:

    Hi Manish,
    I m an insurance advisor of one company.Aegon term plan this is one of the best term plan if i copmare in all the plans,only the big issue is why Aegon Religare claim ratio is 52-66%…what is the reason behind this,if all the customers were wrong when the applied for the policy on something else

    1. the claim settlement is bad , because most of the people who applied did not disclose many things .

  20. Ashish says:

    Company provides a warning that premiums would increase as your age… so I guess this is a new condition and a wrong practice to lure customer initially

    1. But thats how it works .. If you delay taking your term plan, then premiums will increase. I am not getting why you feel its wrong ?

      1. Ashish says:

        I wasn’t sure about Premium increment with age. I always thought once premium is assigned it will be same throughout the policy period. Is there some cap or IRDA rule regarding increment or Company can increment as per their wish.

        1. Ashish

          I think there is confusion .. Once you take the term plan ,then the premium is FIXED for you .. each year you will have to pay that premium only . It will not increase or decrease ..

          I was talking about the SLAB rates for increased age .. means if you are age 30 , then premium is P , but if you do not take the term plan at 30 and wait for 5 more years , and want to take it when your age is 35 yrs, then the premium will be P+X , where X is the additional premium . once you take the plan at 35 , then your premium will be fixed at “P+X” for rest of the years !

          Manish

  21. Sriram says:

    Manish,
    This is the first article of yours I am reading. Surprised to see the fan following in comments section. Keep up the good job.
    I am 29 & staying in USA for now. Planning to take 3-5 Cr term insurance. I am looking at options here & in India. Thats when I came across iTerm. The annual rates, riders & coverage age (75) are hard to believe. I am almost tempted to take a policy but I see a lot of complaints and unsatisfied voices in web.
    What would be your honest opinion for someone like me to take iTerm. What are the alternates..

    Thanks.

    1. This is quite an old article . and now there are tons of other options to choose from like Aviva, HDFC , ICICI .. better go with them now if you feel they suit your requirement

  22. pruthvi says:

    Dear Manish ji

    I applied for online kotak e-preffred plan.
    I had raised cholestrol levels that time and was under medical treatment.
    I also declared the same during proposal.
    They asked me to undergo several medical tests .
    After that they told me that the proposal is potponed for 6 months.
    Medical test reports were fine. they disclosed all the reports to me .

    exactly i donot know the reason for postponement.
    i want to apply again . shall i go with kotak as they are aware about my history or go with some other company?

    can you tell me why they have postponed the proposal not rejected at that time?

    1. Mostly they are avoiding your proposal . I would say go with Aviva !

  23. Vinay says:

    Hi Manish,
    Thanks for sharing valueable information on term insurance. I have Doubt on aegon releigare i-term policy. I am planning to buy policy online n calculated the premium with Addon-on coverage like Personnel accident and critical illness cover. I am going for SA of 1crore where they say that accidental coverage is 54 lakhs. Is it inclusive of SA? If yes then the life coverage for a person is 1crore-54 Lakhs=46Lakhs. If person die due to Cardiac attack within the term selected then does his family gets 46 lakhs or 1crore? If person dies due to accident within the term selected then does his family gets 1crore+54 lakhs=1.54crore or 1crore only? Please clarify. Waiting for your reply.

    1. No it should be seperate !

  24. Ganesh Rao says:

    Hi , After analysing lot of Term insurance products , i finally decided to buy Aegon Religare due to low cost and better features.
    I would like to share the experience throught the purchase of the plan. I will rate them very good.
    The sales executive was kind enough to answer all my questions and guide me to purchase the product. Medical was done within 2 days and i received my policy within 7 days .
    Even though i am a smoker . they didnt try to raise the premium as i read in this blog, told by many clients . Medical report was attached in the policy document too.
    Over all i am happy and would recommend this product

    1. Good to hear that Ganesh . Are you regular smoker ? Did you provide this information that you are smoker before you got the quote ? If yes, then the premium told to you already factors in that you are smoker . Good for you overall!

      1. Ganesh Rao says:

        Yes Manish,

        i have given the info as smoker to aegon religare team while providing the insurance.

        Thanks for your valuable time

  25. Sandeep says:

    Hello Manish,

    I would like to share my experience with Aegon before buying iTerm plan.
    Before buying, I have e-mailed some queries/concerns to them which were answered (after 1 week, by giving 1 reminder) except below 1 query.

    See the response, I received 3 times but still question is not answered. 🙂

    Question:
    If the death is NOT due to (existing) disease which was not mentioned in policy (may be forgot/missed to mentioned even after purchasing policy). Will it impact on the claim?

    Answer from Aegon first time:
    In order to ensure that the claim does not get rejected, one needs to ensure, at the time of buying the policy, to provide with correct, accurate and complete responses, disclose all material facts to the Company and ensure that all the documents, check for accuracy and completeness of the following details in the proposal form:

    Name, age and contact details
    Nominee details
    Income details
    Insurance details
    Medical history
    If there is any incomplete or inaccurate information in the document, contact us immediately.

    Answer from Aegon second time (when I replied answer is not clear):
    Sir I am very sure when you will fill up the form you will find that the name of diseases for which we have asked questions are such that you will definitely know about it.

    Answer from Aegon third time (when I replied: I will check while filing the form. But, this is not the answer of my question. reply according to question)
    For any information missed or forgotten should be brought the notice of the company. Moreover before making payment we will have to double check the proposal form. Each section will ask you to double check the section before moving ahead. I think more clarity will come once we fill up the form. Please let me know when should I call you back.

    Now, I replied to Aegon: Then can call me anytime once this question is answered 🙂

    Still awaiting for the reply from Aegon since 2 days…

    Regards
    Sandeep

    1. The answer is yes, the claim will still be rejected . Its because you were dishonest at the time of filling up the form, you cant say that the death happened due to something which was not mentioned , so what . It does not work that way !

      Manish

      1. Sandeep says:

        Thanks Manish for the clarification. !
        I dont know why Aegon executives are not giving answer staight away…

        1. Its there bread and butter 🙂 , thats why !

  26. sumit says:

    Hi manish,
    1.so if someone has individual term plan and employer is also providing group life insurance, then in case of death, family will be entitled to get money from both?

    2.Please give some idea about good and economic health plan cover.

    For health insurance, if person is having health cover from employer also, then he will get the reimbursement from either personal insurance or from employer provided insurance. And looking upon the premium information, healt plan seems too expensive for the family ( and most if you want to cover parents as well). there are so many restrictions about pre-existing illness cover.

    So, what should be the main points needs to be considered about health plan and regarding sum assured?
    Thanks

    1. Chander says:

      Hi Sumit

      Family health insurance for smaller sum assured is not that costly. I recently got a policy online from this new site that i came across after reasding some story of theirs online called Zibika.com (http://www.zibika.com). I found a lot of interesting options. I finally got a Iffco Tokio base plan for 2 lacs for myself and my wife for some 2600 odd rupees. It took me barely 3-4 mins to get the policy from here. But i did not have any medical history so I dont know how it works for other situations.
      What I like best about this zibika site was that i was able to see a lot of products and they have good information about every policy. I also did not have to give any contact information and they did not call me to sell insurance… i was frankly showcked at these fellows as they seem to be spending money advertising on internet, i saw some ad on facebook as well. Medimanage site I just saw and it is also nice, but information in zibika seems better presented.
      thanks

  27. sumit says:

    Hi,
    I am 37 year with diabtese,fatty liver condition. I have applied the aviva online policy for 50 lac for 35 years, but they are offering it on 125% extra premium ( so standard premium of 6200 is increased to 14000). This is for basic life insurance without any rider.

    i have given all the medical history and also mentioned about previous online proposal declined by one company. here is some query:

    1. Is it worth to pay this premium for this sum assured?
    2. should I request to decrease the SA and apply for remaining cover to other company?
    3. is it necessary to mention about the life cover and accidental cover provided by current employer as a group policy? I am an engg in a private MNC company.
    I think i have missed to inform this bit while applying.

    Please answer.

    Thanks

    1. Sumit

      1. Yes , the premiums are fair given your medical condition, dont you agree on that ? Also if you dont take it from them, anyways you will face the same situation with any other company , and might not get it . I would suggest better accept the truth and pay 14,000 . If things are ugly, you need to face it .

      2. No , this will not work . If you apply to any other company, there will be a question like were you disallowed the cover or your premiums were increased when you applied , you will have to tell them truth there .

      3. NO , you only need to mention about those policies which are taken purely by you .

      Manish

  28. Dharmesh says:

    Manishbhai

    1. Is it advisable to take 25 lacs +25 lacs term plan from two company ?
    2. What are most common points need to be declare at the time of online term plan taken?
    3. Is it advisable to declare continue andowment policy detail ?
    4. Rider available during period of Term from any company ?

    Thanks in advance

    Dharmesh

    1. Dharmesh

      1. NO , better take 50 lacs only
      2. Just make sure you disclose all the medical + income related information
      3. Yes
      4. No , its generally not in online term plans

      1. Dharmesh says:

        first thanks for your advise

        Please explain me for approch one company for 50 lacs not divert in two company ?

        Thanks

        Dharmesh

        1. Not sure what you are asking ?

  29. Nitika says:

    Hi Manish,

    Thanks a lot for your article and allying fears of taking insurance from a private player. I am a 37 year old female with a 20 lakh term cover from Kotak for which i pay a premium of 6200 including service tax. I took this about 8 years ago when 20 lakhs looked like a huge sum. I am now interested to increase my cover to at least 1 crore. I want to know the following
    1. Is there a limit to the amount of insurance one can take based on current income ? I had a well paying job earlier but have started my own consulting and recent income is lower. Should i take say 20x of current income now and take more policies later or is it ok to go upto 30 x of last filed iTR/
    2. Is there any loss die to surrender of an old term policy ? I am planning to discontinue the current kotak policy as the premium is too high for the cover compared to their own online policy. If i take another kotak policy will it be considered a new policy or continuation policy? Is there any financial implication ?
    3. I was thinking of taking a 50 lakh policy from aegon religare and another 50 from LIC, HDFC or Kotak itself . Is this good or would you recommend anything else?

    Thanks a lot in advance and look forward to hearing from you. I have stumbled upon Medimanage thru your site and would thank you for them. Is there anyone like them in life insurance business also ?

    Kind regards

    Nitika

  30. Prashant Jadhav says:

    Hi Manish,

    First of all i am die hard reader of your blog. Thank you for such informative article. Now a days, i am stepping in to financial planning thru your blogs and book.

    As far as AR’s term plan is concerned when i called them for buying the policy. I have been told that if you have less than 3 lacs of package then you will not able to buy the Term plan . Just want to have clear idea on it.

    Regards,
    Prashant

    1. It might be true .. they might have a salary requirement like that

  31. Rajan says:

    Dear Sir,,,,
    my age 30 years
    i want to buy online Term Plan…. my anual income 3 Lack…. i have 25 Lack Sum assured From BirlaSunlife Dream Plan.+ Kotak online Term plan- 44 Lack so my total Sum assured 69 Lack (kotak term plan premium high and term only for 30 years to think for iterm)… what maximum Sum assured i take? Shold i cancel my kotak term plan policy and but iTerm?
    is there any online term plan with Critical illness rider?…. please help me …

    1. Yes you should cancel your plan and better take a good term plan

      1. Rajan says:

        Thanks Manishbhai….. Which policy Should i Buy? Whats Maximum Sub Assured? me also Want to cover Critical Illness .. which plan is best?

        1. What is your requirement ? Coverage or Investments ?

  32. Dominic says:

    I took two iTerm policies (50L each for self, age 43 and wife, age 40) from AR recently. I have two set of other Term policies from two other private companies which were bought through agents.

    This is my first online Term policy purchase. I live in Chennai and I entered all the details on their site and paid on the 14th June (Fri). Same day I uploaded the necessary documents. I received confirmation and PDF of the proposal by email.
    15th we received a call directly from a local Lab for fixing appointment for medical and TMT test.
    16th Morning (07:00am) Doctor and Lab technician were at my house and collected Blood and Urine samples. Same day we both went for TMT test in their local lab.
    21st received the policy documents (both email and by courier). This policy document includes our medical test results too.

    I am extremely satisfied with the processing speed of AR.
    Regards
    Dominic

    1. Thanks for sharing your experience !

  33. Sandeep Jan says:

    Hi All,

    I have completed all formalities and received my policy document 2 days back. Everything was so smooth and I am really happy with their support..

    1. Nice .. good to hear that !

  34. Sandeep Jan says:

    Hi,

    So I have finally bought (almost) the iterm plan. I registered in their website and got a call the very next day where the representative explained everything very clearly. The plan is indeed available till 75years of age. ie I can have a term of 49yrs as now Iam 26.

    I got proper responses for the emails I have send so far and have just completed the medical tests. As I am in a metro(Chennai) the tests happened in a jiffy where the doctor and assistant came to my home and took all the necessary tests. The best part is that you dont need to send any docs offline. You can upload them all in their website. So now I am awaiting my medical test results and the plan should be there with me in 10days.

    I am extremely happy with their customer support.. Hope this helps others as well..

  35. Tarun says:

    This blog is very informative, thanks to all for adding the value to it. After much reasearch I observed that any insurance company is bound to give your claim if you have given all the details correctly. Many times while purchasing term plans, people tend to hide trivial things ….often thinking how will that matter to the insurer, however this does matter… as any insurance company needs a reason for rejection , however trivial it may be. The logic is two fold, business model and hiding any small details gives a sense of fraud which needs investigation.I am planning to go with aegon which has coverage till 75 years(no other insurer has that) and reasonably lower premiums. I will not recommend low cover of let us say 25 lacs with LIC or HDFC life over high cover( with all accurate and correct details!) with aegon, axa or idbi federal.This is again my personal view, there is no doubt that a pure term is a must and there shud not be any debate on that 🙂

    1. Yea Tarun

      I agree with all your points 🙂

  36. Sandeep Jan says:

    Hi Manish,

    I am able to see that AR policy term is having an option of ‘Upto Age 75(maximum)’. I am now 26yrs old. So does this mean that I can have this term for 49yrs more.

    The other companies are all offering term of mostly 30yrs and hence this seems very different.

    Whats your view on the same ?

    1. Sandeep

      Yes .. AR has option of having term plan upto 75 yrs ,but then it might have option of maximum tenure like say 40 yrs ! .. so only a 35 yrs old person can take it till 75 yrs .. Check out this

      1. Sandeep says:

        Manish,

        Thanks for the response. Thats interesting actually. I couldnt find any info reg max tenure in the website. I will try giving them a call..

        1. sandeep says:

          Actually i have taken this policy from AR .My age is 31 and i have opted for 75 lacs till the age of 75 years. I had enquired with the customer care people regarding the same before purchasing , and i got the policy documents that mention policy tenure as 45 years i.e till i attain the age of 75 . So its really wonderful

          1. Good to hear that 🙂

  37. Gaurav Sakhardande says:

    Hi Manish,

    I had attended you personal finance workshop at Hotel Coronet, Pune.

    I am keen to know the current review for the iTerm plan. I have read most of the things on Ar website as well as many other sites but I am still confused.

    Please help.

    Regards,
    Gaurav

  38. JoeKidd says:

    The above article is very good and I am sharing it with others.
    I especially like the links to articles like:
    “Why people dont like Term Insurance and why they are wrong”
    and
    “Are private Insurance companies safe?”

    I would request you to update the article to capture the changes in the AegonReligare iTerm policy. They have now added the option for 2 riders, which make it even more appealing.
    a) Accidental Death Benefit rider
    b) Waiver of Premium rider on critical illness (They will pay up 25% of sum assured in this condition and the premiums will be stopped. The remainder amount of the sum assured will be in force till the policy tenure and that too without any more premiums)

    1. thanks for suggesting that . Will update that soon

  39. Sourav Shah says:

    Dear Ajay/Muthu,

    Firstly sincere apologies for the delayed response.
    Yes, you both are absolutely correct. The data present on the buy online portal is with respect to online policies. Claims are rejected by any insurance company in a situation wherein the applicant died due to a pre-existing disease that he did not declare while purchasing the policy or wherein the terms & condition explicitly state so . For eg: suicide within 1st year of policy is not covered as a standard t&c. With regards to our claims ratio, all these cases were sourced offline where the forms may or may not have been filled by the customers themselves and as such the declarations of pre-existing diseases were not disclosed correctly. The agents or the customer filling up the form may have failed to disclose the facts with regards to any pre-existing disease. To give you an example, there were claims received for cases wherein the customer was suffering from a kidney problem and was under treatment before applying for the policy but the same was not disclosed and he died within 1 year due of applying for the policy. Such a claim will be rejected by any insurance company on grounds on non-disclosure of pre-existing diseases. But for online policies customers fill up the form themselves and as such there is no room for ambiguity and thus, the better claims experience.

    As a company AEGON Religare’s vision has always been to serve the customers in the best possible way, the result of which was India’s first online tern plan so that we could reach customers directly and provide high protection at affordable prices. Hope I have been able to clarify your doubts.
    Please write to me for any further concerns.

    Disclaimer: These views are my own and are not binding upon the company.
    Regards,
    Sourav.shah@aegonreligare.com

    1. Muthu Krishnan V says:

      hi sourav,
      your answer is helpful though its unofficial :). hopefully, AR has initiated action on/sensitized those offline sources such that future incidents are minimized.

      Thanks,
      Muthu.

    2. Muthu Krishnan V says:

      Got an official reply from AR. I had set an e-mail:

      “I fully respect your sentiment and concern and I would like to highlight the fact that AEGON Religare is a responsible life insurance company committed to paying out all genuine claims. The percentage must be read in the context of the fact that as a new company, the number of claims per se, that have been received by our company are few in number which is why the %age number for claim repudiation seems very high. A majority of the claims that have been repudiated by us have been on account of deliberate fraud, purposeful withholding of material information. I would also like to point out that none of our claims decisions have been overturned by any appellate body such as the insurance ombudsman.

      Do rest assured that we are here to service all the needs of our customers, including claims.”

  40. Sourav Shah says:

    Dear Manish,

    We at AEGON Religare belief that customers who have shown faith in us deserve the best from us and as such whenever we launch a new plan we will ensure that our existing customers from the old plan get the benefits of the same and do not lose out. It is more out of our need to serve customers and create a benchmark in online sales.

    Regards,
    Sr. Manager (AEGON Religare)
    Sourav.shah@aegonreligare.com

    1. Muthu Krishnan V says:

      hi sourav,
      There is one aspect puzzling with AR still. The IRDA (regulator) claim ratio is 50 odd % where as you say that only 1 out of 5 claims so far have been rejected. Can you explain the discrepancy? Manish had posted the same query above but it is unanswered. The clarification will soothen nerves to a large extent.

      Manish Chauhan January 23, 2012 at 4:52 pm

      Sourav

      As per IRDA report the numbers are different , can you explain how its different than what you are quoting ?

      Manish

      Thanks,
      Muthu

      1. Ajay says:

        Muthu – I think the website is showing only online policy data and IRDA may have all other types of policies as well. Just my thought.

        1. Muthu Krishnan V says:

          even i think so. I would like a reply from AR on this.

        2. Ajay

          The data on IRDA is the combined data for all kind of policies , which is a big issue . One does not get clarity on one type of policies !

  41. Muthu Krishnan V says:

    I had taken AR iterm couple of years back. today i received an email saying my sum assured is increased by 25% of original to keep it at part with the new iterm rates. This is a good experience from AR

    1. Thats great ! …. I have not seen any company doing this . I am sure this is done so that the old customers dont dump their old policies , to buy a new one ! ..

      1. Puneet says:

        This is true. Apart from increasing the Sum Assured, they have also added Critical illness riders for free.

  42. Amit Maheshwari says:

    Hi Manish,

    What is your review of the updated iTerm plan? I see following limitations
    1> CI is namesake as it covers only 4 diseases
    2> AD rider covers only death and not partial disability

    Amit

    1. Amit

      the premium for new iterm is really low compared to the old iterm, so it scores well there.. riders are added and they are basic , but the cost goes up proportionately .. Note that riders complicated the pricing a lot .

  43. Sourav Shah says:

    Dear Gaurav,

    AEGON Religare is a joint venture between AEGON, an international life insurance, pension and investment company and Religare, a global financial services group and Bennett, Coleman & company, India’s largest media house who have come together to launch AEGON Religare Life Insurance Company Limited (ARLI). As an international life insurance, pension and investment company, AEGON has businesses in over twenty markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia. With headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands, AEGON companies employ approximately 28,000 people and serve some 40 million customers across the globe. The company’s common shares are listed on three stock exchanges: Amsterdam, New York and London. AEGON has more than 160 years of experience with its roots going back to 1844.Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) is a global financial services group with a presence across Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe and the Americas. In India, Religare’s largest market, the group offers a wide array of products and services ranging from insurance, asset management, broking and lending solutions to investment banking and wealth management. The group has also pioneered the concept of investments in alternative asset classes such as arts and films. With over 10,000 employees across multiple geographies, Religare serves over a million clients, including corporates and institutions, high net worth families and individuals, and retail investors. REL hold 44% equity in ARLI.

    So please be rest assured that you would be investing in a company that has very deep roots and a long relationship with customers across the globe and in India.

    Regards,
    Sourav.shah@aegonreligare.com
    Senior Manager (eSales)

  44. Gaurav says:

    Aegon Religare Company, How much we can trust on it?
    Dont we have to know about company Profile while taking a policy?

  45. Rakesh says:

    Hi Manish,

    Earlier AR’s i-Term was up to 65yrs and max. term of 25 yrs. as mentioned at the top.
    But now I noticed that this plan is updated with following features:

    1) Coverage up to 75 yrs.
    2) Policy term up to 40 yrs.
    3) Covers death even due to Terrorist attacks.
    4) Plus there are few other additional benefits.

    None of these are there with Aviva i-Life.

    When I compared the premium (for 25 L, 30yrs term), Aegon Religare i-Term is about 10% cheaper than Aviva i-Life.

    Not sure if customer service still as bad as discussed above.

    So would you still suggest going with Aviva i-Life…?
    Or maybe one can consider taking half of the coverage from Aegon Religare considering the new features.

    Thanks
    Rakesh

    1. Rakesh

      iTerm claim settlement ratio is still not that high as other companies . So even if the premium is less, you might want to look at those other numbers

      Manish

      1. Sourav Shah says:

        Dear Manish,

        This is not true for iTerm. iTerm is an online plan and we have over 19,500+ happy customers. We have received only 5 claims so far out of which 4 very honoured within 30 days. Only 1 claim was rejected because the Life assured (The customer who applied for iTerm) was suffering from Diabetes, kidney disease, Asthma, prior to the application for iTerm and these facts were not disclosed on the form. If the applicant has disclosed this correctly at the time of taking the policy then these factors would have been considered while deciding upon the premium and even this claim would not have been rejected.

        Regards,
        Sourav Shah (Sr. manager – eSales)
        AEGON Religare Life Insurance

        1. Sourav

          As per IRDA report the numbers are different , can you explain how its different than what you are quoting ?

          Manish

          1. vinay says:

            Hi Saurav,

            Waiting for your reply????

            Thx.

        2. Srinivas says:

          Dear Sourav,
          I am planning to buy the policy and was scouting around for the review. I am not sure how you can say that 1 claim has been rejected since he has diabetes and it was not reported. But you had medical reports which could easily have identified that he is diabetic. I am not sure, if i am missing any dots here. Also I heard that after two years of the policy term, the claim cannot be rejected even if the client has hidden his health condition.Please clarify.

          Regards,

          Srinivas

          1. Srinivas

            This case was mostly like this , there was no medicals done – which is a case with low sum assured generally , the guy must be having diabetis at the time of taking the policy and must be under medication also (which was proved at the time of claim that he knew this and didnt disclose) . The 2 yr clause you are talking about is not applicable for MATERIAL INFORMATION (which can result in change of premiums), its just for small things like name error , address etc etc.

            Manish

            1. Pras says:

              I am about to take AR – iTerm & enquired the same that how customers can hide if Medical Test has been taken, the reply is, Medical test will be taken based on customer Inputs. I expect, if they has done full Test, customers can’t give false data & claim settlement will also be good. What you think?

            2. Yes, thats correct

    2. Sourav Shah says:

      Dear Rakesh,

      We have over 19,600 for iTerm which is our online term plan. AEGON Religare was the first company to launch the online term plan in India. As such we have teh most experience is handling customers on this platform. We surely did have initial issues when we started but I can promise you that we make every effort in our stride to ensure a great customer experience. You may also write to me for any further concerns that you may have,

      Regards,
      Sourav.shah@aegonreligare.com (Senior Manager -eSales)
      AEGON Religare

  46. Nishanth says:

    Though many people have experienced bad customer servive from AR, my experience is totally different. I tried Icici and Kotak for their online term insurance in Thrissur in Kerala but Icici rejected my application many times citing no reasons and Kotak says they dont give online insurance at Thrissur. Registered at AR, and got a call within an hour from their staff asking for any support requirred.:) . But Iam confused that should I go for any “term plan with DA rider” now as iam the only bread winner for the family and total coverage required is around 1.3C and and iam already covered by term plans for 80L. Any suggestions?

