Buying critical illness insurance cover over the phone could leave you exposed
Telesales warning on critical illness insurance
Friday, 25 May 2007 09:14
Buying critical illness insurance cover over the phone could leave you dangerously under-protected, experts have warned.
Of the people who try and claim on their critical illness insurance policy, around one person in four is rejected.
This means a quarter of people who have paid for cover who are unfortunate enough to contract a critical illness are then left with no compensation.
And experts at Bestdealinsurance.co.uk believe some of these rejections come as a result of insurance brokers putting their commission over their clients' needs.
"The broker is there to get a commission on a sale, so he has a vested interest in ensuring that your application goes through 'clean' with no chance of the cover being declined," said David Thomson, chief executive of Bestdealinsurance.
"So, if you advise him of a previous health issue or similar that could jeopardise your chances of getting accepted for cover, the broker may simply employ the 'Chinese whispers' tactic and, in effect, tell the insurer something different to what you have told them in order to get the sale."
And this can have devastating consequences.
"The client believes that they are fully protected because they are paying their premiums every month. As for the broker, he has still got a sale and is banking on the customer not falling ill. And even if the client does succumb to a critical illness and their claim is rejected by the insurer, unless the phone call was recorded, it will be the broker's word against the client's."
But there is a simple way to protect yourself from this.
By ensuring any telephone conversation with a broker is recorded you can take legal action if your claim is declined because of non-disclosure issues.
"You will then be able to sue him for negligence, that way making sure that even if your critical illness policy doesn't pay out, someone will," Mr Thomson said.
"I am not implying that all brokers are dishonest, but it is a sad and true fact that not everyone will have their clients' best interests at heart. That is why recording a phone conversation can provide a safety net should something go wrong with the policy in future."