Top 7 Best Online Term Insurance Plans in India

Life is full of ifs and buts. None of us knows what might happen even the next minute. If your child, life partner or your parent(s) depend on your income then you need to have Life Insurance plan.

In this post, let us shortlist and understand some of the best Online Term Insurance Plans in India. These best Term Life Insurance plans can be purchased through online.

What is “Term Life Insurance Plan?”

Term insurance is the simplest and most fundamental insurance product. Term insurance plans are designed to ensure that in the event of the policyholder’s death, the family gets the sum assured (the cover amount). Term plan provides risk coverage for a certain period of time (policy term/duration). If the insured dies during the time period specified in the policy and the policy is active – or in force – then a death benefit will be paid. It is the cheapest form of Life insurance in terms of premium.

Online Term insurance Plans are,

Cheaper than conventional plans like money back life insurance or endowment plans (or) offline term plans. Online term plan insurance is roughly 30-40% cheaper than the offline plans.

The entire application submission process happens online through the company’s website. So, it is hassle free.

You may not be influenced by an agent/advisor during the buying process.

7 Best online Term Insurance Plans in India for 2015               

·         I have selected and shortlisted the below best plans based on;

·         Claim Settlement Record of the Life Insurance Companies as per IRDA’s (Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India) latest Claim/Death Settlement Ratios (2014-2015)

·         Affordability (Premium amount).

·         Brand name.

·         Quality of service provided to its customers during the online buying process and after issuing the policy (policy life).

·         Ease of buying the Term Life Insurance plan online.

·         Feedback received from my friends/clients who bought online Term Life Insurance plans directly.

Source:  http://www.planmoneytax.com/best-online-term-plans-comparison/

Your Complete Guide to Buying an Online Term Insurance Plan

With the internet becoming a routine of our life, the number of net-savvy insurance buyers is gradually increasing. Non-life insurance products such as personal accident, health, motor and travel have fuelled the growth of online insurance products. Now, while a similar trend is yet to gain substantial momentum in life insurance, online term plans have been in particular gaining popularity. As per the statistics, one online term plan is bought every 5 minutes in India! The online quote systems and price comparisons on portals like trucompare facilitate the insurance buyers to buy a term plan easily and as best suited to their needs.

Aegon Religare was the first insurance provider to introduce an online term insurance plan called ‘i-Term’. Today, almost every insurance company from LIC to a bajajallianz insurance offer online term plans.

Now, if you are wondering if you should buy an online term plan, how safe it is compared to an offline version and what is the process, here is a complete guide to simplify your decision.

Reasons to Buy

1.      Convenient and Quick: One click, anywhere and anytime buying – that’s what an online term insurance plan is about.

You can do term plan comparison – browse, research and compare the quotes, features and benefits of the online term plans instantly across the websites of different insurance providers.

You really don’t have to contact or follow up with any insurance advisor(s) or fear misselling of any kind.

You can scan and submit the KYC documents.

You can pay premiums by choosing any of the multiple payment methods available – credit card, debit card, net banking and even IVR (Interactive Voice Response).

The policy is processed and issued quickly, so your life cover does not get delayed much.

You can renew the policy online as and when the premium due or if it lapses.

2.      Cheaper Cost: The premium of online term insurance plans is about 30 – 40% cheaper than the offline plans. There is a misconception pertaining to economical cost of online term plans, though. Most customers believe that lower the premium, the higher is the probability of a claim rejection or that there is some catch. Well, that’s not true. There are several reasons why online term insurance  are more affordable. First, there is no agent commission or channel sales cost involved in the pricing. Second, insurers consider an online customer a low-risk profile – he is educated, earns well and prefers to take a life cover. Third, since an online transaction is paperless, the processing and administration cost also comes down significantly for the insurer.

3.      Transparent Process: One of the major problems that an offline insurance buyer faces is transparency – right from meeting(s) with the advisor to filling up the form. You usually rely on the advisor’s advice to understand the key offerings of the plan. There are also chances that your personal details could be misspelled or mentioned incorrectly in the physical form. Whereas, in an online plan, you would be doing all the formalities on your own. You have all the information at hand to make a sound decision. There is a step-by-step procedure to guide you, so the error rate is considerably low. 

Source: http://trucompare.in/blog/your-complete-guide-to-buying-an-online-term-insurance-plan/

Does cheapest online term insurance policy available for all?

People are becoming financially literate and now understand the need of having a term insurance plan. Online term insurance plans have become more attractive as their prices have fallen by 40-50% due to demand from consumers and rise in competition among insurance companies.

You can either buy an online term insurance policy from insurer’s website or from online comparison sites (web aggregators).