    1. Ashal Jauhari says:

      Dear Nishanth, you may consolidate your term cover with AR. First purchase 1C or more cover from AR & then surrender the old ones. For ADDBR it’s advisable to have a standalone personal accident plan from gen. insurers.

      By the way as on date Aviva is offering the cheapest online term cover I-life, you may check the same for you.

      Thanks

      Ashal

    2. Nishanth

      Good to hear that .. companies decide their own cities where they want to give the plans and if you are getting it from AR , then wwell and good 🙂

      Manish

  47. Nishanth says:

    Though many people have experienced bad customer servive from AR, my experience is totally different. I tried Icici and Kotak for their online term insurance in Thrissur in Kerala but Icici rejected my application many times citing no reasons and Kotak says they dont give online insurance at Thrissur. Registered at AR, and got a call within an hour from their staff asking for any support requirred.:) . But Iam confused to go for any “term plan with DA rider” as iam the only bread winner for the family and total coverage required is around 1.3C and and iam already covered by term plans for 80L. Any suggestions?

  48. sunny says:

    I read in a website that “As per the iTerm policy conditions, at the time of making a claim, in addition to a death certificate claimant is also required to provide ‘Certificate of Doctor/Medical Officer certifying the cause of death’. It seems to be a ridiculous condition and I suspect the intention is only to raise spurious objections to delay the settlement of claim or reject it out rightly. So Beware!!!” Plz let me know if anybody has any insight/knowledge regarding this clause. Thanks.

    1. Sunny

      I think its required by all the insurance companies .. Its just to make sure that the chances of fraud is less

      Manish

  49. Jona Rotch says:

    Pretty neat submit. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say which I have genuinely appreciated studying your blog posts. Anyway I’ll be subscribing to your weblog and I hope you submit once more quickly!

  50. Alagesan says:

    Dear Manish,
    I have a plan to take AR’s iTerm plan, but the guy from AR told me that this plan has cover even for suicidal death and planned murder. How is it possible that we can make claim even for such cases. I really doubt about it. Please explain in this case.

    1. Alagesan

      those options are covered after 1 yr . Its included because its almost impossible for someone to plan his suicide in advance 1 yr . If one can really plan to suicide after 1 yr , these plans give that liberty !

      Try it !

      Manish

      1. Alagesan says:

        “Try it!” ?? try the suicide after taking the plan.. haha thats funny. anyway thanks for your reply. i am clear now.

  51. Sumita says:

    I am 45 single women( non tobacco user) . I am looking for term life with disability rider as disability insurance is more important for me as I am single. Unfortunately Iterm,Ilife and metprotect do not offer riders..

    Could you please advice which term plans include disability riders? would appreciate it..

    Thanks

    1. Sumita

      Kotak Preffered and Iterm (offline) gives disability riders , for more info , see this : http://jagoinvestor.dev.diginnovators.site/2010/12/term-insurance-plans-comparisions-india.html

    1. Rajendra

      Read that 🙂 . good one

  52. Shailesh says:

    Hey Thanks Manish for a prompt reply…
    Hope thats one of very few exceptions not covered.
    Just a request can we also get Saurav to reply on the 2nd part :).

    Another question i had was… I was thinking off taking a Term Plan for my wife as well… You think its a good idea to take Term Insurance Plan from the same company or different. If different, which other options you think are good – Kotak or Birla. LIC or SBI Life, I am not sure as the premium is pretty high.

    Should mention, its a great site, covering incredibly wide range of questions.. Somewhere I read that, Its always good to buy additional riders separately such as National Insurance? instead of clubbing with Term Plan?

    Thanks again 🙂
    Shailesh

    1. Shailesh

      You can get the life insurance for your wife from same company , no issues in that, but another company would be ok , i go with kotak or LIC

      Clubbing riders with term plan makes sure you get a cheaper deal , as management and advertisement charges are already done

      Manish

  53. Shailesh says:

    Hi Manish and Saurav,

    Yes, comparing to the other policies, AR’s ITerm plan looks tempting.
    I am considering a cover of 50 Lac for 25 years. I am 30 year old Make (Not Smoking, Regular to the Gym) However, I had following queries-
    1. AR representative (or he could be from policybazaar) says AR ITerm plan covers ‘Any Type of Death’ as the intention is to cover death over the prescribed tenure. So want to know any MAJOR exceptions to this “Any type of death” which are not covered.

    2. Current premium is around 6200/-. My father had gone through a Bypass (at his age of 58), would this have an impact on my premium amount? If yes, by how much approximately (assuming my own medical tests go fine).

    Looking forward to a reply.

    Regards and Thanks,
    Shailesh

    1. Shailesh

      1. It will not cover the death by WAR , like pakistan putting a nuclear bomb in your city and you die 🙂

      2. I dont see why it should affect your premium , but if its asked in the forum , mention it . It might have some impact in worst case .

      Manish

  54. Sunny says:

    I was looking for ITerm plan and I came to conclusion that its better to stick to ICICI rather than going for AR. Every where I have looked I have find complaint about their(AR) customer support and second its a joint venture of Aegon(a US insurance organisation) and Religare( a growing company). Its better not to trust the US Insurance giants as we have already seen what has happened to AIG. So if anything happens to Aegon then Religare might not able to support it customers. So its much better to stick to Indian giants like ICICI atleast by giving few thousands more, you are atleast sure that you (or your relatives) will get response in case of anything because even after 1 year if AR haven’t improved their customer service then I think they are not in mood of doing anything.

    Sunny

    1. Sunny

      Each and every company except LIC and Reliance are some kind of joint venture between US and Indian company , Even ICICI has parterned with Prudential , Prudential is a UK based Insurance company

      Manish

      1. Ashal Jauhari says:

        Dear Manish, There is a small correction in your reply –

        Icici Prudential – Prudential is a UK based co. But interestingly

        DLF’s partner in Life Insurance is also named Prudential but it’s US based.

        Hence to distinguish between the 2 partners of same name, DLF’s name is DLF Pramerica (Prudential of America).

        Yes I do agree that most of the JVs in Life Insurance are with US Cos.

        Thanks

        Ashal

        1. Ashal

          Ahh .. thanks for the correction 🙂

          Manish

  55. Puneet says:

    iTerm is the best plan available..no doubts about this.

    But there’s one more very important aspect you should be looking at before buying any term plan. “CUSTOMER SERVICE”

    In this aspect, Aegon Religare sucks big time.
    There is no ETA in their processes.

    I have been trying to contact their call center since last 4 days, no luck with being able to talk to some real person yet.
    Even my mails to customer support have gone un-answered.

    And there is no escalation matrix on their website anywhere. So customers really dont know whom to contact if they are not responded by customer support.

    I had applied for the plan online on 30-Dec-2010, with all the document formalities complete. Still no updates on my my policy. (Wish me luck)

    Now, I’m wondering if this is the state of customer support, how would the company respond/behave just in case my dependents get to make the claims if at all in future.

    So guys, be very very careful. Make sure what you are getting into. Don’t get tempted!

    1. Puneet

      Yes , a lot of people have experienced the same kind of bad service from AR .

      Manish

      1. Sourav Shah says:

        Dear Manish,

        While I have replied to Puneet and am awaiting his mail, I agree that the customers have had some bad experiences but these were in the initial stages where we did not anticipate the kind of response we did get for iTerm. But we have revved up our manpower and I am surprised that Puneet faced this issue. There are plenty of customers Manish, who write in to us on daily basis expressing their heartiest satisfaction with the service provided. Mentioned herein is the link of feedbacks from these customers, https://buyonline.aegonreligare.com/testimonials.asp

        Manish we are contantly trying to reinvent the customer service wheel and ensure best in class service to our customers. Awaiting Puneet’s mail.

        Regards,
        Sourav Shah
        Sr. Manager (e sales) Aegon Religare

    2. Sourav Shah says:

      Dear Puneet,

      Sinecerely apologise for the inconvenience caused and I can totally relate to your greivance. We are all customers of some product and I can totally relate to your concern. Puneet can I please request you to mail me your mobile number or at least provide me your e-Quote number? I shall resolve this in 2 hours and close whatever issues you are facing. I regert that you were trying to reach us but couldn’t. Mentioned below again is our in-bound number dedicated to iTerm where you will be answered by another perosn and not an automated IVR.
      020-66867910. You may also reach me directly on the number herein 022-65990396
      Looking forward to your mail/call so that we can sort this quickly.
      sourav.shah@aegonreligare.com
      Senior Manager (e Sales)

      1. Sourav

        I have mailed you along with cc to Puneet , you can directly talk to him

        Thanks for your concern , Being a blogger and some experience ,I can understand your commitment and your justification , but from customer side, I would like to say , even one bad experience counts , because it can spread ! . People read others experience and then take a decision based on that .. I wish AR to do their best

        I will mark you a mail incase some one has any personal issues with AR

        Manish

  56. Nipun lakhotia says:

    Hi Manish,

    I want to take term insurance online. I am confused between ICICI, Religare and kotak. All 3 have almost same premium for 25 years term.

    Please suggest which one to go for

    Thanks in advance

    Regards
    Nipun lakhotia

    1. Nipun

      I would suggest go for Kotak or ICICI . If still you are confused , split into them

      Manish

      1. sanjeev says:

        Manish,

        First of thanks for sharing the knowledge and educating very good facts about term insurance plans.

        Can you suggest some comparison articles between Kotak and AR, what are the reasons for promoting Kotak than AR.

        1. Sanjeev

          Better riders , cheaper rates , better claim settlement ration .. A better Indianness in the company and a little older

          Manish

          1. sanjeev says:

            Thanks for the quick reply, Manish.

            I didnt find any information related to riders for eTerm/e-Preferred term policies in the website.

            I am looking for a low cost Term insurance which also covers accidental disabilty or natural health-disablement .

            Do any of AR/Kotak/ICICI covers this as a form of rider or do i need to purchase this separately.
            Thanks in advance.

            1. sanjeev says:

              correction, I reffered to Kotak eTerm/ePreferred policy above.

  57. vinay says:

    Hi Manish,

    I read your article and visited myinsuranceclub.com,I saw that ICICI Prudencial’s iProtect is also cheap.Kindly review this term policy also.
    Guide me which one I should purchase.I am 28 year old,looking Rs.3000000 cover.
    Regards

  58. praveen says:

    is this Aegon policy cover all type of deaths???
    Accidental….etc

    1. Praveen

      Yes it does

      manish

    2. Sourav Shah says:

      Dear Praveen,

      iTerm not only covers ALL froms of death but it also covers terrorist attacks too. So it is a comprehensive Protection plan that you can opt for.
      To apply you can log on to http://www.aegonreligare.com

      Regards,

      Sourav Shah

  59. AJ says:

    Thank you very much for this article. Not only did I understand that term insurance can be a lot cheaper than what I was paying and secondly, I needed more cover than I currently have.

    I am 34 years old and would like to take 1 cr Term insurance coverage. I currently plan to go for Aegon Religare iTerm for 50L and take SBI Term plan 50L (just to mix and redundancy). Since I am taking both the plans without additional riders, I need to take other insurance avenues to cover:
    1. Accidental Death (maybe iProtect from icicipru)
    2. Permanent Disability
    3. Critical Illness

    Can you suggest me a good plan which can give me cover for the above 3 and in addition, if possible, as a medical insurance plan?

    1. AJ

      Kotak Life – Term Plan , Birla , HDFC are some of your choices if you want all of these .

      Note that accidental death rider gives you “EXTRA” money in case you die from death , If you dont take accidental death rider , even then you will get the money

      Manish

  60. Jeebu says:

    Hello Manish

    I am really enriched by this article and read all the comments by all the readers and have learnt a lot.

    1) If pvt insurance companies decline settlement, can we ask then for the reason for declining using Right to Information act and later sue them if the reason is absurd?

    1. Jeebu
      You can definately ask them the reason , but problem starts from that point, if you dont get satisfied answer then you get into the messy situation of running around complaining to IRDA and ombudsman 🙁

      Manish

  61. Desai Bhavesh says:

    My experience with iterm-
    Dear Manish,
    I brought iterm in the month of March 2010. Buying experience was very good. They prompt reply to email. Medical test was arranged at my home in Mumbai. And documents was delivered on time.
    BUT- during this I time i notice on IRDA web site in the Report for 08-09.
    Agon Religare-7 policy was logged for claim out of which 5 were repudiated and two were pending. That means the company has not settled single claim.
    Also one can see that LIC has claim settlement ratio of 95.84% and claim repudiated ratio of 1.33% while private operator has claim settlement ratio of 82.26% and claim repudiated ratio of 9.97%.
    I brought this fact to the notice of AR but their answers were not convincing.
    I do not want to take risk with insurance, and cancelled my policy within 15 days look up time. And bear loss of Rs.4000 on premium of Rs.10000
    My reading is as follow-
    1) No insurance company is interested to sell term insurance. This kind of online sales only introduce for the brand promotion.
    2) For all private insurance company ULIP is the panacea at lest for them.
    3) Till they improve in settlement claim ratio it is worth waiting and go with LIC.
    Regards,
    Bhavesh Desai

    1. Bhavesh

      Ok , for now you can go with LIC, lets see how this online term insurance thing develops .

      Manish

  62. Sharwan says:

    Sir, it is Very good article. I read ur article on iterm. I want to take two term insurance of 50 lack each for 25 years term. My date of birth 30. 07 .1977. From iterm , iprotect ,and kotak .which r two best not cheapest option ? And please tell detail of annualy premium of each with rider and without rider.

    1. Sharwan

      Kotak is best in offline premium wise , you can see SBI also .

      Compare premium at apnainsurance.com

  63. Raju says:

    i have few doubts
    1. Do i need medical. can i know before paying?
    2. Security of my personal data, what is the guaranty that data will not be misused. Or sold to other agency.
    3. After paying premium, What is guaranty that premium will not be raised.
    4. Premium is fixed for the full term or it can be raised upwards by the company. who will guaranty.

    1. Raju says:

      i tried yesterday iprotectII not working properly.
      not proceeding to second page after filling first page form.
      can u help

      1. Raju

        How can I help here 🙂

        Manish

      2. MD FAISAL says:

        Try with Internet Explorer 6. The Page is designed for viewing in IE6

    2. Raju

      1) No or I am not sure , check customer care .
      2) hehe … you have to trust them on this and by the way , they are the AGENCY 🙂
      3) It can be raised if medical is required .
      4) no it will not be raised later unless there is major change in your health .

      Manish

      1. Raju says:

        Hi Manish
        Can anybody above 40 yrs, share his experience on iTerm regarding.
        Whether premium was raised after paying initial premium?
        if yes how much?
        whether Medical was required?
        Suppose i return the policy in free look period, how money is deducted?

        One more important issue.
        After taking policy do we have to update company regarding any serious change in health condition of the life assured?
        Is it mandatory?
        What is the law?
        Raju

        1. Raju says:

          Dear Manish
          I am asking you
          pl clarify.
          After taking policy do we have to update company regarding any serious change in health condition of the life assured?
          Is it mandatory?
          What is the law?

          1. Raju

            Yes , definately you have to give this information , The premium you get in the start is on an assumption that everything will be same , but there Life Insurance has the clause of “utmost good faith” which means that you are going to disclose all the facts which are important for company to insure you before and after the policy taking , so incase of Major health change (prolonged) because of you get some desease you have to update the Company about it .

            1. Raju Anand says:

              Manish,

              Suppose After 2 years of taking insurance. There is sudden change in party’s health condition, and party couldn’t intimate the company regarding the same, but continue paying premium, and after some more time the event happens, can company deny claim.

            2. Raju Anand says:

              Isn’t Life insurance a long term contract between party and company on a given date.
              How can company deny claim on the basis of some thing that happened after the contract date.
              More ever let any thing happen to the health of the life insured, company can’t raise the premium. So what company will do with information on the current health condition of LI?
              Pl take us to any case happened like this before.
              Pl give the legal web page link on this subject.

            3. Raju

              Even if Life Insurance is long term contract . What ever is written in Contract will be valid, not the obvious things .

              The information is taken from an agent of life insurance and I will try to find out the link for it .

              Manish

            4. Raju Anand says:

              Ok Manish,
              No more lip service, I have actually bought iTerm policy.
              My experience with iTerm.
              Very good, Very satisfied. Cust. support very good, Local branch support excellent.
              i am 42yrs, i applied for 10 lacs SA (which is min.). Term 18 yrs cost me 4147/- yearly, (compare with ICICI Pure term costing abt 9000/- for same age and period.)
              No medical was required.
              After paying online, branch collected documents. ePolicy document was immediately emailed to me by company on receipt on document.
              I am satisfied.
              Why i went with iTerm.
              1. It cost me only Rs 11/- per day for 10 lac Insu.
              2. I have faith on IRDA.
              Any body want go pl note.
              1. keep annual salary statement, PAN card, medical history, any other life insurance details, handy before filling.
              2. Give correct information while filling, if any discrepancy pl correct by pen before sign in the original document.
              Thanks Manish

            5. Raju

              Thanks for your nice tips 🙂

            6. Sourav Shah says:

              Hi Manish,

              Would like to correct your answer here. In case of a term plan if at the time of taking the policy the customer was in good health and if he develops a health condition, he does not need to inform the company. His claim will be paid in the event of death*.

              Regards,
              Sourav Shah
              AEGON Religare Life Insurance
              *The views expressed are my own and are not binding on the company.

            7. Sourav

              Ok , looks like Its the case with kotak . I generalised it , my mistake

              Manish

  64. Rakesh Samar says:

    Like iterm from AR, we also now have iProtect from ICICI Prudential as well and that is cheaper than iTerm.

  65. yogesh says:

    Hi Mainsh & All,

    ICICI Iprotect looks good in first view.Premium is less than Aegon Religare Iterm and company also has better past record than Aegon.It also have accident
    covere advantage and not present in Aegon Iterm.

    Below link has full information.
    http://www.iciciprulife.com/public/Brochures/ICICI_Pru_iProtect_Brochure.pdf

    But i don’t know whether its really worth to do accident coverage as looks like all type of accident are uncovered .Only road accident is covered.

    Is it worth to go accident coverage.??

    I think reliance also got such online plan.I am searching for that.

    Regards
    Yogesh

    1. Yogesh

      Will do a review on this soon

      Manish

      1. Rakesh says:

        Manish,

        A small query, if we opt for an accidential cover and take a policy of 50L and if there is a death due to accident will we be paid 50L + 50L.
        Also instead of taking an additional cover if we take an accidential insurance policy from National insurance will that be a good option.
        Please advise.

        Rakesh

        1. Rakesh

          Yes , you will be paid 50+50 incase of death by accident (road accidents only are covered) .

          It would be a good idea to keep the rider along with the term plan only as it would be less costly here , i am guessing for now , do your maths

          Manish

  66. Rakesh says:

    Shantaram,

    Thanks for the update, looks like its a direct competitor to Religare’s iterm plan, the premiums are more or less the same.

    Manish,

    It would be nice if you could review ICICI iprotect plan too and advise us on which to opt for.

    Rakesh

    1. Rakesh

      I will review iProtect, for now go with it , it seems to be better

      Manish

  67. Shantharam says:

    Manish,

    You must have seen the new term insurance plan launched today in the market which is iProtect by ICICIPrudential. It is also a fully online product and bets to be very cheap. and now this comes from ICICI, which is in the insurance stream since more than a decade.

    How does iTerm compare with iProtect according to you ?

    Thanks,
    Shantharam

    1. iProtect would be better , however not sure on how customer care is

      Manish

  68. Dear Friends, Regarding I-term, I have some issues. From my friends (at least 2-3), the prem. loading was done later on from the original prem. although the medical history was clean.

    As the policy is available online only & can be bought only in the cities where Ar has an office, now imagine a situation –
    A person purchase I-term while he is working in a city with AR office presence. Now after few years, the person relocated to a place where AR has no office. In this case Prem. pmt. ‘ll remain continue as one may pay thru Credit Cards or net banking etc. but what ‘ll happen for the family, if the claim arise while living in the non office city.

    Thanks

    Ashal

    1. Ashal

      Yes , thats the issue, Did you check how it will work from customer care ? There has to be some work around

      Manish

      1. Rakesh says:

        Manish,

        I had taken their normal term plan a couple of years ago, however this year i want to switch to iterm plan as there is a savings of almost 30% in premium rates. If i opt for this plan now and cancel the old one, what are the chances of they rejecting my claim in future on the basis of this cancellation. I am in two minds whether to opt for iterm plan.

        Rakesh

        1. Rakesh

          You should look at iProtect Plan launced by ICICI . its just like iTerm , an online term policy , pretty cheap .

          Manish

  69. Ashutosh says:

    Hi Manish,

    Even I was pretty impressed when this product was launched, however over time there were two concerns in my mind that remained unanswered –

    1. Dismal Claim Settlement Ratio – http://www.finwinonline.com/2010/04/best-life-insurance-provider-in-india.html

    2. If this product was really good value proposition then I am sure other Insurance Companies would have surely replicated it in no time at all. However till date (to my knowledge) there is no other comparable product in the market.

    What are your views on this.

    -Ashutosh

    1. Ashutosh

      1. Regarding claim settlement , its diluted , it also contains numbers for endowment plans , which is the bulk of the policies , if you take the pure term plans claim settlement, it would be lower , but may be the best .

      2. It takes time to build the platform and may be others are not launching because they want to see how it performs 🙂

      Manish

      1. Ashutosh says:

        Did not understand your point no. 1

        1. Ashutosh

          Let me explain more . How is claim ratio settlement is calculates , in LIC case say for example there are 960 endowment policies sold and 40 term policies sold . now these 960 endowment plans are matures and they are settled , in which case all 100% endowment plans are paid , and out of term plans say 36 is honoured and 4 are rejected . So in total 996 policies are counted as claimed and 4 as rejected , so when claim ratio data is considered its said that out of 1000 , 996 are honoured , so it comes out to be 99.6% , which is misleading , as it combines all type of policies and it contains a bulk of endowment plans, where as the actual ratio for pure term policies is just 90% (36 out of 40) . In case of other insurers there bulk is term insurance policies only .

          Manish

  70. Muthu Krishnan says:

    Hi,
    I recently bought iterm policy for 50L. It was a good experience throughout, was able to fill the form online, pay by credit card, medical check-up was scheduled fast by Aegon, even though not all parameters were within the suggested limits, my premium was not increased.

    Maybe one should use Internet explorer for Aegon site :).

    Thanks,
    Muthu.

    1. Muthu

      Nice to heat about your good experience, just make sure you provide all the data properly , things will be fine at the end

      Manish

    2. Raju says:

      what is your age please?
      Are u below 40?

      1. Raju

        Not sure whom are you asking ? my age is 27

        Manish

  71. Brij says:

    Manish,

    One more question for you:

    I am in the process of taking ~Rs 1.5cr of term insurance (with no riders). I’m planning to take national insurance personal accident policy. Under this, they have 23tables. (1) death (2) permanent disability and (3) temp disability.

    Since term insurance covers death risk, I am thinking of taking about 50 lac (Rs 200 per lac) under table 2 and Rs 5 lac (the max) under table 3.

    Therefore, I will be covered for death by ~1.5 cr and accident related disability for Rs 55 lac. Do you have any thoughts on this?

    Thanks!
    Brij

    1. u chakraborty says:

      for term insurance you can consider SBI Life SHIELD.

    2. Brij

      Looks good . Just make sure you are split this in two policies , take more from LIC (1 crore) and other 50 lacs from some one else . You will be covered by accidental death anyways in your term insurance (people get confused and think they are not covered by death in term insurance when they die of accident, because of “accidental rider”) .

      So you should look more from Health insurance point , rather than accidental death point .

      Manish

  72. Brij says:

    Aegon Religare is ordinary to say the least. I applied for a Rs50 lac cover online, their website was buggy all through (wish I had taken note and stopped right there!), anyways, everything done, i go to the step of paying premium, enter card details, pay the premium only to find their website crashing. I see the charge on my bank account but no acknowledgement from them and now, I am running around to get my money back.

    It has been almost an year since they launched iterm and still can’t fix a basic website? It doesn’t inspire any confidence.

