One of the things people worry about, or are cynical about, when it comes to life insurance is claims.
'I'll be dead, so how will I know it was worth it.'
'Insurance companies try not to pay out, they only want your money.'
'The criteria for claiming can allow only 20% of people to be able to claim.'
These are just some of the things we have heard directly from our own customers. What worries us is that this is from people WITH life insurance. If people who have cover don't believe they'll get paid out what they're due, then no wonder some people will never get cover because of what they believe about claims and insurance companies.
Getting facts about life insurance claims and pay-out rates is tricky. Most insurers don't make the statistics easy to find or even publicly available. That's because there is no industry standard for reporting claims rates. Everyone calculates it slightly differently, so even if you have data from different companies, you might not be comparing the same information.
We can't speak for other companies, as we haven't made any claims with them, but we can tell you that making life insurance easy for you is important to us. Getting a policy should be easy, and so should making a claim. We also believe that you have a right to know our claims pay-out rate and what it means. Check out our claims page for this information.
One of the benefits of being a small company is that everyone knows what's going on. If a customer has made a claim, the process of getting the money to them quickly touches almost everyone in the company, which makes what we do real. It's not imaginary people we're helping. For example, it's the woman who had never spent a night apart from her husband in over 40 years until he died. And it’s the woman whose husband died unexpectedly leaving her coping alone in Auckland in lockdown with young children (her Mum eventually managed to get an exemption to cross the border to come and support her).
People with claims are, of course, always grateful and relieved to receive their money. They are glad that they got around to sorting out their life insurance and thinking about the worst-case scenarios ahead of time. Our job is to make sure our customers get their money as quickly and easily as possible. So that's what we do.
But don't just take our word for it (or the word of your own insurer). Read reviews and ask to see feedback. Here's some of ours.
'Really appreciate your help with this as I had no idea what to do, and my head was a little scrambled, so you made it very clear and easy.' (Natalie October 2021)
'Thanks heaps for all your help you have been amazing & made it so easy for me during this sad time (Chanel September 2021)
'I would also like to add that I am very impressed with the way in which you have dealt with and resolved this, your communication skills were in my opinion "excellent" as you not only showed professionalism but also empathy and compassion to my situation, you have really made a difference. (Brian October 2019)
'Thanks Emma for all your help. Was very quick and seamless.' (Ian July 2019)
(Please note we do not request feedback at claim time, these comments were sent directly and spontaneously to the team member who handled their claim).
We hope that by sharing these messages that you are reassured. Talk to people you know who have had life insurance or have had a friend or family member claim. And ask any company you've got cover with or are considering about their claims process.