But biggest question is that on which factors your decision should be based on, whether you should go for the cheapest term insurance plan or with the insurance company having highest claim settlement ratio.

The term insurance policies are similar despite the attempts to create features such as deferment of policy proceeds (periodic payments instead of lump sum payment) or some riders that provides for additional covers on payments of additional premiums.

In recent times, almost every large insurer has a comparable claim rejection ratio. Besides, new amendment to Insurance Act, life insurance companies cannot reject any claim after three years on any grounds. And if you are making full and complete disclosures in your proposal form, insurer can’t reject even early claim. So, low claim rejection ratio as a parameter is for choosing an insurance company is no longer very relevant.

Some insurers have dropped their premiums very low but now have very tough norm for those who will be eligible for these premiums. So, the cheapest Term Insurance Plans is not necessarily available for you.

In most cases, customers would actually end up paying higher than the standard premiums so the lowest published premiums are just illusory. After medical test, customers are asked to pay higher premiums for issuing policy or their proposals are rejected.

If you refuse to pay additional premiums then you have to go through the whole proposal and medical examination again and have to disclose the fact that his proposal was rejected in the past.

Rejection of proposals will further increase as insurers have become extra careful in issuing life insurance policies because of recent amendments that disallow rejection of claims on any ground after three years of policy issuance.

This problem is more acute in the critical illness policies where outright rejections are wide spread and where it is even more of a challenge to motivate the consumer to persist with the process of getting this policy.

No data is available on the proposal rejection percentages or the percentage of proposals in which a particular insurance company has proposed an increase in premium over and above the normal premium. Hence, there is a need that Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IrdaI) should collect and disseminate this kind of data so that consumers can make an objective decision on their insurance provider.

Till then, consumers can look forward for online web aggregators as they make money on actual issuance of the policy and they will work harder for a company that is actually interested in issuing policies.

Source : https://www.policymantra.com/blog/does-cheapest-online-term-insurance-policy-available-for-all/

Best Term Insurance Plan in India

What is Term Insurance?

Term insurance is the cheapest and simplest form of life insurance, where you pay a fixed premium every year and you get a life cover for a specified sum assured for a specified period. The sum assured is paid (to the nominee) only at the occurrence of the event (death of the life insured); the policy has no survival benefits.

Term life insurance policies are also called ‘pure-risk policies’ and ‘pure life policies’; they have no savings or investment element in them; the premium includes only the cost of buying the life cover.

Why is Term life insurance recommended?

There are many advantages of including a term cover in your insurance portfolio

They offer the least-cost insurance cover;

As with any life insurance policy, the annual premium paid towards a term plan qualifies for tax deduction of up to Rs 1 lakh premium paid (per annum) under section 80C of the Income Tax Act;

When you are going for a house and/or auto loan, you are essentially considering taking on greater risk. Taking a term life policy that closely matches the amount and tenure of the loan will financially protect the dependants in the event of an individual’s untimely death.

What are the options available in the market?

There are a wide range of insurance products on offer today. However, as discussed above, term insurance plans  are pure risk covers and therefore, there is little to pick between the different policies available in the market.

What plan suits whom?

While term insurance is suitable for everyone, it is ideal for those who are looking for a low cost life cover. It also works well for an individual for whom life insurance cover is a must but is not being able to afford a high premium.

What should a buyer be aware of and how to buy?

The buyer must be aware of the extent of cover he/she wants, the number of years for which you want it, and the least amount of premium available in the market. Awareness of your needs and the life stage you currently are in will help you zero in on the perfect policy.

Number of years for which you want life cover – Generally, as one approaches retirement, one’s financial responsibilities (towards family) tends to decline. Therefore, the term of a life cover should be determined by how many years you have until retirement.

Other important tips

An insurer may also consider your specific requirements (such as, addition of accidental death benefit, critical illness riders to the policy you need, a longer term period), usually for a higher premium;

Cost is not always the only parameter of comparison; customer service offered by the insurer with regard to processing of insurance application, claims process and settlement are equally important. Although one cannot compare this implicit parameter, we can try to get feedback about the same through word of mouth, friends’ network, insurance blogs, etc.

It is recommended to go for a policy with ‘with-revival option’. Usually, revival of a lapsed policy (due to non-payment of premiums) is allowed within a period of 5 years from the date of the first unpaid premium (subject to certain conditions). [The insurer reserves the right to revive a discontinued policy].

If you are looking for an indefinite life cover, you may consider a whole life policy instead of a term life policy, as the latter has a fixed term.

Source : http://www.investmentyogi.com/best-term-insurance-policies/