    One question for you Manish: Technically, my policy has not started (confirmed to me verbally by the customer center lady at Aegon) even though I did pay the premium. I believe the look in period has not started yet, am I right on this count?
    Thanks
    Brij

    P.S. I plan to dump this policy and go for LIC, ICICI and SBI. My gut feeling is that even though the intentions of this company might be right but execution is pathetic.

    1. Brij

      You can go with other options I think , Your lookup period can not start unless your policy starts , so I think its more of support issue .

      Manish

  73. u chakraborty says:

    what a stupidity by religare ! i tried to buy online for 10 lac cover. after submission of nominee details it gave message ” sorry we cannot provide you a policy under our company rule”. it is disgusting

    1. u chakraborty says:

      also look at their terms and conditions. in case of demise of the policy holder, the nominee will get the assured amount after deduction of the due premiums.

    2. Hmm .. yea they have some internal cirteria’s .. Cant do much about it .. and they disclose it 🙂

      Manish

  74. Aj says:

    Hello Manishji,
    First of all I want to give a heartiest thanks to you for your endless effort.
    Then I want your valuable suggestion at the fact that I have a Money Back Policy -20 Yr (T No. 75) of LIC, commenced on: 21.06.2007, Yearly Premium : 6602, Term 20 yrs, but after reading your article I understand it is better to take a Term Policy. So I decided to surrender this policy which was due on 21.06.2010, but the agent tell me I will get only Rs. 6167.00 if I surrender at this time and no convert is possible from this policy to Term.
    So, at this scenario I want your opinion that, is it better to surrender this product and take a new Term policy ? If yes which amount is suitable for me ? My current status as below :
    DOB: 19.02.1981, Earning: 156000 yearly out of which 60k contributed to GPF, Married, One daughter 1yr mth, Dependent parent and one brother.
    Thank you in advance.

    1. Ajay

      Your agent is saying correct, you will loose out a lot of premium as you dont get 1 yrs premium back and the surrender value is just 30-40% of the rest . but considering long term , still it looks like it will make sense to close this policy and surrender it .

      You should take a term plan , your data is not sufficient for calculating your cover , however you should take a decent cover of around 30-40 lacs , which will cost around 8-10k per year . If premium amount is a concern , atleast take 20-25 lacs of cover whose premium will come out to be same as what you are paying right now .

      Manish

  75. Prashanth Eyyala says:

    Dear Manish, I had taken the Iterm policy after little bit of research including your blog. My overall experience was good. I recently convinced my wife to take up a policy and the experience has been downright miserable. Now i am actually concerned about the companies ability to manage claims in the event of death. I have concerns whether its worth saving money on the premiums if a family will have to go around in circles in case of a death. Additionally was doing some reading and realised that this company has the worst claims ratio. Would appreciate your thoughts on the same. Additionally, I would really appreciate it if you can give me the escalation point for this company. My wife’s policy is still not resolved nor have i received my refund.
    PS: I am actually thinking of cancelling my policy and taking up a term policy with a different insurance company.

    1. Prashant

      As per the current IRDA report yes, the claim ratio of AR is very bad, and their customer support is in question by many . So you might want to reconsider them , you dont have much to loose as you have to forget your 1 premium paid and restart your contract with another .

      Manish

  76. Rajeev says:

    I recently brought AR iTerm policy for Rs 2 Crore with Premium Rs. 22000 (Rs. 24226 including service tax). My current age is 31. The process was very much hassel free and I got the policy documents within 15 days of applying it. They conducted hell lot of blood & urine tests including Necotine Test & Treadmill Stress Test. Along with policy document they shared all the medical reports too. Since all my medical reports were fine, I got the policy on the proposed premium without any correction. They responded to each of my mail query and I got all updates through mail as well as sms. For me it went very smooth.
    I agree their customer care number sucks but there is a workaround for that. Dont choose option of new customer through their IVR menu and try to choose to talk to customer care excutive through any other alternate path claiming you are an existing customer. e.g. Existing Customer -> Change TPIN. Enter any wrong TPIN(as you are not an existing customer, you dont have TPIN at all) and then choose option to talk to customer care executive. This is like bluffing their system but it works.

    1. Rajiv

      Nice 🙂 . Good to see a positive feedback , also good way to fool their system .

      Manish

  77. Raj says:

    No idea, how is Kotak insurance in claim wise etc, not heard much about this plan, and not so popular. Ya correct the premiums are very less in Kotak,

    But looks like Kotak Preferred is only for non smokers. I think it will be better than Religare iTerm plan.

  78. Roopesh says:

    Hi Manish

    I am currently a 1st yr student at IIM Lucknow & have previous work ex of 6 yrs
    I tried to buy the iTerm plan online but as per company policy iTerm plan is only available for working ppl !!! 🙁
    As a student with a education loan my liabilities are more and hence my requirement for a insurance as well.
    Sad these guys dont offer iTerm to non-working ppl.

    1. Roopesh

      Sad that they have policy like this , You should buy another company policy and not wait for AR , as covering your self right now is more important than anything . Always remember that whatever works for your situation should be worked upon immediately .

      Manish

      1. Roopesh says:

        What would b the next best option for a term plan which u wud suggest ?
        I was looking for a coverage between 25-50 lakh for abt 25-30 yrs
        I am 28 currently and will work for atleast 30 yrs more.

        I had shortlisted ICICI pru and LIC
        LIC is offering for approx 17k (including terrorism cover ) where as ICICI pru is for abt 12k ( excluding terrorism cover)
        both preiums above r for 50 lakhs
        which wud u recommend of the two and why ? also should i look at any 3rd option ?

        1. Raj says:

          look for Metlife Suraksha Plus also.

          1. Roopesh says:

            Also what do you think of Kotak Preferred Term Plan ?
            It is offerring a coverage of 50 lakhs 6,646 Rs which is slightly more than iTerm but significantly lesser than others .
            Are Kotak also replicating the iTerm model with this plan ?

      2. raji says:

        Hi Manish,

        Just saw the blog and gone through. I am 31 years old and just got back in India after spending years out and now here with a job at senior level.
        I am going for 50 lakh with Religare another 30 lakh for Kotak preferred plan for myself and my wife– we dont have kids

        Do u think this would be a good idea

        I reviewed ur comments of watching the future regulations but I believe everyday counts- isnt it

        1. Raji , for now i think you should go with kotak or ‘liC , take religare after 3-4 yrs .

          manish

  79. VINAY KUMAR JHA says:

    I have applied for Rs. 1Cr cover and the premieum amount offered to me was 13988.00. Iam 33 yrs old. However; post the medical tests the company has provided me a revised coat of 19988.00 and the reason for increase is due to higher level of cotinine deducted in the test.

    I did not mention that Iam a smoker and hence I guess they are revised the premium. I want to know if i go for this revised preimium will there be any issues in furture as the application form has me as a non smoker.

    1. Vinay

      Actually I cant take a call on that . Incase you are a smoker and have not put that part in form , it can be an issue and your claim can be rejected . Its very obvious and fair 🙂

      Manish

  80. Krishna says:

    I read this blog and Manish you are making valuable contributions in keeping the investor alert.

    To all who are thinking of getting a term insurance, I feel it is better for us to wait for an year at least before we buy from Aegon Religare I-term. This is because they are new and let them get established with all necessary people and processes. If in the meantime any one needs the term plan we can always have one 50% of required plan in reputed insurance companies.
    We will have a better picture by 2011 how they are faring and then we can buy their plans if it’s still cheap.

    1. Krishna

      Ya , It makes sense . Its better to wait for DTC to come finally to have more clarity 🙂 . What company do you suggest to take insurance from at this moment ?

      Manish

  81. Raj says:

    Any views on Met life Suraksha Plus Term insurance plan. They revised the quotes and are little cheaper compared to MetLife Suraksha.

    1. That happens because of many reasons , One of the reasons is difference in mortality charges .

      Manish

  82. Nayak says:

    Manish,

    I had a offer from AR … need ur opinion on this.

    Similar to other peoples experience , I was fed up trying calling Customer Care for ‘i Term’ , to my suprise 10/11 times called ,,, no one picked up the phone.

    Then I tried to get the local branch contact from the site and called…here is what we spoke on Term Insurance.

    Me: Hi..This is Mr Nayak,,,,I was trying to call CC of AR for iterm … no one responded ..do u have any clue how to take iterm

    Branch Person(X): Sir..its purely online so we would not be much help (as I expected…said by Manish 🙂 )

    Me: I am looking for a 50lac,30 years term coverage..do you suggest any good plans with low premium ?

    X: Yes sir..there are 3 policy : 1-level term 2-decreasing term 3-increasing term
    (I asked him about level term ,,, rest 2 I didnt like)

    Sir for level term with ur requirement the premium will come around 9500 (approx ..exact fgure i dont remember) …

    Now the real offers he made to me:

    1) Since you are taking directly from our branch , we would remove the commission charges..30% of the 9500…so i need to pay only 70% of 9500 (aaprox 7000)

    2) We will offer you a travel pacg of worth 10,000 (2 day , 3 nights) any where in india

    3) The benefit during claim settlement is:
    -since u took it from a branch u can do the claims by walking directly to the branch , no customer care role here (which i felt atleast is good for AR impression on iterm customer care)

    If they are doing this during taking a policy then what would they do during claim (also no one is there to guide u in online form fill up,,,doubt clearing…so if u fill wrong any small mistake …ur nominee will suffer)

    Pls pour ur sggestion for 50lac-30years
    Premium of 5162 Vs 7000

  83. Pratik , Baroda India says:

    Dear Manish,

    For term Plan , premiun for I term is lowest as per your article, but
    recently Kotak Insurance had lowered the premium 2 time( in Jan and March) which is also lower than i Term. kindly check the latest premium.

    Regards

    Pratik

  84. Raj says:

    When I tried to purchase iterm online, this is what the message i got.

    “SORRY”

    Dear Customer, We regret to inform you that based on the information provided thus far we are unable to issue you a policy online, as per our company’s guidelines for this AEGON Religare iTerm plan.

    I wonder why anyone know why? is it because i quoted too less the basic 10 lakh policy or any other reasons? I called the stupid AEGON Religare customer service, they are ready to reveal. I have given all information correct and honest but still they rejected, this is the first time i feel like stupid when applying for an insurance and getting rejected for the same.

    I Guess AEGON Religare Insurance sucks!

    1. Raj

      They might have internal criteria

      Manish

  85. Anu says:

    Looking into Vinay’s experience, it looks like, its trap that AR is trying.

    1. Intially they offer a low premium and then counter offer with more than 50% higher rate.
    2. It’s shoking to see the claims experienece. No claims settled yet? 5/7 rejected and 2/7 pending??

    what would you call it apart from cheating people when the need the help badly. Please stay away from this trap.

  86. Vinay says:

    I wanted to go for iTerm plan, however two points which were stopping me from buying the product :
    1. Their low claim approval rate. Out of 7 claims raised, 5 are rejected and 2 pending. Claim approved : 0%. Difficult to believe that all (please read as most) of policy-holders would have provided wrong information/suppressed the information.
    2. How they are able to sell this product at such a low cost. Some of us answer this by saying that as they are selling it online, no agents involved, their cost is low. Please mind that in case of Pure Term Insurance, agents don’t get commission of more than 10% and they always discourage you to go for pure Term Insurance plan.

    Here I found the answer for my second question :

    Information may be helpful for others too.

    So I have decided not to go with this plan.

    1. Vinay

      Thanks for the update . We should wait more on the claim rejection data on this company .

      Manish

    2. Raj says:

      Thank god, i was almost going to buy it until themselves have rejected my claim, now only am reading it. thank god i did not buy it.

      1. Great to hear that

        Manish

  87. Cyril Huang says:

    Hi,

    I applied for the Term plan with Religare on the 13-March-2010. Got the medicals done by the 20-Mar. I didnt hear from them for many weeks after that. I enquired on numerous occasions but was told that its under process. Suddenly on the 21-April I get the policy, but the start date is 26-Mar. I was expecting the start date to be closer to 21-April. Obviously they have refused to change the start date.

    I would like to know if there are any guidelines based on which I can express my case or a forum which I can approach for help on this.

    Regards

    Cyril

    1. Cyril Huang

      No idea on this , Is the whole process going as per the the terms and conditions ?

      Manish

    2. Anu says:

      Manish – First I would like to congratulate you on the great content of your blog. It’s owesome – I am mesmerized to know that you are so careful to plan your financial matters and you know so much about Insurance.

      I applied for iTerm with 1 Cr cover. In the application form I mentioned that I am not a smoker. However, the fact is I am a casual smoker and indeed smoked a couple of cigarrates the day before the medical test. During the medical test they have detected that and have sent a revised offer with Smoker’s rate. What should I do now? Should I go ahaed and accpet the smpkers rate which is about 50% more. If I accept, should I change my declaration to smoker? Or should I contest and tell them to carry out the test again? Please help.

      1. Anu

        One thing you have to understand is Insurance is a business and they will be in loss if they offer you insurance considering you as “Non-smoker” where as you have been a smoker earliar, because they are taking higher risk with you than they think they are . So better pay 50% more . Its the ideal cost for you .

        Accept it . Not accepting may mean , saving 50% cost right now , however taking the risk of rejection of claim later for your family once you are dead .

        Manish

        1. Anu says:

          Thanks Manish.
          1) Is there any provision of revising the rate after a year, if I quit smoking now?
          2) There is clause called contestability clause in US, which enables the Insurance companies to contest any claim upto two years, after that period Insurer can not reject any claims citing the reason of furnishing false/untrue data in the application?

  88. Manish Garg says:

    I reside in Varanasi, which is not included in the list of cities on their website.

    When I contacted their helpline, they told me that if you are giving an address of a city other than those listed, you cannot buy the policy. The reason cited was that they can only arrange the medical checkup, and collection of documents at these cities.
    But they also told, that if you give an alternate address of a listed city, and arrange collection of documents and be ready to go there for the checkup, then the policy can be issued.

    She suggested that once the policy is issued, you can apply the change of transfer of address, and it will be done.

    In my case, I can do it. I have my brother living at a listed city, and I can give his address. And later get address changed. But I do not know, how far it is correct. After all, it can always be termed as false submission of facts at a later date.

    Any comments…?

    1. I dont see much issue here . You can get this whole information over an email for future reference, not listing your city must be purely a resource constraint issue) .

      Manish

      1. Manish Garg says:

        I have already asked them to confirm the same on email.
        But will the email be considered a valid and binding contract, if my dependents need to settle a claim after say 25 years. There will always be issues of preserving the email for reference.

  89. Pradeep says:

    Hello Manish,
    First of all I want you to thank you for this wonderful blog, which really helps youngsters like us to do their financial planning . Now please help me. I am 24 year old and as of now I am thinking of getting LIC’s Amulya Jivan term insurance plan for 35 years and sum insured would be 50 Lacs, also as per your suggestion will later take another term insurance with other company. But right now my doubt is does the LIC’s Amulya Jivan covers accidental death or permanent disability ? Suppose I die in accident will my family get the insured amount ? Please provide me with the detailed info in this regard as I tried to find the info on LIC site and on the net but unable to get that info. Your suggestion is welcomed

    Pradeep

    1. Pradeep

      There are no riders available with the plan .

      Manish

      1. Pradeep says:

        Hello Manish,
        Does it mean only natural death ? What if some one dies in a accident ?

        Pradeep

        1. Accidental death is always covered . Accidental rider just means that you get more money and you are protected against disability .

          It does not mean that you wont be paid if you dont have accidental rider .

          Manish

          1. Ashish Shah says:

            Hi, I bought an i-Term plan for myself for Rs 1 cr at a premium of Rs 11 K annually. Personally, I found this policy much cheaper than the its peers. Luckily for me, I have a classmate working at Aegon Religare at a very senior position, who explained me the rationale and math behind the relatively inexpensive term product that they are able to offer.

            What was also surprising about the iterm plan is that even “suicide” as a form of death is covered from 2nd year of policy onwards, something which AR is a pioneer in the entire insurance industry…..

            1. Ashish

              Can you please explain the whole thing here ? or mail me ?

              Manish

  90. Deepak Kaushik says:

    First, thanx for sharing such wonderful thoughts & knowledge. Now back to the subject line.. from last one week i have been sending the data thru AR website

    but no one ready to call or contact me infact i tried their toll free also but still no luck.

    Now about iTerm when i discussed this one of the LIC/HDFC insurance guy & they told me that AR providing 2 mode of same Term Policy one thru iTerm and second

    thru their agent and in iTerm they don’t need any medical test & documentation so the chances are very high for claim rejection(almost 90%). And same policy

    if you go thru their agent/planner then they are charging almost identical to their competitors.

    can you share ur view especially on iTerm authenticity.

    -Deepak

    1. Last time i had a talk to them , they are facing issue with their less staff and infrastructure. I dont feel you need to that much worried .

      Manish

  91. Deepak Kaushik says:

    Hi Manish,

    First, thanx for sharing such wonderful thoughts & knowledge. Now back to the subject line.. from last one week i have been sending the data thru AR website but no one ready to call or contact me infact i tried their toll free also but still no luck.

    Now about iTerm when i discussed this one of the LIC/HDFC insurance guy & they told me that AR providing 2 mode of same Term Policy one thru iTerm and second thru their agent and in iTerm they don’t need any medical test & documentation so the chances are very high for claim rejection(almost 90%). And same policy if you go thru their agent/planner then they are charging almost identical to their competitors.

    can you share ur view especially on iTerm authenticity.

    -Deepak

  92. Harish Kumar says:

    Manish

    This article is very knowledgeable and the way the users are responding to each other queries / questions is quite amazing. However, I wonder if anyone has discussed that how the claim will be made if a person has two term end insurance plan. In my my case, I have one from LIC and second from SBI LifeShield. Ultimately the claim has to be made by family members and they must know the exact procedure for that?
    Would you like to give some insight on how to make claims for two term end insurance plans?

    -Harish

    1. Harish

      the procedure is not that tough ,however i will take time to publish a post on it . but for now ,.

      Manish

      1. Deepak Kaushik says:

        Hi Manish,

        First, thanx for sharing such wonderful thoughts & knowledge. Now back to the subject line.. from last one week i have been sending the data thru AR website

        but no one ready to call or contact me infact i tried their toll free also but still no luck.

        Now about iTerm when i discussed this one of the LIC/HDFC insurance guy & they told me that AR providing 2 mode of same Term Policy one thru iTerm and second

        thru their agent and in iTerm they don’t need any medical test & documentation so the chances are very high for claim rejection(almost 90%). And same policy

        if you go thru their agent/planner then they are charging almost identical to their competitors.

        can you share ur view especially on iTerm authenticity.

        -Deepak

        1. sunny says:

          Deepak,

          I am a iterm customer. Its not true that they donot have medical test. It depends on your age, past medical history, family history etc. When you punch in your personal data online the system will decide whether to do a medical test on you or not. I guess even other companies follow this rule. Nobody asks a 25 year old guy with no medical history for medical test for a term insurance. And it also depends on the amount you want as cover. Incase its a crore the system might object and ask for a medical test. So its all depending on variables.

  93. MD FAISAL says:

    I am 28 yrs old and I already have a term insurance for 50 lacs from LIC taken last year( so far one premium of Rs.16200 paid) for a term of 35 years. I was about to take the policy of the same amount from metlife as their premium works out to 11,500 for 32 years( till the age of 60).I ve done medicals today and have not yet made the payment of premium to metlife.I accidently came to this blog and now i feel that i should go for AR iTerm as the main purpose to shift from LIC was to save on the cost of premium. In this background i ve two queries.

    1) As I ve done the medicals with metlife already can i walk out of the policy as no payments have been paid and should i pay the cost of medicals to metlife and how much i should pay?

    2) while chekcing out this blog i read that one has to declare the exisiting policies to avoid overinsurance. I already have 50L insurance from LIC which i intend to replace with this newer one. what should i declare abt the exsisting policy? or should i declare it in the first place?

    1) As i

    1. FAISAL

      1) No idea on this , Looks like they will contact you on this , better to pay .
      2) Yes , you should declare , so when you fill in the application from there will be some coloumn for disclosure .

      Manish

  94. subhendu says:

    Hi Manish,
    I came across this blog accidently as i was searching for a review of AG’s iterm plan. You have a wonderful blog going. Nice to see so many young things already planning for their future. Well i am 41 and there’s noone representing this age group here. I represent a typical salaried person with a family. I have govt medical cover (even after retirement) with pension. I have four LIC policies ranging from endowment to pension plans with a SA of 17 Lakhs (no ULIPs). I am planning for an additional insurance policy. Does term insurance from AG fit anywhere in the scheme of things ?
    subhendu

    1. Subhendu

      Definately it fits , if not AR , then atleast Term insurance from other companies , 17 lacs is nothing . you cant get even 15k per month from 17 lacs consistently , then there is house , child related expenses , medical , future monthyl incomes for life , you need atleast 1 crore of insurance, split it into 2 , you can take iTerm from AR for 40% .

      Manish

  95. vineet goyal says:

    manish
    Actually My age is 33 yrs on AR on line i Term Premium Calculator

    For 25 yrs 30 lacs sumsaaured AR iterm premium is 6500Rs
    For 25 yrs 49 lacs sumsaaured AR iterm premium is >10000Rs
    For 25 yrs 50 lacs sumsaaured AR iterm premium is 6500Rs

    How it is possible for 30 lacs to 49lacs sumassured primum is increasing and for 50lacs sumassured it suddenly decreases.

    1. Vineet

      thats how the product is designed

      Manish

  96. Sagar says:

    Manish yar! please advise.. I m 29 now, want term insurance (10 lac for 10 years), SBI Life Swadhan )
    SBI Life Swadhan (Rs.3441 x 4 x 10 years = 1,37,640 get entire premium back after 10 years without any interest) 0% growth but your money back, means almost free insurance.
    I don’t know about company claim settlement record. But at least I will get my money back after ten. Need your suggestion…

  97. vineet goyal says:

    I checked the premium on Argon Religare premium calculator for i term for 50 lacs sum assured it is 6500Rs while for 49 lacs sum assured it is more than 10000 Rs how it works pls clarify

    1. Vineet

      thats the way it works , I have talked to AR guys and they said that thats how it works

      Manish

  98. Pravin says:

    I went ahead and bought a good 1oo lac coverage.covers me upto the age of 60.all for a neat 14800. transparency in india will only get better.with investor activism and educated customers,improper documentation while submitting claims and therefore repudiation rates will come down.

    the reason LIC is generous,is because it accepts shoddy documentation and a little bribe to the officer makes him overlook the pre-existing conditions that the insured person lied about.

    if you situation is not dishonest,this is an excellent offer .i think competition will bring down the rates offered by other insurers as well. competition is good!

    1. Pravin

      I agree .. most of the disclaims happen because of bad documents at the time of claim because customer didnt took it seriously while filling up the form and hence providing wrong info or suppressing the facts by ignorance .

      Manish

  99. ABHISHEK says:

    the aegon religare rejected my policy .why ?i don”t know.what to do?which policy to buy?in term plan only.
    abhishek

    1. Abhishek

      You might not have been as per their term . You can buy other term plans .

      Manish

  100. ABHISHEK says:

    AS I AM PLANNING TO BUY TERM PLAN.FROM RELEGARE AEGON BY SEEING YOUR COOMENTS AND ITS SUPPORTINGS.I AM BUYING OF RS 11 LAKH TERM PLAN MY AGE IS 30.SHALL I BUY THIS MUCH OR SHALL I BUY MORE AMOUNT OF TERM PLAN.SUGGEST ME WHETHER CAN I TAKE 2 COMPANIES TERM PLAN OF 10 -10 LAKH EACH.IS IT OK.AND LEGAL.
    THANKING YOU
    ABHISHEK
    PLS REPLY MY MOBILE -9830305981

    1. Abhishek

      better calculate your requirement first : http://jagoinvestor.dev.diginnovators.site/2008/09/how-to-calculate-insurance-requirement.html

      Taking two different company plans is legal and suggested .

      Manish

  101. Raj G says:

    Hi Manish,

    If you check last years IRDA report, you shall find that Aegon religere has not settled even ONE term insurance claim. When I contacted they said that they are committed to settle all genuine claims.
    This means they treated all claims made as not genuine – is it a joke or cruel cheating under the name of insurance?

    Regards,
    Rajendra

    1. Raj
      yup , I also saw that .. we should wait for some time and then decide .

      manish

    2. Bhavesh Desai says:

      Dear Raj,
      Thanks for bringing the most vital point.
      Can you give link to IRDA last year report showing settlement history of insurance companies?
      Thanks,
      Bhavesh Desai

  102. som says:

    Dear manish,

    I know this is offtopic but jus thought of posting it.
    I have gone for a home loan from IDBI.
    Now i wish to take a home loan insurance, kindly please let me know
    which are the best schemes. I have done some R&D on my own but cudnt arrive 2 any conclusion, it will be nice if you can help me.I have some things in my mind like .. which we shall discuss.

    And most importantly I am also from Bangalore, i wish to meet you.
    Please do let me know if it is OK, wont take much of your time 🙂

    Please do drop me a mail @ soumendra.satapathy@gmail.com

    regards,
    som

  103. som says:

    Dear Manish,

    I don know how i dint get to know of your website till now !!!

    Man i must say you have a damn good website and lots n lots of way to go !!

    I am lost wondering at the sea of info this website has … I mean its has become a rigour
    for me to come from office and just login and start reading post by post !!!

    I have lots of lots of question to ask you … but to do justice to the thread .. i start with the term insurance.
    May be my questions will help other readers also.
    I have a term insurance from LIC – 2 years old – Amulya Jeevan.
    S.A. = 50Lakhs
    Term= 35 years
    Premium = 25,520 p.a.

    now with all these new schemes coming what sud i do ???

    Thing that i have in my mind:
    Can i change the term period from 35 to 25 years ??
    So that i can reduce my premium and then opt for a term insurance from AR.

    Or simply discontinue the 2 yr old policy thereby saving around rs.14k p.a for the next 33 yrs !!

    Do let me know what i need to do …

    regards,
    som

    1. Som

      Thanks for the comment .. the best thing for reading would be to read posts one by one from start on http://jagoinvestor.dev.diginnovators.site/archives

      Regarding your term insurance question , now this is where what we preach on this blog comes into picture .. you should have had taken 2 term insurance split between two policies in the start so that you could have stopped one now and then shifted to other one .. I wont say LIC Term insurance should be discontinued .. but what you can do is split the insurance between two .. so take a fresh one from LIC for 25 lacs and 25 lacs from other one ..

      Please check if your insurance requirement is just 50 Lacs , I dont think so ..

      Manish

  104. Raj G says:

    The private insurance companies are giving low premiums because they know that they will not pay the claim.

    There is IRDA data available which shows how the nominees are harassed and not paid their dues in context of incorrect information. The following single rule shows the biggest loophole using which insurance company denies or “negotiates” the payment –

    Incorrect Information & Non Disclosure
    Your Policy is based on the replies furnished to the questions in the Proposal Form and in the reports, if any, of the Medical Examiner and the declarations which have been made to the Company and any other information provided by you or on your behalf in writing before we accepted the risk under your proposal. If any information provided by you is incomplete or incorrect, notwithstanding any other provisions under the Policy, the Company reserves the right to vary the benefits which may be payable and if there has been non disclosure of any material fact or if the replies to any of the questions asked in the Proposal Form/ report are false or wrongly answered then we may treat the Policy as void.

    Section 45 of the Insurance Act, 1938 is reproduced hereunder for your ready reference.
    “No policy of life insurance effected before the commencement of this Act shall after the expiry of two years from the date of commencement of this Act and no policy of life insurance effected after the coming into force of this Act shall after the expiry of two years from the date on which it was effected, be called in question by an insurer on the ground that a statement made in the proposal for insurance or in any report of a medical officer, or referee, or friend of the insured,or in any other document leading to the issue of the policy, was inaccurate or false, unless the insurer shows that such statement was on a material matter or suppressed facts which it was material to disclose and that it was fraudulently made by the policy-holder and that the policy-holder knew at the time of making it that the statement was false or that it suppressed facts which it was material to disclose:
    Provided that nothing in this section shall prevent the insurer from calling for proof of age at any time if he is entitled to do so, and no policy shall be deemed to be called in question merely because the terms of the policy are adjusted on subsequent proof that the age of the Life Assured was incorrectly stated in the proposal.”

  105. AMIT DOSHI says:

    Hi

    One can visit websit of bharti axa at http://www.bharti-axalife.com and calculate the premium.

  106. yogesh says:

    Hi Amit,

    Is this policy covering accident ridder too & How much extra u need to pay for criticial illness if opt
    for 25yrs term & ur entry age is 30.

    Overall this policy is looking good.Its premium is comparatively less than others in market(except iterm policy).

    You may also check MetLife – Suraksha Plus,ICICI Prudential Life Insurance – ICICI Pure Protect plans.but premium wise ur bharati is best among all.

    Regards
    Yogesh

  107. AMIT DOSHI says:

    Hi Manish ,
    The details of BHarti AXA Term Insurance Plan is as under. Would appreciate your vaulable feed back on the same and is it again safe to opt Bharti Axa?
    Bharti AXA Life Elite Secure – Whole Life Insurance Plans
    Key Benefits:

    Term Assurance for 5,10,15,20,25 years and a Unique new “To Age 75” option where you are protected till the age of 75 years.
    Financial protection against unfortunate event of death at an affordable cost.
    Comprehensive overall protection with help of riders.
    Tax benefit under section 80C and 10(10D) of Income Tax Act.
    Further details of the product is available on the following link:

  108. AMIT DOSHI says:

    Hi Manish,

    Let me first take this opportunity to salute you for this fine informative blog.. you are doing a right job and providing an informative platform to other.. I have read the entire discussion and would like to say that Bharti AXA has come up with a term insurance covering till age 75 yrs. Do you have any idea on this ??

    1. Amit

      thanks for your comment , I have no idea about the Plan of Bharti AXA , good to know that they are covering till 75 yrs , any conditions ? what about the premiums ?

      manish

  109. Madhup says:

    Hi,

    I feel that term insurance should always be taken for long period ( at least till the retirement age as after that u get the ppf/epf etc)and iTerm only provided 25 years.Other policies like Max new york life insurance have policy period duration of 35 years and is a better option .Moreever Aegon religare is new entrant /not listed .sceptical about its long term performance.

    1. Madhup

      hmm.. I would say take any policy as per requirement , if it does not fit , i would say you should not take, if it fits we can take, we cant make a generalised statement of wheather its good or bad 🙂 . what do you feel ?

      manish

    2. Madhup

      hmm.. I would say take any policy as per requirement , if it does not fit , i would say you should not take, if it fits we can take, we cant make a generalised statement of wheather its good or bad 🙂 . what do you feel ?

      manish

    3. Madhup

      hmm.. I would say take any policy as per requirement , if it does not fit , i would say you should not take, if it fits we can take, we cant make a generalised statement of wheather its good or bad 🙂 . what do you feel ?

      manish

  110. sunny says:

    Today nobody from Religare came to pick up my documents and the signed proposal form. I am in two minds now. But then I have already paid Rs 3600 through my card. Any chance of getting my money back?

    Besides I need a small help so this off track question.off track question. My wife’s tax planning is due…total 1 lakh need to be invested. It should have been done earlier and not at this last moment but then we both are trying to be less lazy and after reading this nice blog..well time to get our act together. Thanks a ton Manish for this wonderful creation. And thanks to everyone who makes this place so lively.

    Anyway pls advise how i put this 1 lakh. She has no dependents and risk tolerance can be considered on the higher side. I was thinking of a 60:40 split. 40% in fixed income and rest in HDFC Taxsaver/Fidelity tax advantage. What you all recommend? I guess this time investment in ELSS need to be done in lumpsum as no time for SIP. Thanks in advance.

    1. pattu says:

      @ Sunny

      Every insurance will have a free look up period within which you can ask for a refund if not satisfied. At worst its only Rs. 3600 you could let the policy lapse by not paying next premium.

    2. Sunny

      If she has EPF , you can then put all the money in Mutual funds , just make sure that you are ready to take the downturn if things get bloody ..

      Manish

  111. sunny says:

    This the mail i got when i send a mail asking about the 5 claim rejected out of 7.

    reply from Anita Rao’s email id:
    “We started business in July 2008 and hence do not have any material information on claims. Our promise is to settle all claims as long as there is no suppression of facts by the customer while buying the insurance policy.”

    And a small query. After 2 years is the insurance company bound to pay even if there was some suppression of facts by the customer? Any ideas?

    1. pattu says:

      Anita Rao is a just a front desk jockey. programmed to say this by higher ups.

      Every insurance company will have a separate claims settlement dept. We cannot access the dept unless we have a claim. Now that dept can request any information they deem fit before settling a claim. If they find any new info they may declare it as suppressed. However the insurance application form is not usually clear about how much to reveal. So the claims deptcan exploit this when they don’t have enough money!

      If you carefully look at Form 300 of LIC which is used for its Amluya Jeevan, it says claims will not be paid only if any untrue declaration is made. It doesn’t say anything about suppression. However being truthful and suppression of facts overlap sometimes. So this can be used against you.

      1. Pattu

        Oh , this a new thing 🙂 . So logically companies should always care about the information they are asking , its unfair and idiotic to rely on the information customers might provide .

        I have personally emailed Anita Rao to get involved in comments (some spice) .

        Manish

  112. Gaurav says:

    Manish / Hiral,

    Aegon covers terrorist attacks. When you look at any policy pay special attention towards ‘Exclusions’.

    Cheers
    Gaurav

    1. Gaurav

      Thanks for the reply

      Are you talking about the iTerm plan or general term insurance they provide ?.

      Manish

      1. Gaurav says:

        Manish,

        Both of them (Level Term as well as iTerm) have terrorism cover in them. But as i wrote earlier rejecting 5 out of 7 claims…..naaaahhh….i would not like to pay my premium to this company and rather go for ICICIPRU or Birla Sunlife as both of them pay more than 90% of claims.

        Cheerz
        Gaurav

        1. Gaurav

          ok , great to know that . Yes , its better at the moment to go with someone else . lets see the future claims and then think about AR .

          Manish

  113. hiral says:

    Does any body knows whether LIC Anmol/Amulya Jeevan term plans carries the risk of Accidential Death?
    As per my understanding these policies only covers the natural death.
    Does LIC offers any riders ???

    Pl. help.

    1. Hiral

      All the term plans cover accidental death , accidental riders are just for extra accidental cover + income in case of disablity

      manish

      1. hiral says:

        Thanx Manish.

        BTW: are there any term plan which covers terorist attact and/or natual calmity etc. etc..

        I read nice discussion on iTerm, does iTerm has any catch?

        Thank you in advance.

        1. Hiral

          I am not sure of that .. check on internet and let us know .

          Manish

  114. sunny says:

    manish as you asked..well right now no one is dependent on my wife…and i also have no dependent. we both earn almost same..around 5L pa and are in our late 20s. I am also thinking of taking another term insurance for her. I have a coverage of 30 lakhs… 15 from my company and 15 from LIC.

    Guys i admit that 99.99% is too much… 🙂 it stands revised to 95-96%.

    By the way both me and my wife are planning to start our retirement planning. Can i discuss my plans here so that you all can check if my strategy is correct?

    1. Srinivas says:

      When your wife is not dependent on you and you have no other dependents.
      first of all, you do not need insurance cover now.
      But you already have Rs 30 L coverage and still looking for one more?

      I don’t understand the reason for so much insurance?
      You can discuss other stuff in the Jago forum.

      Manish, What do you say?

  115. Pingback: Personal Finance « Resources
  116. pattu says:

    @ Sunny
    “99.99 % chance is you are not going to die”

    Who gave you such guarantees!? Cheaper is better is plain bullshit which many financial planners advocate. Every earning member has to ensure that life is hassle free for the family if he/she dies. Spending a little more in this regard should be acceptable to everyone, but unfortunately is not. 5 out of the 7 IR claims repudiated and 2 are pending. I wouldn’t want my family fall into those 5 or 2.

    1. IRDA should make the process more transparent on what made the company reject the claim , I am hearing more and more issues like this

      Manish

  117. Gaurav says:

    Rejecting 5 out of 7 claims………..i would not like to pay even 1 rupee to this company……guys look at Birla sunlife dream endowment plan or ICICI pure protect…Cheerz

    1. Brij Mohan says:

      From where you got this figures, please let me know, it will help me to know more about this.
      Thanks

      1. Gaurav says:

        Brij,

        Open this link:-

        Look at Page 151 of this report.

        Don’t even think of going with Aegon Religare.

        Manish please look into this and confirm if what i said is right or wrong.

        Cheerz
        Gaurav

        Cheerz
        Gaurav

        1. sunny says:

          i have taken this iterm policy for 25 lakh for 3600 rs for my wife. Document will be collected next week. No medical test required in her case. I am not sure about their claim rejection/service but I as a real customer will keep you all posted from time to time. I have read somewhere that in term insurance cheaper is better as it is just a contract. Give all the facts right and wait for the best. 99.99 % chance is you are not going to die. But yes the lack of riders is important and one should look into this issue. Another policy can be taken.

          1. Sunny

            Is your wide earning member , Is any one financially dependent on her ?

            Manish

          2. Srinivas says:

            @ Sunny,
            Your statement “99.99 % chance is you are not going to die” looks ridiculous to me. At the first place, How can you expect 99.99% of no-death?Who guaranteed it? Astrologer or GOD told you?
            If 99.99% no chance of death then why do you need insurance?

            My friend remember, “Life is what happens to you; when you are busy making other plans”

            1. Yes

              I support you .. 99.99% is too much of probability in favor , I am sure the mortality charts maker would faint if this were true .. I would say a good figure would be 95-96% . what do you say ?

              Manish

  118. Rahul Mohata says:

    Hi,
    I need to understand one thing….
    There are two ways in which premium for Term Insurance is charged :

    1. Wherein the premium is fixed for the entire term i.e If I pay 8250/- as first premium for Rs.50 Lac cover, I ll have to pay the same premium for the entire term..

    2. Wheerin the premium increases each year with the age.. i.e the premium increases from 8250/- in the first year to may be Rs.76620/- for the last year..

    I scanned the entire website and all blogs similar to you but strangely I find all silent on this issue…

    Pls enlighten about the same.. in case anyone of you has an answer

    1. Rajiv says:

      Hi Rahul,

      As far as my understanding goes, iTerm plan is a fixed premium plan. Since nowhere on the website or product brochure it is mentioned that premium increases with age, the presumption is always in favour of fixed premium. If they start charging increased premium every year or every five years, they are in for a big trouble from IRDA, as this is such a vital aspect of an insurance policy and silence on the subject could be suicidal for the company.

      Hope this helps…

      Rajiv

      1. Rahul Mohata says:

        Why the Company is suspiciously silent on this matter…
        Regarding the IRDA stick – In case they have filed the product accordingly with IRDA its legal and binding..
        In Sales – there are two ways to Sell – 1) Make False Statements 2) Hide True Statements..
        Pray the company is not into it…
        An Rajiv in Insurance there is no Room for the term “presumption”… Its a legal contract and thats binding…

        1. Rajiv says:

          Rahul,

          I agree with your views about sales and how the insurance companies try to sell their product by hiding the facts.

          Regarding your views on ‘presumption’, I agree with you to the extent that if it’s expressly written in the contract that the premium increases as the policy grows, then there is no problem. However, when the website, product brochure, and the contract simply uses the term ‘premium’, then there is legal presumption that premium is fixed. And I know this for a fact because I myself am a lawyer.

          To allay your fears, I’d suggest you to explore other companies’ term plans as well, you’ll see barring one or two exceptions, hardly anyone sells increasing premium term plan. And no one expressly states that premium is fixed or increasing. All they tell you is that premium may be paid annually/regularly, semi-annually/half-yearly, quarterly, monthly, etc.

          If you still have doubts, simply write an email to their customer support.

    2. Rahul

      As Rajiv said , All the companies have a fixed premium model even though its not written somewhere . So i would say dont worry .. the premium today already is high and factors in the time value . if it was to be increased every year , the premium would start low and would appreciate slowly . but thats not the case 🙂

      Manish

      1. Rahul Mohata says:

        Manish,
        Its not right ” All companies have fixed premium model”
        Since its a neutral platform with no vested interest, I feel we should speak FACTS.

        I ll like to share a small statistics which will be useful for all (source IRDA Annual Report 2008 09)

        Death claim statistics
        Why it matters? Some private insurers claim to offer lowest premium for term policies but statistics of death claims settled by them are shocking.
        What is the point in having a life insurance policy if the possibility of your insurance claim getting settled in case of an unfortunate incident is uncertain? Leave alone low premiums.

        In percentile terms – Out of All Claims serviced by AR – 71.43% of the claims were REPUDIATED & 28.57% Claims were PENDING and None i.e 0% claims were paid..

        I am sure figures might have improved by now but then repudiating 3 out of 4 claims in something SHOCKING…

        So….. Taking Cheap Life policies is not always advisable…

        PS – No personal grudge or anything against AR, Just trying to be Better Safe than Sorry..

        1. Rahul

          I agree that Private companies claim ratio;s are higher than PSU (LIC) , It would be safe to watch AR in coming days rather than taking a dip right now .

          Manish

  119. yogesh says:

    Hi Manish & Vikas,

    Yes this seems to be good combination as in 8200rs we are covered for all
    type of things for 50lachs..In Some plans which covers all things premium is more
    than this..

    Regards
    Yogesh

    1. Yogesh

      Ok great to see that you understand the product .

      Manish

  120. yogesh says:

    Hi Manish & Vikas,

    Yes this seems to be good combination as in 8200rs we are covered for all
    type of things for 50lachs..In Some plans which covers all things premium is more
    th

  121. yogesh says:

    Hi Manish,

    In case of iterm how the claims are to be made ?Is it online or
    any other way ?

  122. Suresh BS says:

    IRDA report for 2008-09

    1. thanks for the link

      Manish

  123. tejus chauhan says:

    hi,
    this is tejus chauhan. sir i want to sale this plan on comission by calling but I realy dont know the way to contect you. sir if I will get guidline from your side then I will look for a DSA of Aegon Religare. i want to work with you i am requesting you to contect me as soon as possible .
    mobile no. 9899946336

    1. Tejus

      You cant sell this product your side because by design , this plan is online and there are no agents in between, you can sell other products, I am not sure how I can help you , but my id is manish[at]jagoinvestor[dot]com

      Manish

  124. eenigma says:

    Hi Manish,

    I have been reading your blogs in last months and these are just great. Thought of seeking your advise on some concerns i have.

    I have purchased Bajaj Allianz’s ” UNITGAIN PLUS GOLD SIZE TWO” ULIP insurance wherein SA is 50 lacs and annual premium is Rs 50k in 2009.

    What is your recommendation for this policy ? any comments ? should i continue or look out for a better deal ? Kindly advise your detailed views and also on better product if you have. i have purchased this to shield home loan of Rs 50 lacs.

    Regards, eenigma

    1. Avoid this , Better go for term + MF . I have already mailed you for this .

      Manish

  125. Atul says:

    Hi Manish,

    Thanks for your valuable advice on iterm plan. I have already taken this and received the policy documents last week.
    I need your comments on some of these standard clauses of this policy:-

    1) It is mentioned that “IN THIS POLICY, THE INVESTMENT RISK IN INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO IS BRONE BY THE POLICY HOLDER”

    Please clarify me “What are the risk under this plan and why it had not been communicated to me at the time of taking this policy?

    2) In Clause 3.1 under Death Benefit it is mentioned that the Company will pay to the nominee or to the policyholder an amount equal to Base Plan applicable at the time of death.

    Now, regarding this clasue please clarify ” What is the amount of Base Plan and will it vary during tenure of this policy.”

    3) Nomination Schedule: Please clarify if Policyholder and Nominee under this policy together die in a accident, who will be eligible for the benefit under this policy.

    1. manish says:

      Atul

      1) I am not sure why they have mentioned “investment” there . its a pure insurnace plan ? Where does investment come into picture ?

      2) Base Plan means the base amount which you have taken insurance for . It will be fixed throughout tenure .

      3) This is mainly the 2nd nominee , just to make sure extra level of contact .

      goodluck

      Manish

      1. Srinivas says:

        Atul
        1. The statement “IN THIS POLICY, THE INVESTMENT RISK IN INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO IS BRONE BY THE POLICY HOLDER” is bound to be found only in ULIP plan. I wonder why they have it in term plan. bring this to their notice and rectify it.

        2. The base amount is the sum assured after the policy holder death. Again the word “Policyholder” in your statement worries…Isn’t it it should be only nominee?

        3. In this case, insurance amount is treated as beneficiary estate and any legal heir can claim the money. It’s always better to mention multiple nominees with % contribution. Even It is advised to write a “WILL” also, Will overtakes all your nomination wherever it is done.

        1. Srinivas

          2) the term “Policyholder” is again for same reasons as you mentioned in the first one . I suspect if they have sold a ULIP policy .

          3) WILL is definately desired .

          Good points overall .

          Manish

          1. Hiren Shah says:

            Hello Shrinivas

            Thanks for sharing such a valuable questions. Even I am planning to go for Aegon Religare iTerm plan, and so I asked these questions to Aegon Religare Company.

            Following is what they told me is –

            1) iTerm Plan Policy does not in any way give you any right whatsoever to share in the profits or surplus of the business of the Company. This is a non-linked non-participating plan. Regarding the Standard Policy provisions mentioning of the Investment risk, Aegon will make the changes shortly in the contract.

            2)Base Plan is sum assured (Since In some cases sum assured and riders both together amount to base plan). Kindly note death due to any circumstances whether accidental or natural death is covered. There is only one exclusion that is in case of death by suicide during the first policy year, or within one year from the date of reinstatement, no death benefit is payable.

            3) Class I legal heir (such as wife, children, parents) come up claiming their first right on the policy monies.

            Your points were really Good!, thanks for the same.

            Thanks.
            Hiren Shah

  126. Brij Mohan says:

    Hi Manish,
    I think the customer support of Aegon Reliagre has improved now,
    Last week I called Aegon Reliagare, the waited for few minutes for my turn later on I hung up. Then I generated the online Quote, where they have assigned a Advisor for me, who answered almost all my Queries with mail(3 mail replies) on the same day within hours. And today I got a call from Aegon Reliagare, who referred my previous call where I did not get a chance to speak to their representative. And answered my queries very patiently(which very rarely happens with other customer support, they are always in hurry to attent max number of calls), I am quite satisfied with the customer support now. I am planning to get this insurance this monday. And thanks for your suggestion too.

    Brij Mohan

    1. manish says:

      Brij

      Thats great news . Yeah i suppose the initial month was tough for them and they would surely try to make their services better . Thanks for the update 🙂

      Manish

  127. yogesh says:

    Hi all,

    One latest news.

    If any one wants to revive its lapse policy then can revive.Plz have a look at below link ..

    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/insurance/insurance-news/Revive-lapsed-LIC-policy-in-easy-instalments-now/articleshow/5511534.cms

    Regards
    Yogesh

    1. manish says:

      ohh Nice link .

      This will be helpful to people who are not able to pay their premiums .

      Manish

  128. Sujit Shah says:

    Hi Srinivas,

    In one your recent answers, you have quoted as below:
    “According to IRDA annual report for the last year, Out of 7 claims, 5 are rejected and 2 are pending”

    I have 2 queries:
    1. Is such information available to general public using the IRDA web site? If YES, then please provide the link.
    2. The statistics provided by IRDA for the last year is only for AEGON Religare or for ALL the insurance companies put together? Also, is the statistics only for the claim arising out of TERM Plan or for the claim arising out of all types of insurances.

    Regards,
    Sujit Shah

    1. Srinivas says:

      1. Yes. This information is available to general public. Link is here

      Follow this for last 10 years..http://www.irdaindia.org ->Annual & other reports

      2. This report has information about all insurance companies and about all types of insurance statistics including health insurance.

  129. yogesh says:

    thats great manish.hope u has enjoyed vacations

    1. manish says:

      Yogesh

      Yah thanks man .. I really enjoyed a lot 🙂

      Manish

  130. yogesh says:

    Hi Manish,

    How r u ?How u r doing?
    Is everything fine at ur end?

    Just thought to ask as didn’t see ur response from 2-3 days on people’s comments.

    Take care.

    Yogesh

    1. manish says:

      Yogesh

      I am doing great .. just back from a vacation, so chilling a bit 🙂

      Manish

  131. lazydoc says:

    is there a print option in yr website.
    still a diehard fan of hard copies.
    need to take only text of the wbpage.
    satchells,papers,highlighters,markers , pen and pencil are my forte.

    gr8 site.atlast there is a light at the end of tunnel of deception,deceit,and darkness of financial jargon

    thnx once again.

  132. Ravisuga says:

    Thanks Srinivas & Manish for your valuable comments. I’m still afraid (doubtful?) of low premium around 7K premium for 50L iTerm, in deciding whether to subscribe or not? Will they be sincere?
    .-= Ravisuga´s last blog ..பங்கு சந்தை – டெரிவேட்டிஸ் (Derivatives) =-.

    1. Srinivas says:

      Yes. I understand your concern and same is true with everyone. Aegean Religere is new to India and we don’t have figures to prove their claim settlement. According to IRDA annual report for the last year, Out of 7 claims, 5 are rejected and 2 are pending.
      Since insurance is a long term commitment, I suggest first you calculate how much insurance is required for you.
      Take insurance from LIC, Birla, Bajaj Allianz, ICICI, HDFC though premium is more.

    2. manish says:

      Ravisuga

      As Srinivas pointed out , first calculate the amount of cover you need . and then depending on your comfort level choose the company you want to take insurance from . LIC and SBI would work better for you it seems . However I dont mind taking it from AR .

      manish

  133. Sujit Shah says:

    Hi Manish,

    Wanted to know if the premium amount for Aegon Religare iTerm Plan is a Level premium or increasing every year (since the age of the insured also increases every year)?

    Regards,
    Sujit Shah

    1. srinivas says:

      It’s a level premium. Your entry age is already considered and premium is charged accordingly. I have never heard of increasing premium.

      Have you heard of it?
      Let us know.

      1. manish says:

        Srinivas

        We have regular premiums which comes down sometimes when govt makes some relaxations , same way it can also increase in future , but its very rare

        Manish

    2. manish says:

      Sujit

      Its generally fixed, the future inflation and increase in cost is already factored in the premium , however it depends on the policy document what they have put there. . it might happen that they might revise it in future depending on the rules and regulation from IRDA.

      manish

  134. Ravisuga says:

    Manish,
    Is it legal to have 2 term insurace policy of two different companies?
    Won’t there be any issues in submitting all original documents as only one original doc will be available?
    I remember having 2 medical insurance policies will not work out due to original bills and documents. Is it right?

    1. Ravisuga

      Yes , Its totally legal . Dont worry about the documents . I know cases when claims have been settled with 2 companies . See Guru’s comment .

      Manish

    2. Srinivas says:

      Hi Ravisuga,
      Having 2 medical insurance policies is valid and you can claim.
      Here is the procedure, Suppose you are covered for 2 lakhs by your employer and you have 2 lakh personal cover. then in a case where your medical expenses come out 4 lakhs. You can submit all the bills to the first insurance company and get the documents submitted certificate and submit this certificate to the 2nd insurance company. they will reimburse the remaining money.
      Refer this link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/insurance/insurance-news/Take-extra-cover-for-sake-of-your-health/articleshow/5414641.cms

      1. manish says:

        Srinivas

        thanks for the link . You are doing amazing contribution on this blog and I thank for that .

        manish

  135. pattu says:

    Yes double indemity is a famous movie about insurance fraud (1944)
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036775/
    This is a must see Manish, dont miss it.
    Also see:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_indemnity

    Several websites clearly mention ADD rider benefit as additional to main policy. Also if something is not listed in exclusion, the company has to pay. I dont think accidental death is listed as exclusion in any policy, term or endowment etc.

    1. ok

      I will watch it sometimes 🙂

      Manish

  136. pattu says:

    Watch the movie double indemnity to see how this works!

    1. manish says:

      double indemnity ? Is that a movie 🙂 ?

      Manish

  137. pattu says:

    Raju,

    You are mistaken. Accidental death and critical illness fall under the category of double indemnity where the nominee will get sum assured on plain term policy plus accidental death benefit if the death occurs by accident. The catch word is additional sum. You could clarify this with any insurance agent. Term policies cover suicide after the first year.Why wouldnt they cover accidental death. Of course more paperwork like FIR is needed for accidental claims.

  138. raju says:

    1. ACCIDENTAL POLICY MUST BE bought from Sarkari Companies, as the premium is Rs. 45/- per Lakh, whereas the private companies charge anywhere between Rs. 90 to Rs. 180 per Lakh.
    2. Your agent will be more interested in selling a product with many riders but don’t fall in the trap and buy only Accidental Plan with Permanent Disability Rider.
    3. The sarkari companies will settle the claim more speedily than private companies, though you must not expect courtesy and service from sarkari people/companies.

    1. Thanks for the tips

      Do you recommend some policies too ? Do you have some data supporting your argument ?

      Manish

  139. raju says:

    Excellent Blog. Congrats and keep it up. Thanks for the information.
    You need to provide insight on one important aspect of Term Plan that it only covers death due to natural causes and NOT ACCIDENTAL DEATH. And everybody particularly the people upto 50 yrs should Buy PURE Accidental Plan with Permanent Disability Rider.

    Moreover, certain issues like following aspects of insurance need more clarity :-
    1. iterm of Religare has been specifically designed for the educated masses who are net savvy and in all probability healthy and in the productive age group.
    2. Look at the maximum term available i.e. 25 years and you can easily conclude that most of the people who will be net savvy are likely to remain alive and probably More Healthy than non-net savvy cohort of people.
    3. So the product ism cleverly launched for elite few and not for general masses.
    4. This product will definitely revolutionize the Indian Insurance Industry and others will be bound to come out with better and more cost effective Plans.
    5. No doubt it is the cheapest Term Plan, but what about claim settlement. Today company is only collecting the Premiums.
    6. In one of your articles you had highlighted this aspect that diversify insurance and buy from 2 companies. My question is Why the company will refuse to entertain a claim? Do highlight this aspect.
    7. Agents are only interested in getting the new policy/customer and not interested in servicing the old customers/policies, because they in any case will get their Commissions out of the premium paid by the policy holder. Highlight this aspect.

    I have information on all the above aspects, but since you are already doing an excellent work, kindly highlight elaborate on these points. Rest in the next.

    God Bless You

    1. manish says:

      Raju

      Thanks for our excellent and detailed comment . My first question to you is who told you that Accidental death is not covered in plain term policies ?

      5. yes , this is valid point and definately we should wait for some time to see how claims are honoured from this company .

      6. The reasons why company can refure to pay the claim are many , like no proper documents supported , no correct information provided from customers etc .

      7. Yes , this the problem in india, we still dont have trusted agents who can service customers well .. Lets see how IRDA takes this forward in coming years .

      Manish

      1. raju says:

        You can log to premium calculator website of any insurance company and therein it is clearly mentioned that ACCIDENT POLICY if required can be taken as additional rider. And the premium varies from Rs. 90 to Rs. 180 per 1 Lac of insurance.

        I suggest to all – Buy Accidental Insurance directly from sarkari companies @ Rs 40-45 per lakh

        1. manish says:

          As per Pattu’s comment . Accidental cover is always covered with term insurance untill and unless they specifically say “Accidental Death is not covered” .

          Manish

  140. Rajiv says:

    You are right, Manish! Insurance companies in India (apart from LIC) lack experience in handling and settling claims. Though most of these are established players in the West, but Indian business environment and customers’ expectations are quite different.

    I’d suggest a study of the claim settlement and other important data in their home country/State. That’ll give some indication as to the overall standing of the insurance companies vis-a-vis claim settlement.

    Rajiv

    1. manish says:

      Rajiv

      Let me see if i can get detailed infomation on this . thanks for your views 🙂

      Manish

  141. Srinivas says:

    Govt is planning to increase FDI cap in insurance sector and many Japanese, south Korean giants are eying Indian insurance market. Hold on for few months to get cheaper and attractive policies and we get time to evaluate Aegean Religere also.

    1. manish says:

      Srinivas

      Thats Good news from Competition point . can you give me the links where you read that ?

      Manish

        1. manish says:

          Thanks . I just saw the link . But as per them they are eying some company which have wide network across India . I dont see anything other than LIC or SBI for the best reach 🙂

          Dont you think it will only add to the “crowd” ?

          Manish

          1. Srinivas says:

            Yes, They are not allowed to do business independently. They have to operate through local tie-up. After they take stake in some insurance company; I don’t think they will sit idle; they are expected to aggressively market their product.

            Just like we select mutual fund based on their performance history; Isn’t a better idea to look claim history and other details before buying insurance? What do u say?

            1. manish says:

              Srinivas

              Just like MF , Past performance is a critical thing to look at in Insurance also , but apart from that We also have to look at other things .

              Better to look at IRDA reports for this . The insurance industry is still not too matured i think .

              Manish

  142. Rakesh says:

    I would advise members not to jump and take this policy, wait for few more months we could see many other private players coming up with attractive term plans. I presonally had a very bad experience with religare, so i will not recommend this policy to anyone. Their customer service is pathethic. Last year i had taken a term plan and the agent promised me a cash discount. Its been over 4 months that i have been following with them but to no awail.
    So think twice before buying this policy.

    Rakesh

    1. manish says:

      Err .. Sorry to hear about your experience . I would suggest you complain about them at Banking Ombudsman .

      Manish

      1. anonymous says:

        Cash discount ? mean returning some part of his commission… BTW it is illegal as per rules.
        Is it the only reason behind dis advocating the company and policy ?

  143. Yogesh says:

    Hi Manish,,

    In mail chain I suggested to have a section of investment options.
    and u asked upto what extend.I understand ur concern its difficult to put each n evry thing.

    As per my view u can only include Name of investment option of any nature whether Equity,Debt,Equity + Debt .If we know the name can search details.

    And Plus can put some details on any product which is ur favourite and has come in market

    Name will also be of great help for us.If we ahve fuirther any doubt can consult with u.

    1. manish says:

      Yogesh

      thats the motto of jagoinvestor . We are not here to recommened products ,. I want to teach how to fish , not provide fish .

      So I tell how to think , how to choose etc . Now choosing is upon you . Dont you think thsi is the right way of doing thing 🙂 . iam sure you are 🙂

      Manish

  144. Yogesh says:

    Hi NKanai,

    Thanks for sharing the data.

    How u got this information ? Plz share with us.
    From which link can get such useful information.

    1. manish says:

      Yogesh

      Here is the link :

      Manish

      1. Srinivas says:

        Thanks NKanani. I had a look at previous annual reports of IRDA. I see LIC has highest claim % and followed by HDFC, ICICI, Reliance Life, Birla Life, Bajaj Allianz but I see SBI comes almost after all these.
        This is a good data to be considered.

        1. NKanani says:

          Thanks Srinivas for looking into previous reports and coming up with the claim % comparison!

          1. manish says:

            Good work guys .. Its great to see how readers here are helping each otehr .

            Manish

        2. pankaj says:

          CSR is the claim settlement ratio. Claim settlement data has been taken for all the death claims made with the insurer and not for a particular policy. Claim settlement ratio is calculated by the formula- claim settled/total claims.
          Do not be miscarried by the csr 46 % of AEGON as it is comparatively new insurer and it takes few years to make correct assessment

  145. NKanani says:

    From the latest data published on the IRDA (2008 – 2009), the death claims received by Aegon Religare are 7, of which 5 were rejected (repudiated) and decision on 2 is pending. The actual reasons (which might be rightly confidential) could be genuine, but we need to look for at least a year or two to believe Aegon Religare.

    1. manish says:

      Yes . Thanks
      Better wait for more time .

      Manish

  146. Yogesh says:

    Hi Manish,

    Is there any other iterm or term insurance which can be slightly costly but more secure.

    I think no body will mind paying slightly more n in return getting secured product.
    Thats what the insurance is about security.If its not there any its objective is diluted.

    First peference to any secure iterm insurance(from companies like SBI,LIC,HDFC,ICICI) n than to normal term insurance.

    Thanks

    1. manish says:

      hmm.. That makes sense .

      Yes . security should be considered . I think companies should also comeup with campaigns which teach people how secure they are .

      Manish

  147. Anand says:

    Hi Manish,

    I am currently of 28 years and would like to get the insurance till the age of 60 years i.e. ~ 32 years which is not possible with iTerm(max. 25 years).

    Wht do u suggest for me? Should I take (for example) 50 Lakhs plan for 25 years, stop paying the premium when I attain 35 years, and then start a new iTerm plan for next 25 years?

    Am confused, please suggest..

    1. manish says:

      Anand

      The reason why you want to get insured till 60 is that you might be earning till then and people might be dependent on you . But it might happen that you get retired early also , if you make more money than you think you can 🙂

      Also , in later years you will also have most of the savings to support your goals , So I think that at the moment its fine to go for iTerm or any term plan .

      Manish

  148. anonymous says:

    Sometime back I finally decided to take this I term plan. Paid premium on 10 Dec, Medical on 25st Dec (date of my choice), Policy is received on 5th Jan. Good turnaround time ??

    If anyone of you wanted to know so called T &C , I can scanned the policy and put it on web for your cautious view, I didn’t find any T & C * error nous* or unruly to policy holder, you might want to have look

    1. manish says:

      Great. . Please put it on web and let us know

      Manish

  149. Atul says:

    Hi Manish,

    First of all, Thanks for such useful information for this product. I have already taken this civer for 50 lacs sum assured. My age is 30 years and term is 25 years. Now after one week of payment, nobody from AR has contacted me for Collection of Form and Medical Test. I don’t know how this company is dealing with customers. If this is the postion at the time of sell, we can assume that at the time of claim by our family member, how they will treat them. I would like to convey this message to AR, that they are not selling any mobile phone or electronic gadgets, but they are selling a Insurance Product. Once customers will loose faith, they will never show their face to this Company. Only Cheap cover is not the only thing a custoer is looking for. It is the faith and customer service, which make a great insurance company. I am now trapped and having same feeling like I have bought a Cheap Chinese Instrument.
    As far as Claim is concerned, I donot want to fell guilty now for my surviving family. I am sure if this the condition they will certainly put claiment in pathetic condition.

    Even after payment of my premium, I am not insured. Is this amount to cheating. It is not lake of customer service, but it is deliberate attempt to cheat the peoples.
    I hope you will understand my position and convey this message to AR on behalf of the readers of this blog. One more thing, until all issue resolved, please donot recommend this plicy to other peoples.
    Thanks,
    Atul

    1. manish says:

      Atul

      You should mail anita.rao@aegonreligare.com . With your queries and issues . I am sure she will revert back .

      Manish

      1. Srinivas says:

        Insurance is a long term commitment, more than cheap premium; Trust is important. No matter what IRDA rules are meant for but still claim settlement is a big concern in India. Many a time we buy cheap chinese product which does not even run for 5 months then we think “Oh! I should have bought branded item”. I have experienced it many times. I suggest go for trusted band names like LIC, SBI, HDFC.

        1. manish says:

          in that case lic is the only one you can trust , Even HDFC and SBI have bad claim ratio compared to lic . What do you think srinivas ?

          manish

          1. Srinivas says:

            Yes. Even LIC has also lowest rejection rate but not 0%. What I meant here was trust level is more in LIC, SBI, than AR.

  150. manish says:

    “Before Assessment year 2008-09 ,only payment by cheque was allowed under this section but from Ay 2008-09 onwards the deduction is allowed by other mode”

    Which means my information was stale . Anything other than Cash will do then 🙂 . Thanks for the clarification .

    Manish

  151. pattu says:

    Cheque payment is not necessary for tax deduction acc to

    http://www.simpletaxindia.org/2009/01/deduction-us-80d-mediclaim-policy.html
    and
    http://www.smartmoneyindia.co.cc/2009/03/medical-health-insurance-premium.html

    I work in a central govt org and I dont give any proof of cheque payment for TDS. I only give photocopy of policy document which does not give details of payment.

  152. Amit Agarwal says:

    Wow…well thats sumthing I was completely unaware of…U mean 2 say that if I make my premium payments by a Credit Card then I aint entitled for Tax Benifits, Or am I getting it wrong?

    😡
    Amit

    1. manish says:

      Amit

      thats correct . You can get tax benefit only when you pay by cheque . The reciept you submit generally contains the cheque number .

      Manish

      1. Jagbir says:

        manish,

        Am I reading right here? I always pay my premium online by credit card and they always send receipt to my mail which I disclose while claiming tax benefit. This is what I am doing since last 3 years and have no issues. Can you please elaborate more here?
        .-= Jagbir´s last blog ..Disable ssl ver 2 in apache for pci compliance =-.

        1. manish says:

          Jagbir

          Ignore that .. i was wrong

          Manish

          1. Jayaprakash Kanreddy says:

            Manish,

            You scared me. Good that you were wrong in last comment. Even I paid my iTerm payment online through credit card and I submitted it to IT department in section 80C. I hope it is valid.

            1. yea i got that wrong !

              Manish

  153. Madan Kumar Rajan says:

    Sir, I am going to take this life insurance. However, they aren’t allowing to transfer money from my SB account which is in HDFC bank (HDFC is not listed there). So I have to use my credit card only. Can I avail tax benefit under 80C if I use my credit card? Please do reply. I am kind of stuck in the mid of applying.

    Thanks,
    Madan Kumar Rajan

    1. manish says:

      Err … No ..

      You will get the tax benefit only when you pay the premium through Cheque .. You wont get any benefit if you use your credit card .

      Manish

      1. Madan Kumar Rajan says:

        Thanks a lot Manish and Others for your comments… As pattu has said, it is good to hear that cheque payment is not mandatory. Thanks people for sharing information.

        Thanks,
        Madan Kumar Rajan

        1. manish says:

          Great 🙂 .. keep coming 🙂

          Manish

  154. Deepak says:

    Thanks a lot manish and keep it up….
    I have few questions to ask you…

    I ‘m very confused whether I shd take critical illness rider in my term insurance or not .
    This rider is generally very costly and don’t cover many deseases .
    Is it not advisable to avoid this rider in term insurance and have one health insurance .
    Can you please also explain me if I need to have Accidental rider in my policy .
    Also why insurance companies are charging very high premiums for life time policy and very few plans available to cover for life .
    Can you pls suggest one life time term plan for me .(You already did this …:-) so leave this for now..)
    One health plan..I ‘m not willing to have 1or 2 yr health plan..instead longer term..

    Thanks
    Deepak

    1. manish says:

      The first thing you have to decide is if you need critical illness cover or not .. generally everyone needs it . Also have a look at what different illness are covered there , does it fit into your criteria or not ?

      If yes and you are satisfied then it makes sense to go with term insurance rider . Else not ..

      Try apnainsurance.com to compare .

      Manish

  155. Mukul says:

    First my compliments for compiling this wonderful site. It serves to finance nerds and smarties also.
    The term plan from Aegon is cheapest. But hw trustworthy is the company?Also fact that wheter claim settlement will be a problem?

    1. manish says:

      Mukul .. read my post on Why Private insurance companies are safe .. Dont worry to much on safety side ..

      Manish

  156. Rohan Choutray says:

    Religare seems to be really aggressive in the financial sector. Off late I am seeing a lot of right noises from them- be it hiring, or new products, M&A’s etc. Guess they plan to be real big in the financial space- not only in India but also globally (One should read this strategist story on religare http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/eyesthe-world/379507/ to get a deeper insight on what future does this company holds).

    1. manish says:

      thanks for the link Rohan

      Nice work . So what do you think abour products from AR ?

      Manish

  157. Rakesh says:

    Manish,
    I had taken a term plan from AR in August, now with iterm plan gaining recongnition should i cancel my existing plan and take this one. Please do advise.

    Rakesh

    1. manish says:

      That is one of the option 🙂

      Another thing you can do is

      1. Take another policy for 50% of amount insured incase you are still underinsured .

      Manish

  158. nixon says:

    I think AR s premium are lower because there are no agents involved, so no commission to them. Am i correct or missing something? Thanks for the nice article manish.

    1. manish says:

      yes .. correct . thats the main reason 🙂

    2. JP says:

      I think there are more reasons and agent commission is also one of the reason (but mayn’t be the main reason)
      Insurance agents normally sell only endowment / money back / ULIPs because their commission is more (7-20% incl trail commisions) and commission from term insurance is the lowest for them (about 3-5% – reason why they don’t promote term insurance).
      If the commissions for term insurance is low, the difference between premiums (with agents and without agents) shouldn’t be more BUT in iterm the difference is huge…
      I feel one more reason is updated mortality rate (mortality rate is improving year after year)…….
      – Aegon might be using current updated mortality rate
      – others might be using old mortality rate (5 years back) and a higher rate.
      One more possible reason……Aegon might be aggressive to get customers & hence offering premiums with very low margin for them
      May be other companies need to review mortality rate and come out with new reduced premiums……hope it happens

      These are my views
      JP

      1. manish says:

        Nice points JP

        The new mortatlity rate vs old one is really good point worth noting .. 🙂

        Manish

        1. JP says:

          More details on Mortality rates in India reproduced from google search

          JP
          —————————————————————————————————
          Year Death rate Rank Percent Change Date of Information
          2003 8.49 107 2003 est.
          2004 8.28 108 -2.47 % 2004 est.
          2005 8.28 107 0.00 % 2005 est.
          2006 8.18 110 -1.21 % 2006 est.
          2007 6.58 145 -19.56 % 2007 est.
          2008 6.4 146 -2.74 % 2008 est.
          2009 6.23 153 -2.66 % July 2009 est

          Definition: This entry gives the average annual number of deaths during a year per 1,000 population at midyear; also known as crude death rate. The death rate, while only a rough indicator of the mortality situation in a country, accurately indicates the current mortality impact on population growth. This indicator is significantly affected by age distribution, and most countries will eventually show a rise in the overall death rate, in spite of continued decline in mortality at all ages, as declining fertility results in an aging population.

          Source: CIA World Factbook – Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of September 17, 2009
          ———————————————

          1. JP says:

            sorry for misalignment

          2. manish says:

            Great work JP !!

            This shows that mortality rates are becoming attractive over log period of time in India .

            Manish

  159. Vikas says:

    Hello Guys!

    Why give so much importance to a character called “Rahul” over his character assasination comments.

    I am sure Manish would be the last person to dislike any negative comments and it is not absolutely necessary to go with the tide. We are all welcome to debate and counter his opinions. That makes a very healthy learning for all of us.

    However, people like Rahul should know their ‘lines of limit’.

    Did Manish forced anybody to buy this policy holding a pistol on our temple?
    Are we kinder garden child to take everything on face value whatever Manish tells in this site?
    Is god’s greatest gift ‘common sense’ lacking in us or diminished state?

    If your answer is “NO” to these questions, it would be truly dissapointing to accuse him of anything and that too reading his extensive detailed painfuly analysed posts FREE OF COST at the comforts of our drawing room.

    May be Rahul did not express what he wanted to clearly, but he should think twice before bluntly putting something in serious allegations.

    I have no personal enmity with Rahul either, but I am equally dissapointed and hurt when somebody tries to ‘derail’ a young youth who tries hard to instill financial awarness in all of us.

    Before somebody like Rahul comment, I would like to clarify “I have not been paid” by Manish to write this comment. 🙂 🙂

    Regards

    Vikas

    1. manish says:

      Thanks for your detailed comments 🙂 ..

      I am glad that people trust this blog so much 😉 . Keep coming 🙂

      Manish

  160. ANKUR says:

    Dear Manish

    I Personally think you are doing a good job…..so chill!
    Personal investment is always a personal choice as it depends on the indiviual if he wants to buy the product or not.
    Regarding AR i feel it is a good product but still new in market to trust it.
    As per AR if you are under 35 and if your sum assured is below 50 lakhs you dont have to undergo medical tests,acc to my friends most of these medical tests are used by insurance companies to hike up the premium……..i want to buy a insurance of 1 crore,do you think it would be advisable if i buy 2 seprate policies of 49lakhs each from AR.

    RGDS Ankur

    1. manish says:

      I never knew about that rule .. thanks for teaching me that .

      But if you are going with iTerm , its not recommended that you take it for less than 50 lacs if you need for more . So better take one from AR , say Rs 60 lacs and then take 40 lacs from other one like SBI or HDFC .

      Anyways .. in AR you never know if you will go for medical or not ..

      Manish

  161. karthik says:

    Hi Manish,

    I have been following your articles for the past few months and would rate it in the top 3 most informative financial blogs.

    I have learnt so much from your blog. I agree with the comments here saying that investors should do thier due diligence before buying a product. Not every product would suit everyone. So keep it going.

  162. Purnendu Bagchi says:

    To Rahul & Manish,

    I would like to look at the issue from a different angle. The allegation is that since Manish is promoting a particular insurance company he is definitely paid by them. Even if we assume, for the sake of argument,that it is correct (i.e. Manish being paid by Religare) what is the harm? He is not forcing anybody for buying it. That choice is with the individual who after searching in other forum (like mouthshut etc) can take a judicious decision. Moreover, if logically Manish can establish that Religare is a better alternative in the hands of the investor there is no harm in accepting it. Character assassination is highly unwanted. From my personal experience I can say that Religare is relatively a less advertised but rapidly progressing insurance company. Finally on a personal level, after following “Jagoinvestor” for last few months I am the last person to doubt the honesty and integrity of Manish. My request to you is that if you are personally and honestly confident about the usefulness of a particular product please promote it fearlessly, notwithstanding any allegation that may come in the way.
    Thanks,
    Purnendu Bagchi

    1. manish says:

      Thanks Purnendu

  163. NKanani says:

    Manish, you are doing a great job providing completely unbiased reviews about companies and products. You stress points for those products that you think will be good for investment purposes. Each day i return from office, i try to find time to have a look at what you have written – so please do not stop it.

    Again, I have not come across someone so generous to give away all the source links directly – for example of other bloggers. This makes your reviews and your intentions to be as honest as possible – financial freedom for (indian) investors. Secondly we as readers post comments / queries and you ensure that you reply to *every* one of the comments – this is something highly responsive.

    You take real effort to create charts / diagrams so that we understand easily – you do this for subjects which are new for you. This is something i have not seen others do – each one would be good in only one aspect – but you try to learn from all the corners of financial planning. {should i ask you how much time do you have to spend each day for such wonderful efforts!!}

    And for comments like rahul’s i am not sure whether is it possible for you to just delete this kind of comments (In economic times, each of the comment goes online after review – you could do this as well – since anyway you read all the comments!!). An ocean like you should not worry too much about small stones – these will be present, just ignore and keep flowing with all your strength (don’t you see how many of us keep asking you for advice! that clearly shows that none have such opinions).

    One suggestion: You already have Questions and Answers sections. Could you have some section like ‘Wish List’ where we could add just ‘topics’ which we would like to have understanding for? For e.g., “tax planning” and “tax rules” – for salaried employees is one such topic (Yes, this is a too vast topic and with ever changing rules!!).

    1. manish says:

      Thanks Nehal

      I put around 18-20hrs/week for creating charts and writing articles and working on blog .

      I also have control over all the comments, I can reject it if i wish to 🙂 and delete any comment i need .

      You have a good suggestion . I had an account with scribit , will be putting that again , its a suggestion widget which is good alternative to ‘Wish List’ (actually its same as Wish list , just others can also vote for topics )

      Thanks for your support and kind words 🙂

      Manish

      1. rajesh khandelwal says:

        dear manish,
        first i would like to thank from the bottom of my heart for providing all the wonderful knowledge through your website and would request you not to get bogged down by critics .this is because they may be either have been shortchanged by someone in their expiriences or worst they may be people who are threatened by the revelation to public about a better product at bargaining pricers jeoparadising their vested interest.so be firm when you are true and i and many like me believe you are and continue to educate people by your knowledge as you are doing a great service to your fellow citizens and critics will sooner or latter realise their mistakes and will be left with egg on their face.NEVER EVER THINK OF NOT PROMOTING SOMETHING WHICH YOU HONESTLY FEEL OF PROMOTING.
        thanking you,
        rajesh khandelwal,kolkata

        1. manish says:

          Thanks Rajesh 🙂 ..

          Manish

  164. rahul says:

    “let me put some things they told me”

    Wow! You seem to be relentless in your support for this company after all the negative comments!!

    I think its about time someone asked: How much are they paying you? You are not their customer. Due to some “instinct” you think they are good company , they call you over for a PR thing and then you run a big post with no personal experience!!
    Hilarious. Don’t lose your reputation earned with some good posts with this crap.

    1. manish says:

      Rahul

      Mis-understanding ruins relationships .. This blog has a relationship with each of its readers and I dont want to break it . I have not done anything which is against readers . I am fine with allegations 😉 , but you should have talked to me before putting the comment , that works best .
      but i should give an explaination also 🙂 . You along with other readers should know

      This is the mail i sent to AR on Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 4:24 PM

      ————-

      Anita

      I need some answers of queries .. My readers on my blog are discussing how they are facing issues with Customer care at Aegon religare . Here is one comment from a reader

      “Dont ever go for Aegon Religear. I had been trying since I read about this policy on Jagoo Investor. I took all the possible ways to contact there nonsense peoples over Tollfree or paid lines but did not get any responce other than “Put on Hold since I am a valuable customer to them ” . They even dont take efforts to respond to emails also.”

      I would really appreciate if you can give me explaination of why this is happening and how AR is going to take care of this , It would improve customers faith .

      Manish

      ———–

      So after receiving the mail , they called me around evening and I told them what are the issues Aegon Religare is facing and why there product is so cheap compared to another term insurance in market and what they are trying to do , why their customer care sucks and what they should do . The representative were sorry and told me the reasons behind what all is happening . The main issue is beyond imagination response from users and there servers and customer service being small for the size they expected .

      They are lazy and are not doing the perfect job and they really suck at it . But lets make sure we try to co-operate and understand others problem , Not that they will succeed in India for sure .. but atleast this company has some guts to come up with leadership in Term Insurance which our country needs .

      I have the telephonic conversation recorded in my phone , but due to my being technically challanged , i am yet not successful in transferring it to my computer so that I can send you that 🙂 . Still trying 😉 .

      My apologies if you got an impression that I am getting paid by them to do the reviews 🙁 , the problem is on my side then … I would appreciate if you give your honest opinions every time . dont hesitate 🙂

      Manish

    2. Jayaprakash Kanreddy says:

      Rahul,

      I think he is relentless in promoting the term insurance for the benefit of this blog readers but not for the benefit of aegon religare. Just because few people got frustrated by the customer service, it doesn’t mean the company should be screwed.

      I got a much better experience with iTerm policy. I took this policy in Jan 2010 and my permanent address is in Hyd and I stay in Pune. There are two types of tests done in it. One is blood sample collection and after that I need to visit local diagnostic centre for ECG. As I was in Pune and I was heading to Hyd for a week break, and I asked them to conduct tests in Hyd they said fine and collected my samples in Hyd, but I couldn’t managed to go to diagnostic center in Hyd. After couple of trials to customer care I sent a mail to Anita and she promptly replied and arranged medical test in a diagnostic center in Pune. All went well after that. I was having patience in this case as I made them wait for my availability and all was done in a month and I got my policy after a week.

      Its the same experience with couple of my friends who on my suggestion took this policy.

      Just because Manish is advising us to be patient, it doesn’t mean he is promoting them. Even if they pay Manish, it is nothing and he deserves much more than that.

      Keep going Manish, Just ignore others comments and they are always there in this society to throw stones if something is going good. They never try to get positive points from anything, they are always negative minded.

      1. Jayaprakash

        Thanks , good to heat that you had good experience .

        Manish

  165. Suhas says:

    Hi Manish,

    I have found your blog extremely informative and visit it often.But I would personally recommend that you edit this particular blog entry warning folks about this company’s customer service.I have already bought this insurance and until the payment is done the system works fine.One is supposed to sign the proposal after the payment and submit the relevant documentation to the company which they personally collect from you at no cost.Until this point no issues.I have done this around three weeks back and after that have sent at least 6 to 7 emails , but no one has bothered to reply.My money is gone and I don’t have the policy with me yet.They don’t even have an escalation matrix on their website to escalate this matter.Sincere request that you please put a warning on this company on this blog entry so that people are not cheated.Unfortunately Cheap here is = very poor customer service.It is a faceless organization and customer care number/email is never answered

    Thanks
    Suhas

    1. manish says:

      Suhas

      your frustration is valid . Its happening with everyone .. However i had a talk with AR representative and they are really sorry for this . things were not suppose to go this way as they claim .. keep patience and let me put some things they told me 🙂

      Manish

  166. pattu says:

    No You are mistaken. ICICI lombard CI policy is practically the same as any term insurance rider and it is cheaper than that offered by AR. Both cover 9 illness.

    ICICI Prudential crisis cover is total different policy and is more comprehensive covering 35 illness.

    The point is there is at least one stand alone CI policy cheaper than a term insurance CI rider.
    So we cannot generalize riders are cheaper.

    I was just saying a more comprehensive CI policy from ICICI prudential covers more illnesses and is therefore more expensive. This of course cannot be compared with a rider.

    1. manish says:

      ok in that case ICICI one is better . what i meant was that generally riders are cheaper than stand alone .. But we have this one as exception and may be 1-2 more ..

      thanks for finding this one out 😉

      Manish

  167. pattu says:

    ICICI lombard covers
    Cancer
    Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery
    Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack)
    End Stage Renal Failure
    Major Organ Transplant
    Stroke
    Paralysis
    Heart Valve Replacement Surgery
    Multiple Sclerosis
    ——————————————————————————————
    Aegon level term CI rider covers:
    1. Cancer
    2. Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery
    3. Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction)
    4. Kidney Failure (End-stage Renal Failure)
    5. Major Organ Transplant
    6. Stroke
    7. Paralysis
    8. Heart Valve Surgery
    9. Surgery for a disease of the Aorta
    ——————————————————————————-
    Practically the same, there maybe important differences of course. Anyway the best critical illness policy I found is ICICI Prudential Crisis cover with 35 illness covered. The premium is of course expensive but I think worth it

    1. manish says:

      ok , in that case what i said was correct .. It does not apply to critical illness rider . Thanks for letting this know 🙂

      Manish

  168. pattu says:

    “ust remember that riders with term insurance are cheaper because the cost is already factored in for sales and commission in main product , where as a stand alone policy will be costly because they have to spend extra on sales and promotion and commision”

    NOT TRUE. for CI: For a sum assured CI benefit of Rs. 6 lakhs:

    ICICI Lombard Critical care has a premium of 2457 (yearly renewable)
    ARegon Religare Level term plans CI rider premium: Rs. 3348

    Of course standalone CI policy has to be renewed yearly or every 5 years while CI rider is for full period of term insurance. But now IRDA has now put stringent guidelines and has said that standalone policies must be renewed up to permissible age limit.

    Maybe Accident insurance rider is cheaper.

    1. manish says:

      May be true for Critical Illness . I told that riders are cheaper with Term insurance because I heard this in a talk from FPSB in bangalore.

      Do ICICI Critical illness cover Policy cover more illnesses that AR ?

      Manish

  169. yogesh says:

    hi manish & all,
    q1.
    what is meaning of rider?I really didn’t understand its meaning..Can u explain so
    i can understand.
    q2.
    From how many years AR is been in india ?
    q3.
    what is difference in iterm & term insurance of AR?(answer in terms of benefits)
    q4.
    Does this company fulfil its promises ?Is it loyal?

    1. manish says:

      Ans 1 : Rider is an added benefit with insurance policy like critical illness or Accidental benefit .You can take it for extra cost . if you dont need it , you can avoid .

      Ans 2 : 1 yrs , Do you define good companies by how much old they are , in that case go for LIC .

      Ans 3: iterm is a pure protection plan without riders and without any agent in between , Term insurance from AR is regular term insurrance

      Ans 4 : you should ask this question in more business oriented way .. What is “Fulfilling its promise” ? or “being Loyal” ? Probably you want to ask “How good is its track record in settling claims ” , “What are the chances that the company will survive in Indian market” ?

      So the answer is Its all regulated by IRDA , its a small unorganised market where anyone can enter without meeting the norms . Its also something depending on your risk appetite and attitude towards risk . If you are too concerned or not a risk taker , the best idea would be to stick with some one you trust .

      Manish

      Manish

  170. Amit Agarwal says:

    Also, I read the brochure for iterm….

    It states –
    “Tax Benefits – Section 80C, 10 (10D) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 would apply. Please consult your tax advisor for confirmation.”.

    I believe insurance is not solely for tax benefits but still can someone clarify…I guess the company itself is not sure about its policy 😛

    Thnx…..

    1. manish says:

      Amit

      All Life insurance premiums get tax benefit under 80C ans 10(10D) (no tax on maturity) .

      manish

  171. Amit Agarwal says:

    Yes…JagoInvestor is living upto its name…gr8 work guys…
    After the basic plan, I guess we should also discuss the riders in more detail as they can greatly influence your premium (for those who don’t require riders) and others might just stay ignorant about it (though they should get it but aren’t aware of its need).

    Can anyone put some light on this?

    thnx………

    1. manish says:

      Amit

      I would write an article on it soon .. but for now .. Just remember that riders with term insurance are cheaper because the cost is already factored in for sales and commision in main product , where as a stand alone policy will be costly because they have to spend extra on sales and promotion and commision 🙂

      Manish

  172. Niranjan says:

    @ Amit

    You are really a lucky man !!!! . But belive me I had been trying since a week long but every time I got either a hold request or they ask to record my query. Every time i have recorded my query along with my personal number. But to my surprise I have not received any call from them.
    ( I am neither an insurance agent nor a Product reviewer this is just what I am facing)

    @Manish

    Ohh man … I dont want to point you falsly … Not at all !!!! After reading your blogs containts I could realize my insurance needs and I have taken a some good decisions towards financial planning. what ever your reviews , planning calculators and illustrations are one of grate kind of investment documets I have read so far. Thanks and keet it up …. 🙂

    1. manish says:

      Niranjan

      thanks for the reply and faith in Jagoinvestor . I believe Customer service from AR is not upto the mark it should be and hence we should wait for some months to settle things down and then re look things . I will try to contact AR regarding this .

      Manish

  173. Amit Agarwal says:

    Hi All,
    Having read that many ppl have experienced horrible customer service, I gave it a try too….this being my first call regarding iterm to AR.

    FORTUNATELY, I was very satisfied with the customer service, believe me my call lasted for only 6-7 minutes….6 min 38 sec to be precise. Also, all my queries were satisfactorily answered too.

    Q1) I was unable to buy the policy as I could not select my city…the drop down was not enable…
    Ans) There were technical issues which were fixed. I cross checked and yes it was working now.

    Q2) I also asked them that there is approx 25% diff between their own products, products being LEVEL TERM and iTERM (for same term and Sum Assured)…
    Ans) the lady told me that its the agents commission and the processing fee that makes LEVEL TERM expensive and which is why they introduced the concept of Online Policy.

    Q3) I asked about the detailed procedure….as they cannot simply rely on the data entered by any person…
    Ans) She replies that online info is verified by a background check and after generating an equote, A detailed list will be sent to you via email and a courier will be sent containing all policy documents. This might take up to three days.
    Post 3 days, u need to fix an appointment and their office boy will pick up all the req documents from your residence.

    Q4) I queried regarding any medical tests associated with this policy…
    Ans) She told me that if they feel like a medical test, they would inform us to get one done…AND..the EXPENSE for the MEDICAL TEST WILL BE BORNE BY THE COMPANY. Yeh hui na faayde ki baat….

    Don’t know whether I was fortunate or u guys had a bad luck…..

    @Manish –
    Yes, absence of riders does gives other policies an edge over iterm…but I wonder if riders are at all needed….this though depends on individual needs…..

    thnks………n sry for such a long post…. 🙂

    1. manish says:

      Many thanks for sharing this . I will add some points in the main article so that people who have doubts will benefit .

      Manish

  174. Niranjan says:

    Hi All

    Dont ever go for Aegon Religear. I had been trying since I read about this policy on Jagoo Investor. I took all the possible ways to contact there nonsense peoples over Tollfree or paid lines but did not get any responce other than “Put on Hold since I am a valuable customer to them ” . They even dont take efforts to respond to emails also.

    Hi Manish
    What you are providing to investment society is a 100% returns on 0 investments so keep it up , this is just to tell you dont suggest peoples this policy since these peoples are not answering even to new potential customer, you can imagine the worst with olders onces.
    “Cheap services at Cheap premium” .

    1. manish says:

      oops ..

      I have reviewed the product , but Its my mistake to not review the customer service, which I feel is not expected when doing product review . I apolosize if you are disappointed . I have clearly mentioned in “Shortcomings” section that Company is pretty new , so it will take time for the company to gain confidence , and given its pretty cheap premium , its subject of Crticism and Suspicion form general public . they need to improve the customer service because of the issues with large scale .

      Anyways .. you can wait for couple of months to finally decide if you want this or not . anyways .. some review is better than no review 🙂 . What do you think ?

      Manish

      1. Investor says:

        manish,
        I am with you this site.. your main aim for this blog is to spread financial literacy .. I dont think you have to check out the customer service of every product you analyse.. after all any one who is planning to buy an insurance is supposed to take some pain in finding all information and to decide whetehr it is good for him or her 🙂 As far as your review is ocncerend.. it is good 😉 atleast it tell abt pros and cons of policy ( not customer services)

        1. manish says:

          Thanks 🙂

          Manish

  175. Amit Agarwal says:

    Sorry…I was talking about their Level Term plan. It allows me to get a cover for a 30 yr term.

    Is it oly the paperwork thats the difference between level term and iterm? and the premium ofcourse… 🙂

    Wonder how are they providing such cheap options to the public and others not. Need to read into the fineprints….

    thnx for all the help….

    1. manish says:

      ok , so the level term is just like other regular term plans .
      Iterm has lot of things missing , like no riders , no cover for more than 25 yrs , can be only bought online (issue for many) .

      Not sure how they can provide iTerm so cheap .

      Manish

  176. Ganesh says:

    Funny.. i have been trying to buy iTerm through the online process.. but yet to be able to do so!! Looks as if their website is having problems, i get stuck at the place just before generating e-quote (i am not able select state and IE8 shows an error). I mailed Religare and got a response back saying it is fixed. It did work for sometime and i managed to generate an e-quote. But now when i try to buy, i get stuck at the same place. I have mailed them again, and hope to see a response soon.

    Another thing that i noticed, which is a bit spooky!! For a 30 year old, male, non-smoker, for a policy term of 25 years and sum assured of 50 lakhs, the premium shown is Rs.5600. Try the same for a premium of 40 lakhs and the premium is Rs.6800. What??!! How on earth can Term insurance be cheaper for higher sum assured???

    Are these guys really serious? First of all they have a conked website (and no other point of sales) and then they have messed up premium rates!! Hope those are just teething problems.. else i would be skeptical doing business with them!!

    Manish – your comments please!!

    1. manish says:

      Ganesh

      Regarding Their service .. I agree its bad and needs to improve . I came to know that they dont have launched the product without thinking about scalibility issues .They need to get better soon .

      However regarding more premium for 40 lacs then 50 lacs . Thats they way they have desinged it (as per my info , i read it somewhere) . So i guess its for encourage ment to go for higher sum assumed . sounds illogical to me too .. however thats the way it is 🙂

      Manish

      1. Ganesh says:

        Encouragement to take higher sum assured? I still don’t get it! What benefit will it be for Aegon Religare? Not that i am complaining 🙂 but just that i am curious on the reason! They have dirt cheap premiums already, and on top of that they are offering discounts for higher sum assured? What benefit will AR get out of that? I have heard some one say that, too much of good thing can be bad. But in this case i have started feeling suspicious!! (Guess i need to continue with my costly HDFC Term till things are clear!)

        1. manish says:

          Ganesh

          Lets wait for some time .. Things will get clear in coming months . Better wait with your current Cover 🙂

          Manish

      2. Manish Garg says:

        Regarding Higher premium for 49 Lakh cover and Lower for 50 Lakh Cover:
        I just inquired about it from Custome Care, and they said that it is by design. She explained that the company has some fixed charges in issuing every policy. As the Sum Assured increases, they get reduced proportionately, and hence after some time, they are in a position to pass on the benefit to the customer.
        Some insurance companies do it gradually. They have done it at the level of 50 Lakhs. And hence you will find that there is a sudden drop in Premium amount at 50 lakh.

        @Manish: Excellent Blog. As a tech-blogger from Varanasi, I greatly admire your blog. BTW, I have been to Sonbhadra a few times, which I believe is the place where you belong to. In fact, it is still within my area of operational job.
        .-= Manish Garg´s last blog ..Clean Desktop in Vista / 7 Free =-.

        1. manish says:

          Thanks Manish

          I am from Robertsganj , Sonebhadra 🙂 . Where are you from ?

          Manish

    2. Debanga says:

      The IE8 issue is because this solution seems to be built in Cordys. It probably does not work in any other browser due to the same reason.

      1. manish says:

        Debanga

        What is Cordsys ? that may be the reason I think

        Manish

  177. Amit Agarwal says:

    HI Manish,

    Firstly, thanks to everybody for their contribution. It was really enlightning.

    I am 22 years old and looking for a term plan. But keeping in mind the max 30 yrs limit, I can get the cover till the age of 52 only.(Except one of the ICICI policy wherein one is insured till the age of 60)

    Would it be logical to take the AR iterm plan for a part of my insurance needs, say about half of it?

    1. manish says:

      Amit

      Think of it this way .. If you need 1 crore insurance today and you are 22 .. then by the time youare 52 , how much of assets and wealth you be able to generate ? At that time if you die , will your family be dependent on solely Insurance amount or will you have enough assets , bank balance etc ?

      I think you can go for iTerm for half the amount , another thing is that iterm max tenure is only 25 yrs , not 30 yrs . does it show 30 for you ?

      Manish

  178. JP says:

    Hi Manish

    Excellent article on Term Insurance & pros & cons on iTerm.
    You have given all relevant points and many have topped up with more details.

    As rightly said by you, it is always an individual decision based on his/her requirements and what is important for him/her.

    I read that you started online application for i Term & later didn’t go for it. Is there any specific reason for this (i know i don’t have rights to ask you this) BUT just eager to know the reasons since your analysis is very valid and i am sure you will take a calculated decision.

    I already have LIC term plan and want to take one more from a pvt insurance (where premium is low) and i Term falls exactly as per my requirement. Do i need to inform LIC to update my existing policy if i decide to i take i Term

    I like your comment on probability of company being successful or failing.
    Infact term insurance is itself a probabaility game.
    Anyone who is taking term insurance (internally beliefs that nothing should happen to him-positive thinking) and takes an insurance due to belief in probability that something can go wrong. Company beliefs that nothing will happen to you.
    i.e company betting that nothing will happen to us and we betting otherwise……………

    Thanks
    JP

    1. manish says:

      I was not looking for buying it .. I was just going through it because I wanted to make that screenshots 🙂 for the article . If i need it, i will but it later 🙂

      If you take extra insurance , its better to inform the company , however you would be required to inform AR about your LIC policy anyways 🙂

      Manish

      1. Dharpan says:

        Manish,
        I am planning to buy a term insurance policy. I have some money back policies from LIC and Birla Sunlife. Do I need to disclose them at the time of buying another term insurance.

        Dharpan

        1. manish says:

          Dharpan

          No , you dont need to inform them , there is no such rule from IRDA .

          Manish

  179. yogesh says:

    Q1. Is this insurance company approved by IRDA ?

    Q2.Why the insurance cover is only for 25 yrs? n why not for whole life?
    If any one survive through 25yrs then after 25 yrs he has to look for another insurance policy for his rest of life to cover his life in future ??Which doesn’t seems to be good.

    1. manish says:

      Ans 1 : Yes , its approved by IRDA . infact Insurance companies are always approved by IRDA . There cant be any company which will not be approved by IRDA

      Ans 2 : Insurance Tenure is a feature of Insurance Product which is decided by Company and its acturies .. Its a market product and you are there to choose if you want it or not .. If you feel it does not suit you then you should look for another product . Its not the basic requirement of a Insurance product to be of more than 30 yrs or more than 35 yrs .

      Can you ask Mac donald’s on why they are putting onions in their burgers and why the burgers are of ABC color .. Its all about , do you like it or not .. If yes take it , else look for other product .

      Manish

  180. karthik says:

    Hi Manish,

    Exxellent post as usual. Looking forward for your series on health insurance..(Iam planning to take one now immediately so hope your articles will come out by next week 🙂

    I have been doing some reaseach on different health insurance plans. I think ICICI pru and National insurance have some good plans..I have prepared one PPT on this.. If you want I can share the brochures , my ppt with you for your article..

    1. manish says:

      Karthik

      Sure .. please share it .. I Will add some things if needed and post it 🙂 . I will try to come up with Health Insurance topics soon .

      Manish

  181. Ravi says:

    Hi Manish,

    I was very excited when i first came to know about iterm plan exactly a month back.
    But after that i was never able to contact the customer care personal for any clarifications.

    I am 27 year old and one point which is stopping me to take this policy is the 25 year maximum limit of the policy tenure.

    That means i will be only insured till the age 27+25=52 years. Don’t you think this is a big disadvantage for any one who is within the age of say 30 years.

    1. manish says:

      hmmm.. yeah you should get insurance till 60 atleast .. but stll you can consider them for 50% part … not a big deal

      Manish

  182. Atin Agarwal says:

    Manish,

    I am on the http://buyonline.aegonreligare.com/buyonline/ and while Calculating my premium, I see that permium for 49Lacs is more than 50 Lacs.
    I have selected Age: 26 Smoker: No Policy Term: 25 years
    If I select Sum Assured as 50 Lakshs premium comes as Rs 4,650.
    But if I select Sum Assured as 49 Lakhs premium comes as Rs. 6,860.

    I fail to understand how this is possible or if this is a bug in their website 🙂

    Thanks!
    Atin Agarwal

    1. manish says:

      Atin

      Thats looks a bug to me .. or may be its a encouragement to go for more than 50 lacs 😉 … just kidding 🙂 . I have not idea about this .. talk to their Customer care

      Manish

      1. Anonymous says:

        it is not the bug, feature/product as designed – Courtesy Customer Care

        1. manish says:

          Yup

          Even I confirmed with them . Its something they come up with and its a feature of the product .

          manish

  183. Mitesh shah says:

    Hi manish …

    I am reader of your blog recently n found be happy here.

    here i like mention somthing about term plan…..
    in term plan all co. maximum maturity age is 65yr. (except LIC)
    My age is 35 and recently buy term plan of 25 L (for 35 y Term) so here my insurance will cover up to my age ..70 y.

    Do u feel that any one insurance company give insurance up to age 70 ??
    I have chek all com. ‘s portal and found insurance up to age 65. (in term plan)

    i think we all need Risk cover at age between 65-70. am i right ?????????????????
    (Thats y i prefer term plan of LIC’s Amulya jivan. )
    thanks.
    mitesh shah

    1. manish says:

      Mitesh

      you are not very much right in that . We need main coverage in the start of our life .. when we earn .. By the time we are 55-60 , we are supposed to have have accumulated enough wealth by then through sound financial planning .. So you need insurance cover more at the start and less at the end ..If you get covereage till 70 .. its great ..else upto 60 is ok

      Manish

  184. dillip parida says:

    Dear Manish

    suppose i have taken two term life insurance policy.In case of death how the insurance value will be calculated?In your previous comment, you have written that the insured person will not get more than the insured value.how does it work?

    1. manish says:

      If you have two term insurance , you will all the money from both the insurance companies ..

      Initially when you take second insurance , you shoudl tell the second one that you have insurance already so that he can decide if you have enough or you need more .. Failing to tell that your insurance can be denied at the end .

      Manish

  185. rohit says:

    Well this religare plan is good but not the best here is one the most imp reason for the same:

    As term plan is only care for life, and people’ have more risk once they cross the age of 50-55, but if your age is 25-30-35 then your coverage will be till 50-55-60
    9max 25 years) and your premium will also be high it you take at later stage….and I believe we should have this facility for longer period.

    And I also researched this product when i opt for term plan and and finally I took ICICI term plan, only bec it is providing me the coverage till the age of 65 no matter what is my current age.

    My age is 29 and I took this plan last year, so If i calculate it I got this for (65-28) 37 years…which i was looking for i.e till my age will be 65 I will be covered.
    And another thing was at the age of 28 the premium was too low, I got it 25 lacks for 4.5 K..

    Now i have to pay only 4.5K every till 65 of my to get the life benefit for 25 for my family…

    This is what i selected for me after looking all pros and cons, not sure is it help you..but just want to share my thoughts…..

    Regards.
    Rohit

    1. manish says:

      hmm ok ..

      So why do you need cover after 60 when you are retired and not earning .. i believe cover should be till the point you want to be retired ?

      No ?

      Manish

  186. Rajiv says:

    Kudos Manish for such an informative page!!!

    I have a different experience (though, not a happy one!) to share about AEGON Religare iTerm plan. Already having a couple of investment (endowment) policies with LIC, I opted for Rs. 50 lakh max. term coverage with iTerm. But to my amazement, after issuing an e-quote, I was flashed ‘Sorry’ message on the very first step (when I wanted to Proceed after entering Employment details). My subsequent attempts also met with the same fate.

    Obviously, my next step was to get in touch with their Customer Support, which was pathetic in response. Most of the time, the call never went through and when it did, the operator had little or no knowledge about the product. When requested to connect with the concerned personnel, she simply took my phone no. and promised to get back (which, of course, was not the case). My next stop was the local AR office, which was as clueless about the product as the customer support. Finally, after trying for over a week, I got hold of the official in-charge of this vertical (iTerm). In essence, he informed me that I haven’t met one (or some) of their pre-determined criterion but he never disclosed it even after multiple requests. When pressed for transparency, he expressed helplessness and informed me that it was the company’s policy not to tell anyone about the eligibility criterion.

    My specific question to you are:
    1) Is AR justified in not disclosing the eligibility terms and conditions for a product before selling? Is this practice legal under IRDA guidelines, rules and regulations?
    2) Most likely (that’s what I believe), the objection could be my profession (btw, I’m freelance web content writer) and if it’s so, is AR justified in discriminating against some professionals?

    FYI, I’m 30 and my premium came to be Rs. 6177/- incl. service tax.

    Looking forward to reading your comments

    Thanks
    Rajiv

    1. manish says:

      The reason for not giving you insurance can be what you said .. i guess so .. but i am not sure if they are within legal limits by disclosing the reason or not ?

      Manish

  187. pattu says:

    The point is the insurer seldom interacts with the client directly. It is always through an agent/advisor. If you ask an agent (I did ) they will say 98% of claims are settled (incl LIC agents who are the oldest irritants in the universe!). When I ask for proof documentation they make excuses and don’t provide them. This is why it should be on their webpages.

    There is one way to decrease claim rejection rates for any insurer. People in the claim settlement dept should sell the insurance! They are likely to tell a customer the finer points. Claims are almost always rejected citing finer points.

    The bottom line is (1) more transparency from insurers and (2) more research from customers.
    The worst question to ask an agent is “Which policy is best for me”. The way I see the agent is a mere courier between me and the company. He brings the proposal forms, takes them back and brings back the policy document when its ready. I don’t see any need to discuss anything with him. Everything you want to know is there in the policy document. One should read and understand it fully before accepting it. I am quite sure failure to do this is the reason why most claims are rejected. If we leave no stone unturned then rejection probability is lower. So (3) NEVER EVER discuss your insurance needs with an agent. Research adequately and then call an agent to finish the deal, If an agents says there are better policies than what you take he often means better policies for him!!

    1. manish says:

      Very valid points .

      I agree that the biggest reason for rejection is because of those finer prints which customer never saw . If one takes all care from his/her side. there cant be any reason why a claim will be rejected.

      Good points overall ..

      Manish

      1. dillip parida says:

        Dear All

        i am working in bankofbaroda and just few days back we have launched our own life insuarnce product(Indiafirst life insurance).After searching for good websites regarding insurance companies , i found this one a real information site.keep it on buddy!
        customer needs a good website like urs for better investment.

        1. manish says:

          Nice .. will have a look some time.. mail me the comparision with others

  188. pattu says:

    Dear Ninad,

    Fair point. However where does one get this data? In the absence of a credible source we will have to fall back on IRDA’s annual report. Also IRDA’s report only gives the average of all private insurers. We need data of each individual insurer. If an insurer really has a low rejection rate then he would do well to advertise it. This will help develop trust.

    LIC does not have a policy for every situation. For example I am considering the ICIC Prudentials criticall illness cover: ” Crisis cover”. Its features are pretty good, 35 illness, upto 75 years coverage etc. However there is no data of claims settled. When I search the net there is a site called mouthshut.com. All the reviews there are terrible for ICIC pru. Who do I trust? Also when the recession began there were rumors that ICICI will fold. So now I am totally confused. I will prefer the critical illness policy from National insurance instead which covers only 6 illness and upto 65 year s because its a govt of india undertaking.

    So if the private insurers want support especially from older Indians they should provide claim history documentation and annual reports in their website. Just saying that Aegon, New York life, prudential etc. have more than 100 years experience is useless.

    1. manish says:

      Pattu

      Did you consider asking them for claim data ? I guess It would work . No ? Your points are valid , let me try to find some place which gives good data on this ..

      Manish

  189. Ninad says:

    LIC rejects 1.13 policies in 100 while others reject 10.17 policies in 100.

    One of the reason is that private insurance companies are new. In short, claims for newer policies is subject to greater scrutiny than older policies. This is because chances of fraud are higher in initial years of the policy.

    What you need to compare is what is the rejection rate of policies of LIC and private which are say 3 years old.

    You cannot compare rejection rate of 2 year old policy and 20 year old policy. Rejection rate of prior will always be higher.

    Average age of policy which LIC deals with is much larger than new private insurance companies. And so this statistic favors LIC more.

    1. manish says:

      Very insightful comment 🙂 .. thanks for this .

      you correct when you say “What you need to compare is what is the rejection rate of policies of LIC and private which are say 3 years old. ” … Oranges must not be compared to Apples 🙂

      Manish

  190. Atin Agarwal says:

    Hi Manish,
    This article comes at a very right time for me. I have been planning to get a Term Insurance from quiet some time and I think that I shouldn’t delay further otherwise I have to pay higher premium.
    I plan to take two Term Insurances of around 40 Lakhs each from two different insurance companies. (one I am considering AEGON Religare, thanks for this article 🙂 )
    I was talking to some agent today and according to him, we should only take one term insurance of whole amount and not break it, as I am planning. He says that taking two insurances increases probability of rejection. I am not sure on this. Is it ok to have two term insurances from different companies or we should have the whole amount insured with one company only. Need your advice on this.

    Regards
    Atin

    1. manish says:

      I dont think that insurance agent makes any sense . What if you take 40 lacs cover now with just 1 insurer and then later after 1 yr if you wish to increase it , does it mean that now, you chances of rejection has increased just because you didint take it all in the start .

      Ask the agent why the probability will increase , you need to ask question . What i suspect is that he is one company insurance and dividing it in two will result in his commision cut by half because he is involved only in one . Ask him that you have decided to take just one , but not from him , I am sure he will now say that its fine to take two 🙂

      Manish

  191. Guru says:

    Now, according to my understanding Manish appreciates AEGON Religare because this is the 1st Insurance Company in India which has given the REAL awareness about Term Insurance. Remember a year back, when Irfan Khan ads used the teaser KILB to promote this company. (KILB means Kum Insurance Lene ki Bimari).

    Also, I see that Manish always recommends people to split their Insurance needs between LIC and a private Insurer. Incidentally, since AEGON Religare offers the lowest premiums, not only Manish; but most of the other financial planners whom I know feel that it is prudent to go for AEGON Religare if you are going for a private Insurer. The risks associated with all the other 22 private Life Insurance companies are considered to be the same.

    If the company runs into losses, in all probability it will be sold to some other Insurer or it’ll be merged with some other profit making Insurer who will still have to respect all the policies which this company had issued. I still cannot comment on the Rejection ratio of AEGON Religare, because they may not have settled many claims till now.
    The bottom-line is that we cannot compare Oranges with Apples (LIC cannot be compared to any other Private Insurers). Private Insurance company term insurance coverage should be backed by either Jeevan Anmol or Amulya Jeevan 🙂

    1. manish says:

      You are right 🙂

  192. Guru says:

    Here are few more points related to the discussions that are happening here in this forum.

    a) AEGON Religare’s Accidental Rider sum assured will be paid out in full along with the Life cover, if the death happens by an accident. For example: If the sum assured is 20 Lakhs and the ADDD Rider sum assured is 10 lakhs, 30 lakhs will be paid to the nominee in case the Insured dies due to an accident

    b) Regarding the statement “If 50% of the ADDD Rider Sum Assured has been paid on Accidental Dismemberment, only the balance 50% of the ADDD Rider Sum Assured will be payable on any further insured event, be it Accidental Total and Permanent Disability or Accidental Death or further Accidental Dismemberment” it means that the balance 50% of the ADDD Sum Assured (in our example; it’s 5 Lakhs) is paid if there is Accidental Total and Permanent Disability or further Accidental Dismemberment. If the death happens due to an accident, the normal Sum insured will be paid along with the remaining 50% of the ADDD Sum assured.

    c) Regarding taking the Personal accident policy from New India Assurance or United India Insurance: Most of us know that the Rejection rate from a General Insurance company is quite high compared to Life Insurers. Given this, I personally would like to split the cover between a General Insurer and a Life Insurer. Currently I have compared the Personal Accident policies from more than 14 companies (both Life & General Insurers). The premiums are more or less the same; it costs around Rs 100 to 150 per lakh sum assured. One of the advantages of taking it from a AR Life Insurance is that the premiums are constant throughout + I get the coverage till the age of 75 and it’s quite easy to track, since it is a rider along with our regular insurance. However, I myself have split the Personal Accidental Insurance of 10 Lakhs each from AEGON and a PSU General Insurer.

    d) The General Insurers seems to have mastered the Accidental / Disability Insurance and offer them packaged in various nice options.
    Option 1, which covers death in an accident, works solely as life insurance;
    Option 2 also covers the risk of permanent total disablement;
    Option 3 additionally covers the risk of permanent partial disablement.
    Option 4 additionally covers the risk of temporary total disability. It is this option that provides the most comprehensive accident cover. Option 4 policy serves as a useful ‘umbrella policy’ that small offices can buy for their employees to cover the risk of accidents while they’re on duty. There’s also a ceiling of sorts on the cover you can buy under Option 4; this is set at about 25 times your monthly salary or Rs 5 lakh, whichever is lower. But, believe me; the highest rejection ratios are from this option.

  193. pattu says:

    Dear Manish,

    Speaking again of Term insurance from LIC and others, why do you think Aegin Religare is good? They are so new (as you have mentioned several times) that we cannot even create statistics for claim settlement ratio. New players in insurance always seem to be making a loss at least in the first few years (IDRA data compiled in a blog. I forgot the address!). SBI life has started making profit only in the last 3 years (good for you! since I think you have their term plan). I would expect Aegon also to start getting profits only a few years from now. We have no idea about their solvency ratio (at least its on not the IRDA page)
    Under such circumstances it would be difficult for a 35 year old like me on the verge of fatherhood and single earning to rely on Aegon or other private players. SBI should be a little better since it has strong financial base. On the other hand for a 25-26 year old like you: suppose he/she takes an Aegon item policy. If the company seems to be doing badly he/she can always switch to LIC or SBI at 35 without too much trouble.
    However if I consider a switch in my 40s I will be screwed with higher premiums.
    The claim settlement ratio of LIC is simply too high (IRDA again).
    LIC rejects 1.13 policies in 100 while others reject 10.17 policies in 100.
    The chances of my policy being rejected by LIC is 10 times lower. This is were the higher premium of Amulya Jeevan scores.

    (page 40)

    (page 19)

    Assuming customers give data with the same level of honesty and frankness to all companies because of ignorance or carelessness LIC should also reject claims with more or less the same rate and not 10 times lower! (It was 13 times lower in 2006-07!!) LIC with even its least solvency ration is able to settle a large no of claims. This is impressive.
    We can’t just say all the claims rejected by private players is due to incorrect data. This is improbable.

    If a company settles a lot of claims then its net profit will be low. This may lower the solvency ratio. After all there is more than one definition of solvency ratio. If we go by what the IRDA uses then solvency ratio is directly proportional to available solvency margin (ASM). ASM is excess value of funds a company has. If a company settles a lot of claims then ASM will be lower for it and so will the solvency ratio.

    This is why I like LIC. For someone my age and with my commitments its not just low premiums it peace of mind that if I die my family need not run from pillar to post. Also if you have health problems companies can twist it around to their benefit. Considering the high claim settlement ratio LIC does not trouble people too much I guess which is a big relief.
    Of course being a decade younger than me I don’t expect you to understand. The reality quotient of old age and dying may possibly for a person in 20s than someone in 30s or 40s. Trust in the company is major issue for older people. Aegon Religare is too young to even form an opinion. There its best suited for young people who have started their careers cant afford too much premium but can afford to switch insurers a few years later.

    1. manish says:

      yup , i have to admit that your points are valid and I understand the trust part . Now the discussion is shifting towards the Risk taking capabilities as you mentioned . With your age and responsibilities you cant take the risk which a 25 yr unmarried like me can take , thats fair .

      One point is very true that the company does not have a record to compare , and that can happen only after some years . The main reason I am more confident in this company than any other is because of the leadership and innovation this company is bringing in the sector . AR is mainly focused at Term Insurance and understand what exactly India needs badly . It emphasises on the basic reason of Insurance , that the main reason of my interest in the company . So yes , Like every other assumption , this can also fail .

      Because of this faith of mine , I personally would like to take some part of my insurance with them if not whole . Its very valid to go for this company or not because of individual risk appetite and preferences . Thanks for the data and insightful comments . thats really the proper way a preson should take his decisions .

      Manish

    2. Rakesh says:

      Dear Pattu,

      Very well said, i agree with your comments.

      Rakesh

    3. ABHISHEK says:

      AS I AM PLANNING TO BUY TERM PLAN.FROM RELEGARE AEGON BY SEEING YOUR COMENTS AND ITS SUPPORTINGS.I AM BUYING OF RS 11 LAKH TERM PLAN MY AGE IS 30.SHALL I BUY THIS MUCH OR SHALL I BUY MORE AMOUNT OF TERM PLAN.SUGGEST ME WHETHER CAN I TAKE 2 COMPANIES TERM PLAN OF 10 -10 LAKH EACH.IS IT OK.AND LEGAL.
      THANKING YOU
      ABHISHEK
      PLS REPLY MY MOBILE -9830305981

  194. Vikram says:

    Hi Manish,

    Thanks for making me aware of this ploicy.

    Can this policy be used as a tax saving mechanism under 80C or 80D or any other section ?

    Vikram

    1. manish says:

      Yes, it comes under sec 80C , infact any Life insurance comes under sec 80C

      Manish

  195. Anonymous says:

    Here is my feedback
    called their customer care 3 times since Nov 23,2009.
    2 Times I waited for around 10 minutes, after that decided to use Call back facility, gave my number/name to their voice mail, Haven’t received Call Back YET. I think 10 days are sufficient enough for reading all voice mail.
    1 time, call got connected in around 8 minutes, so it is fine…
    Their Online purchase model lacks, doesn’t have sufficient space for Address/Nominee Address, Doesn’t count for special character..
    I have send feedback about same to customer.care@ and one more lady from whom I got qoutes in my mail. Yet to received any reply.
    Bottom line *customer care sucks*, if anyone has better experience let me know
    Bottom line, If I die today, and my family has to wait so long for submitting claim or for getting claim status, I would rather prefer to use another Insurance company whose customer service is better than these guys.
    Low premium is *not* the only thing which One should look

    1. manish says:

      I am sorry to hear that . I have tried it myself once and it was not a good experience . Let me forward your experience to an official .

      Manish

    2. Sree says:

      I needed some clarification, so I called their helpline many times over the course of a week. I was on hold every single time. I also left a voice mail with my contact number. Like above user, I am still waiting for their call. If this is their responsiveness at the time of selling, I fear their response (rather, lack of it) in the unthinkable event like claim settlement.

      Manish, i truly find your blogs quite informative. But, in this case the product does not deserve such glowing reviews. Please write based on known experiences and not on company PR exercises. Thanks.

      1. manish says:

        Sree

        Yes , thats a problem . Not explicitely but you can get the feel about this problem in shortcoming section . I have talked about the product per se , not the customer service ,, I will take care next time . Thanks for bringing it to notice .

        Manish

        1. oxy_moron says:

          hey manish
          was looking for a good life & health insurance…
          called up reliance insurance guys for some queries and got a call back in 48 hrs…

          1. Great

            They seem to have very good customer care . Let us know how was your experience overall .

            Manish

  196. Manish says:

    @Guru

    Can you comment on what pattu said ?

    Manish

  197. pattu says:

    Sorry about repeated posting. But riders have to evaluated more carefully.
    cost of ADD rider is premium very cheap however:
    http://www.aegonreligare.com/addd_rider.php
    If 50% of the ADDD Rider Sum Assured has been paid on Accidental Dismemberment, only the balance 50% of the ADDD Rider Sum Assured will be payable on any further insured event, be it Accidental Total and Permanent Disability or Accidental Death or further Accidental Dismemberment.

    Will the sum assured on life be pain on accidental death? Or does this mean that Accidental death is treated separately from natural or CI related if a ADD rider is taken. If true This is a disadvantage. Because If a person dies an accidental death many years after a 50 % ADD claim he will get only the remaining 50% ADD amount.

    Again if true its best to take a personal accident policy New India Assurance or United India Assurance. Unlike a CI policy the company cannot outright reject an accident policy based on age.

    This is why explicit documentation is important.

    pattu

  198. pattu says:

    Sorry I spoke too soon:

    “Following an AEGON Religare CI Rider claim, the Death Benefit under the base plan and any other rider benefit remains unaffected’
    http://www.aegonreligare.com/critical_rider.php

    By ‘CI rider claim’ I hope it refers to CI rider payout! However a similar statement is not found for AG ADD rider!

    pattu

    1. Manish says:

      I just saw that .. I was not aware of that . thanks man

      Manish

  199. pattu says:

    Dear Guru,

    Thanks a lot for the info. However can you point me to a brochure on riders of any compamy which explicitly states the fact that life cover will continue after rider payout if relevant premium is payed properly? I cant find this statement in AG website.

    The point is when I buy from an agent I will ask the above question and verbal assurances of the same are not good enough. Not stating it in the brochure is also not good enough. It has to be in black and white. If someone could point out where this is states explicitly it would be convenient.

    pattu

    1. Manish says:

      Nice ..

      Thats the way to go 😉

      Manish

  200. Guru says:

    Wonderful plan from a wonderful company! I must say…

    After reading the comments from various people, I guess I can clarify many points that various readers have (mis)understood
    a) If a person buys the Normal Term Insurance plan from AEGON Religare Life Insurance, he will not be questioned whether he has Insurance policies from other companies. The whole claim will be settled, (if it is a genuine one) irrespective of whether the person was insured from any other companies.
    So, the question of the term policy becoming costlier does not arise. (The premiums become costlier, if the medical reports are not satisfactory)
    [Everyone needs to declare about their medical conditions honestly to avoid a claim rejection.]

    b) It is advised not to take Critical Illness(CI) and Accidental / Disability Insurance policies as “Stand-alone” since the costs are EXTREMELY high for a CI cover and the premiums are decided on the “Real-age”. The premiums increase as the age increases similar to the Medical Insurance.

    c) Medical Insurance companies provide the coverage for 1 or 2 years (max 3-5 yrs) & the premiums are increased as the age increases. If we take the Critical Illness covers from a General Insurance company, the CI rider is limited to a maximum of 5Lakhs.
    In India, we have very few Life Insurance companies who provide Critical Illness riders for more than 5 Lakhs (LIC limits it to 5 Lakhs)

    d) Critical Illness works out to be cheapest if taken as a Rider from any of the Life Insurance comapnies. For example, it works out to be around Rs 2500/= for Rs 10 Lakhs coverage in case of AEGON Religare. The premium remains constant throughout!! I know this very well since I have taken it 

    e) Couple of Insurance companies do not provide CI rider along with the term Insurance (Weird). Here also AEGON Religare has the edge since they provide the CI till the age of 65 Years which None of the General(Medical) Insurers provide.

    f) If a person is diagnosed with Critical Illness, he will be paid the entire amount if he survives for 30 days after the Critical illness occurred. Once this is paid out, the term insurance will still continue.
    For example: If a person has opted for Life cover for 25 lakhs + 15 Lakhs of CI Rider, he will be paid 15 lakhs in case of CI, & the term cover will still continue. He needs to pay the premiums for the life cover only.
    Similar thing holds good for Accident / Disability cover also.

    Those of you who are very serious about taking a Critical Illness cover should really consider what Shantaram has told (Normal cover + CI rider + Disability / accident cover)

    1. manish says:

      Wow … Thats lot of information .. I was not aware of lot of things .. Thanks to Guru for wonderful explaination 🙂 . So the way I can think of iTerm is that one should go for iTerm + ( Normal Cover with CI and other riders ) . That way it would be cheapest and covering for all the things 🙂

      Manish

      1. Deepak says:

        Manish,
        I think that’s not what Guru is saying(what you understand). He is suggesting about buying a Term insurance + CI rider +other rider from the same insurance company. Guru is saying that “It is advised not to take Critical Illness(CI) and Accidental / Disability Insurance policies as “Stand-alone” since the costs are EXTREMELY high for a CI cover and the premiums are decided on the “Real-age”. The premiums increase as the age increases similar to the Medical Insurance.”
        I think he is talking about a regular term plan from Ageon Religare like “Level term Plan” which has a provision to choose riders also.

        1. Got it 🙂

          Manish

  201. pattu says:

    The person who would feel really bad is the one who took a level term plan with Aegon, say about six months earlier without riders. A 35 year old will have to shell Rs. 35,000 as annual premium for 1 crore 30 year term policy. With iTerm the premium is only Rs. 14,000 or so!!
    He would even more frustrated if he was net savvy

    Also that the level term plan from Religare I think has come down in importance except for riders and 30 year duration. I think Religare should explain how it can offer a product which is Rs. 20,000 less (we know obvious reasons)

    Also the item is not something one buy sitting before a computer for someone in their 30s or 40s if they some health condition.

    I met two Max New York insurance agents today. They were speechless when I showed them the iTerm plan! For the above details Max New York had a premium of Rs. 43,300!!

    They later said New York life is a 165 year old company! I told them that Aegon is a 160 year old company!!

    For the first time in my life I sold something to a salesman!!

    1. manish says:

      Lol !! that was good .. I am sure even a lot of agents have no idea that they should start looking for a new job !! .

      anyways ., I think yes , AR should come up with the explaination on how they can provide it so cheap !!

      1. Sourav Shah says:

        Dear Pattu,

        You are a street smart investor. Nice to know some1 who can sell back to the agents 🙂 To answer Manish’s query on how Aegon Religare Life Insurance can provide iTerm at such low cost tp customers – . iTerm is a plan that is sold online directly to the customer and hence there are no “Middlemen” or “Agents” involved. As such the hefty commissions paid out to agents are not built in the product charges as it is with other Life insurance companies that are selling Term insurance through their agents. So Aegon Religare is passing the benefit to the customers in terms of lower charges for a term plan. with a vision to make term insurance available to large base of customers (through the internet) at an affordable price. Hope this answers your queries.

        For any other queries please get in touch with me.

        Regards,

        sourav.shah@aegonreligare.com

        1. Chandra says:

          Hi Sourav,

          I was wondering that the commission rates apply only to the first year premium or probably the next 2 years premium. so how does the company manage to keep the premium rates consitently that low for all the entier term of the policy.

          Thanks
          Chandra

          1. Chandra

            The commissions are there always in all the years , but later it reduces , also the cost is designed in such a way that it factors every thing in future , so from pricing point , everything is perfecft .

            Manish

            1. Chandra says:

              Manish,

              Thanks for the reply. But i wish that you would have elaborated a little more. For what i understand comission rates are as high as ~35% in term plan for the first year premium and then drop to ~5-1% for the following years. So that benifit even if given away by the company is miniscual.

              I also understand is that there are some expense allowances built in the product, which according to my info is ~5% a year. Yet the company is able to offer a product which is 40-60% cheaper that its competitors and its own product (in the same product category!!!) baffels me.

              I wonder if all these companies have been ripping customers off up untill now (sitting on fat margins) and continue to do so with the less privleged/informed one or was it Aegon attempt to wage a price war.

              Could you please share your views

              Thanks,
              Chandra

            2. Chandra

              the officials say that its all because of online product , no agents commision etc that the product is cheaper , you should read sourabh’s comment in this comments sections, it will give you some perspective .

              Manish

        2. raju says:

          Hi
          Sourav,

          What kind of deaths are eligible for this scheme,what are excluded?


          raju

  202. Dr Mohammed Ali Khan says:

    Dear Manish
    We would like to see a nice article on Health Insurance.

    1. manish says:

      hmm.. Let me try to plan about it . I will gather some Information and come up with a series of Posts .

      Manish

      1. Raman says:

        Hi Manish,

        I am looking for a gud article on health insurance.. do you have one or provide me link to it pls?

  203. Shantharam says:

    Hi Manish..

    Going by what Raghu has said, will not be better to consider the normal term plan that AR has, with increasing cover along with accidental rider ?

    Your Views…

    Thanks,
    Shantharam

    1. manish says:

      It would still be costly than a iTerm + seperate Accidental cover . the problem with Regular Term plan with Rider is that once you are diagonaised with Some critical illness or they pay you Accident cover , your life cover stops !! .

      So better go for iTerm + Seperate Cover of Accident from some Health Insurance , I would suggest for proper Health Insurance itself 😉

      Manish

  204. M Pattabiraman says:

    Dear Manish,

    Thank you for your response. I am shocked to hear about LICs Solvency ratio! Or perhaps someone who knows about LIC well will say they are NOT surprised!!

    Yes I understand that one should not listen to your views blindly. The problem is if you listen too many people then you are simply confused and may end up getting something bad!!

    Well one has to evaluate a product as thoroughly as possible stop at some point make a decision and hope its the right one!

    Thanks for all your articles. Your efforts are deeply appreciated.
    Pattu

    1. manish says:

      Thanks for your Understanding

      Again , Solvency ratio is a indicator, but LIC is a state owned Company and hence in times of crisis , no doubt Govt will enter and finally resolve the matter (Hopefully) .

      Manish

  205. M Pattabiraman says:

    “I accept that the claim rejection rate for LIC is the lowest and higher for other companies , However We have to wait and see how does AR fairs in that .”

    Dear Manish,
    I would hesitate to buy insurance from a company with no knowledge of its policy rejection rate. In a term insurance policy policy rejection rate is more important in my view than cheaper premiums. However I agree that a person should furnish clear info without hiding anything.
    Also lure by cheaper premium why should a family ” wait and see how does AR fairs in that” the painful way?

    I hope its not like they show in movies:
    Where these firms have a claims checker who gets a commission for finding a legal reason for rejecting claims since its cheaper for the company.
    When it comes to LIC I know service is lousy and they take an eternity to settle claims. However they are usually not as thorough as other and is probably the reason why rejection rate is low!

    Also a term policy having no riders is not useless! It is better to take independent accident and critical illness covers 9in addition to mediclaim). This way the company cannot refuse to continue the term plan after a critical illness or accident.

    One final point: You keep advising people to get two term polcies. Some firms like Kotak clearly state that the premium listed in the webiste is only if no other policy is taken with someone else.
    This has two issues:
    (1) The second term policy maybe costlier because of a pre-existing policy. Can you confirm this?
    (2) After you get the second policy should one not declare this to the first company?
    Will failure to do so result in a claim rejection? Also even if the info is declared it should be properly entered into a persons record. This also must be ensured.

    The way I see it as long as a person is completely transparent and honest when getting a policy the chances of rejection is nearly zero. As someone I heard of did, before buying a product get the rules enlarge the fine print by photocopying, clarify all rules from the company (not the agent) if possible get it in writing that all rules have been made transparent and then go for it. This way a single term policy maybe good enough.

    Sorry about the long comment
    Pattu

    1. manish says:

      Pattu

      thanks for your long comment , It gives me opportunity to discuss some other things 🙂

      When I said “We have to wait and see how does AR fairs in that .” , it means that buyers who are concerned with Claim rejection rate should wait for some time (which can be years) and only when they are satisfied with it and ready to go with it psychologically should buy it finally . It does not mean that one buys it first and leaves it to fate . I want to clear this point , May be I was unclear .

      (1) The second term policy maybe costlier because of a pre-existing policy. Can you confirm this?

      Ans : Yes , Company takes this information , As per the rule of insurance , Life Insurance is not some thing which one should use as a tool to make money , So a person should not be insured for more amount he deserves , A normal person with insurance requirement of X can not take 10X insurance cover , Thats the reason companies make sure that you already are not covered for obscene amount .

      If yes , they can either deny the Insurance or charge a bit more (need to make sure why premiums can be high).

      (2) After you get the second policy should one not declare this to the first company?
      Will failure to do so result in a claim rejection? Also even if the info is declared it should be properly entered into a persons record. This also must be ensured.

      Yes , claim settle ment can be rejected and this happens . one should always make sure that they provide all the possible information to insurance company which can form a basis for rejection anytime in future .

      Note : the Primary purpose of spliting your Insurance is to create a situation where you can decrease your Insurance requirement by just stopping one policy later if you wish . So if you dont want to go for two different companies thats fine , split it with a single company.

      Final Note : No one is perfect , Neither Aegon Religare , nor Jagoinvestor . We can hear some one and think about it , but final decision has to be yours , If one is not comfortable with an idea , Its totally fine that he does not take it .

      So a for people who are wondering what will happen at the end . its all risk appetite and faith in something .

      I personally am a mathematical person and like to take decision backed by Probability and my faith in some thing , So i personally look forward to take this Policy , Can I fail ? Yes , obviously , Its life 😉

      Btw , Did you know that As Per IRDA Report , LIC has the least solvency ratio ? Which is 1.5 . Every company is suppose to maintain solvency ratio of atleast 1.5 and LIC has exactly 1.5 , from past some years LIC is having some hot interactions with IRDA on this . Solvency Ratio is a measure of how solvent a company is when it comes to paying the claims in case of Emergencies or unexpected events .

      Manish

      1. Pradeep says:

        How does an Insurance Company calculate the maximum insurance limit of an individual. Is there any global formula or the calculation varies between different insurance providers?

        1. S Rangan says:

          Very good question. Very bad to see it remain unanswered. The second anniversary (of the Q) is coming up soon!

        2. There is no global formula, its a personal thing of a bank which they decide.

  206. raghu says:

    Dear Jago investor,

    One important point you should include in your analysis:

    The plan does not allow any “Accidental disability and Dismemberment rider” with the plan.

    Consider a case, I am 30 year old, I buy i-term for Rs 1 crore by paying aprox Rs 11 K per annum. Next year, I meet with an accident and lose my eyesight or both legs. This plan is useless.

    This is the biggest shortcoming. Term insurance plans are typically aimed at young population. In the early years, the biggest risk is accident and more important is accidental dismemberment. This plan does not address it. This is the biggest weakness in the plan.

    I trust you will highlight it in your review.

    Regards,
    Raghu.

    Disclosure: I am neither a financial planner nor an agent of any life or non-life insurance company.

    1. manish says:

      Well..

      You are correct that they dont provide the riders , But anyways it comes with an extra cost , What stops you to take an accidental and disablement insurance from health Insurance company ? What if its not with the policy as Rider .

      I know it would be little overhead , but overall its a win win situation . Dont you think like that ? Riders not something which you get free anyways .. so better buy it as standalone products .

      Manish

      1. raghu says:

        A stand- alone accidental insurance policy is costlier and more important, getting the claim settled from a non-life insurance company is tougher.

        Second and more important point:

        As a 30 year old, my life is exposed to the risk of death due to accident and risk of permanent disability. This is the biggest risk I face as a young working professional. If my policy does not cater to it, it is useless.

        I think we have to look at the needs first and they accordingly chose the products. We in no circumstances, first look at products and accordingly create/ mould needs.

        This policy unfortunately does not offer a ‘much needed and essential term life cover’ and hence I will not buy.

        Regards,
        Raghu.

        1. Ganesh Iyer says:

          This is an excellent point. I do think Insurance is not something that one should go “cheap” on. Better off paying a few more bucks for a comprehensive policy. Thanks for bringing this up.

        2. arun says:

          that true.
          I also in search of rider+term.

    2. Vikas says:

      Hi Raghu,

      Agreed, this plan does not offer any rider for accidental cover, and it concerned me as well. The strategy which we need to use is to split the plans in two. At your age, which is exactly the same for me, you can buy plan for 50L for say 5700-6200 from Aegon in addition to this buy a pure accident and diablity cover for 50L from National Insurance which will cost you approx INR 40 per lac irrespective of your age. Since accidents are not linked to age, why to pay more as riders. Any rider will not cost less than INR 100-150 per lac.

      Hope this combination helps. Keep this in mind that for natural death (which is unlikely for age group) you are covered for 50L and for accidental death you are covered for 50L from Aegon and 50L from National Insurance(this also covers disablity).

      Cheers,
      Vikas

      1. Vikas

        Nice to see your comments . Can you give more details of this policy you talked about . Seems nice 🙂

        Manish

        1. Vikas says:

          Hi Manish,

          Thanks. You can find the information on national insurance website. I have pasted extrect from the site

          Salient Feature

          The policy compensates individual against death, loss of limbs, loss of eyesight, permanent total disablement, permanent partial disablement and temporary total disablement, solely and directly resulting from accidental injuries.

          Top

          Scope of Cover and Premium Rating

          Serial Contingency and Benefit Table Benefits Rate (Rs. Per mile)

          No. Payable as % of CSI Covered Normal Medium Heavy

          Risks Risks Risks

          1. Death only – 100% I 1 0.40 0.60 0.90

          2. Loss of two limbs, two eyes

          or one limb and one eye-100%

          3. Loss of one limb or one eye-50%

          4. Permanent Total Disablement IA 1 to 4 0.45 0.65 1.50

          from injuries other than those

          named above (PTD-100%)

          5. Permanent Partial Disablement II 1 to 5 0.90 1.25 1.90

          % of CSI as Detailed in the Policy

          6. Temporary Total Disablement III 1 to 6 1.50 2.00 3.00

          1% of CSI per week up to 104 weeks

          maximum. Weekly benefits not to

          exceed Rs.5,000/-

          Top

          Risk Classification

          Normal Risk:

          Bureaucrats, Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants, Architects, Bankers, Consulting Engineers, Teachers, Persons engaged in administrative functions, persons primarily engaged in occupations of similar hazard.

          Medium Risk:

          Builders, Contractors, Engineers engaged in superintending functions only, Veterinary Doctors, Paid Drivers and Persons engaged in occupations of similar hazard and not engaged in manual labour.

          All persons engaged in manual labour (except those falling under heavy risk), cash carrying employees, Garage and Motor Mechanics, Machine Operators, Drivers of Heavy Vehicles, Professional Athletes and Sportsmen and Wood working Machinist and persons engaged in any occupations of similar hazard.

          Heavy Risk:

          Persons working in underground Mines, Explosive, Magazines, Workers involved in electrical installation with High-tension supply, jockeys, Circus personal, persons engaged in activities like racing on wheels or Horse back, big game hunting, Mountaineering, Winter Sports, Skiing Ice Skating, Ballooning, Hang gliding, River Rafting, Polo playing and persons engaged in occupations/activities of similar hazards.

          Top

          Medical Expenses

          Reimbursement of medical expenses directly arising out of an accident can be covered at an additional premium of 20% of the basic premium.

          Medical expenses reimbursable shall be 10% of C.S.I. or 40% of the admissible claim whichever is lower ( If no claim is admissible under the basic cover no medical expense shall be payable).

          Top

          Other Benefits

          Expenses for carriage of dead body

          Expenses incurred for carriage of dead body of the insured (in case of death due to accident only, to place of residence at 2% of C.S.I. subject to maximum Rs.1000/- shall be reimbursed.

          Education Fund

          10% of C.S.I. per dependent child subject to Rs.5000/- per child up to maximum two dependent children.

          Cumulative Bonus

          5% of C.S.I. per claim free year shall be added to the Capital Sum Insured subject to maximum of 50% of C.S.I.

          Top

          Group Policies and Group Discount

          Group policies can be issued covering more than one person.

          Group Discount shall be granted from 5% onwards for groups consisting above 100 persons.

          Top

          Geographical Limit

          Worldwide

    3. Manas Banerjee says:

      Hi Raghu,
      I have taken a Aegon Religare Term Insurance online . I must mention here that I am a diabetic and the kind of loading that other insurance companies does is phenomenal . Comparatively with equivalent loading I found Aegon Religare to be reasonably cheap than other major players. As correctly said , if you have your disclosures properly in place , the the later claim settlement headaches reduces. Further though the policy does not have a an accident and disability rider, I would always suggest ,dont club them together and go for a seperate accident and disability policy from any good general insurance company , which is even cheaper and at times add several other features when brought directly from General Insurance companies .

      1. Sourav Shah says:

        Rightly said Manas, you seem to be very smart at making insurance decisions. great work.

  207. sai says:

    Nice post .. Thanks for sharing.

    After completion of policy term will i be receiving any money back ? If yes how much ? Ex for Term 20 yrs ; Permium – 10000

    Regards,
    Sai

    1. manish says:

      Sai , you dont get back anything in Pure Term Insurance .

      Manish

      1. Sourav Shah says:

        Hi Manish, Just to answer Sai’s queries.

        Dear Sai,

        A term plan is an agreement between the insurer and the customer to provide the customer with a guranteed amount in case of death. But if teh customer survives the amount is the cost of risk borne by the insurere and is non refundable.

        However, there are money back term plans in which u can get yiour premiums back at the end of the polict term. But the premiums for suhc policies are much higher for the same cover compared to a term plan.

        Regards,

        Sourav

  208. Srinivas says:

    Indeed it’s a cheap term insurance plan. But I don’t know it’s deep in mind that private companies give junk reasons to settle claims. since insurance is a long term commitment, I am worried if they say so after 20 years.
    Can i get claim settlement details of aegon religare?

    1. manish says:

      I accept that the claim rejection rate for LIC is the lowest and higher for other companies , However We have to wait and see how does AR fairs in that .

      Most of the claims are rejected because of wrong data provided , no proper documents , etc .

      manish

    2. Sourav Shah says:

      Dear Srinivas,

      There is no reason for a claim to be rejected if the customer has declared his facts correctly at the time of taking the policy. Also there are medical tests done post which the company issues policies for a certain amount of sum insured. Hence, the company is already aware of the risks involved in providing this cover so there is no way that a customers claims will be rejected. Also the customer has IRDA, and other Insurance ombudsman to which he can complain in case of any discrepancy. I would advise customers taking any life insurance product from any Insurace company, to disclose all facts correctly at the time of taking the policy. This will ensure that their claims are never rejected. You could also write to me for any further queries.
      Thankyou.
      Sourav Shah
      Senior Manager (iTerm)
      Aegon Religare

      1. ankur goel says:

        Hi,
        One biggest doubt in mind is why Religare puts premium rate lower for 50L sum assured while it becomes higher for 50L.
        What’s the funda of 50L slab?
        One more thing.. can somebody confirm all the exclusions which comes under this plan? Also accidental death is also covered in this plan?

        1. Ankur

          Not sure about all exclusions , you have to look at the policy brochure for that .

          Accidental death is always covered in any term plan .

          Manish

      2. pankajgupta says:

        dear sourav shah
        i m pankaj gupta from kanpur i want to buy a iterm plan of aegon religare. but i want to known every negative points of this policy and what’s are every minor regions of claim rejection. i want to know every quirey. please help then i buy this product

        1. Pankaj

          Go through comments section , you will get every answer

  209. Mohan says:

    Interesting! We both have written on the same topic 🙂 Even I wasn’t aware of the product until one of my blog reader asked me to review this plan! Seriously, they need to look into their marketing strategy to get a huge customer base.
    .-= Mohan´s last blog ..Aegon Religare iTerm Plan =-.

    1. manish says:

      I was aware of the product , as I got a call from their office in Mumbai to attend the bloggers meet . yes , they need to look at marketing of product seriously .

      They have to first answer how come they are offering it so cheap and why others are not !! .

      manish

      1. Sourav Shah says:

        Hi Manish and all you folks. Aegon Religare is offering this product at such a cheap rate as compared to competeition because we are keen to offer basic life insurance to customers. In a term plan the margings are low and the risks are high so many leading players are not keen on selling this product. But at Aegon Religare we believe in building relationships with the consumer who in turn will recommend us and also in future but from us again.

        1. Sourav Shah says:

          Hi Manish and all you folks. Aegon Religare is offering this product at such a cheap rate as compared to competition because we are keen to offer basic life insurance to customers. In a term plan the margings are low and the risks are high so many leading players are not keen on selling this product. But at Aegon Religare we believe in building relationships with the consumer who in turn will recommend us and also in future buy from us again.

          1. Sourav

            thanks for your comment and clarification on the iTerm plan . However its not enough for investors to know about the plan and these 4-5 lines which you have written is something which everyone will read and say “So what”. the main question they want to get answered is “what about the claim ratio? ” , ” Why the track record till now has been so bad ? ”

            And a much better and detailed and simple explaination of “why so cheap plan” ?

            Manish

            1. sourav shah says:

              Hi Manish, To give you a detailed explanation of why the plan ‘iTerm’ is cheap.

              The simple reason is ‘ There are no middlemen – Agent – involved in selling this product’. Since this product is sold online there are no agents commission involved and hence the company is not paying anything to the Insurance agent and thus passing on the benefit of the low cost to the consumer. We all know that most insurance products have a commission of 30-40% in the first year premoum that is pais to the agent. That the reason this product is cheaper because there are no agnets commission involved. Secondly, Aegon Religare is the only company that has sought IRDA approvals to sell the product online since we are very keen on providing the customers what a product that they need – a simple term plan – at a price that is affordable.

              Regarding the claims ratio, Manish, the 3 customers whose claims were rejected were due to woring declaration at the time of taking the policy. They had declared themselves as non smokers. I would request all customers who are buying a term plan or any insurance product from any Life isnurer to not hide any facts while taking a policy. As the insurers build up the cost basis your declaration. So its always advisable to declare truely in order to ensure that all claims are met. And if any customer faces any issue with any isurer he can contact the isnurance ombudsman and he will immediatley look into their issues. Happy buying. Manish this is a beautiful and unbiased platform that you have provided for customers to clarify their doubts. Please keep up teh gr8 work.

              Regards,
              Sourav Shah
              (shahsourav@rediffmail.com)

            2. Sourav Shah says:

              Dear Manish,

              To elaborate how is Aegon Religare providing this plan at such a cheap rate compared to competition. Aegon Religare is a plan that is sold online directly to the customer and hence there are no “Middlemen” or “Agents” involved. As such the hefty commissions paid out to agents are not built in the product charges as it is with other Life insurance companies that are selling Term insurance through their agents. So Aegon Religare is passing the benefit to the customers in terms of lower charges for a term plan. with a vision to make term insurance available to large base of customers (through the internet) at an affordable price. Now coming to claims. There have not been even a SINGLE iTERM claim till date from the time this product was launched that is 25th Oct 2008. There is no reason for a claim to be rejected if the customer has declared his facts correctly at the time of taking the policy. Also there are medical tests done post which the company issues policies for a certain amount of sum insured. Hence, the company is already aware of the risks involved in providing this cover so there is no way that a customers claims will be rejected. Also the customer has IRDA, and other Insurance ombudsman to which he can complain in case of any discrepancy. I would advise customers taking any life insurance product from any Insurace company, to disclose all facts correctly at the time of taking the policy. This will ensure that their claims are never rejected. Thankyou.

              Regards,

              Sourav

            3. Kalpesh says:

              >> I would advise customers taking any life insurance product from any Insurance company, to disclose all facts correctly at the time of taking the policy. This will ensure that their claims are never rejected.

              Why insurance company wait till the end when actual claim requested after let say 10-15 years. If there is any issue with declaration there should we some fix period within which company can cancel insurance plane in case they found any glitch in declaration. let say 2-3 years. But after that there shouldn’t be any issue.

            4. Kalpesh

              Its a resource Issue .

              Every company wants to make sure that the data people provide is authentic , however if they start verifying this , it would requires money and its not possible to do it with same cost structure .

              on the other hand why should company bother , Every person should give correct information and its a customer resposnibility to make that sure. Dont you think so ?

              Manish

            5. arun says:

              Hi ,
              1) What is the purpose of the medical test in the term policy where the amount is fixed ?
              2) How the AR iTerm is online policy ? Do I have to undergo the medical test ? If yes, what is the effect if my report are not perfect ?
              3)is the medical test amount has to bare by customer ?

            6. Arun

              1) Premium are fixed for people who had no bad medical history and current condition , if on medical test , it is found that you are not normal , your premium will be loaded (increased) ‘

              2) Its ok , there has been good and bad experience ( mostly bad) . Company will direct you on how medical test will be conducted and where .. If the reports are not satiosfactory , your application might get rejected in worst case , else your premium will be increased

              3) It is borne by company , however if you choose to return the policy during first 15 days (lookup period) , then you have to borne the medical costs .

              Manish

            7. arun says:

              Thanks for very Quick response in 5 min …..
              Do AR has any “Permanent Disability rider” with iTerm ?
              I’m ready to bare ..

            8. Arun

              No they dont have any riders with them , better look at this article for all the information on term insurance : http://jagoinvestor.dev.diginnovators.site/2010/12/term-insurance-plans-comparisions-india.html

              Manish

    2. Sourabh says:

      Hi Manish/Sourav Shah;

      My Question is for both of you…. in iTerm i believe there is no benefit at maturity of plan…..i guess thats the biggest factor making it cheaper then other factors mentioned by you people in previous post… with no Maturity benefit isn’t it as good as any other general life insurance policy…..???

      I am not an insurance expert my views can be wrong….so want your clarification…

      1. Sourabh

        All term insurance are without any maturity benefit , maturity benefit always comes with heavy cost, you are refering to Endowment/Moneyback/”Maturity benefit Term Insurance” kind of insurance policies which are not “pure term” policies and have investment component, you get maturity only because you pay for it all the years , nothing special in it .

        A typical term insurance does not provide any maturity benefit , agents are also involved in it . With iTerm agent is not there and his commission part is not there So its cheaper .

        MAnish

  210. SB says:

    Hi Manish,

    As per slide no. 10 , what type of medical tests we may have to undergo and also what documents we may need to submit after buying it online ?

    Have you got any call from them ?

    Regards,

    SB.

    1. manish says:

      I am not sure about the details , you should talk to the Customer care for that . I didnt buy the product , just went till payment point and then did not buy it ..

      Manish

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