Chance to win a share of $15,000 to live the life you want…..
Play the Sovereign Life’s Choice Game and be in to win a share of $15,000 to live the life you want.
Visit Sovereign’s website www.sovereign.co.nz/chooselife/#/start to enter the competition and be in to win!
If you are not currently a Sovereign client, contact us for Life Insurance quotes and to arrange an application now! Sovereign also offer very competitive home loan options that have no transactional fees. If you are contemplating a new purchase or have a fixed rate rollover coming up, speak to us now about your options.
We are award winning insurance brokers who service clients nationwide, so if you desire service excellence, contact us for a full insurance review soon.
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Thorners August Newsletter
Click on the link to see if your protection plan is complete August 2010 newsletter
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Thorners Newsletter March 2010
In the current economic environment, the cost of day to day living continues to increase and we all need to regularly review our financial options.
Life Insurance Premiums:
Everybody dislikes paying premiums and the Life Insurance Tax Bill, which was passed by Parliament last year, is going to have an effect on the majority of NZ households who hold life policies.
In short there are proposed tax changes which will affect how life companies are taxed on their insurance products. Effective from 1 July 2010 all new life policies sold will be subject to these tax changes. Some companies have already started to increase premiums to make the change appear more seamless.
Existing “rate for age” or “annually reviewable” policies which are the most common products sold in the market will almost certainly have the increase applied and it is currently unclear on whether this will be applied immediately or grandfathered in over a period of five years so you need to keep abreast of the changes.
Competitions
Sovereign had a great pre Christmas holiday competition for all their clients and I am delighted to say that a Thorners client took away the prize which consisted of an $8,000 holiday plus $2,000 spending money. The client plans to take their children on a Surfer’s getaway adventure and to then have an adult only Irish experience. Thank you to all of you who entered and congratulations to our winner.
I am available to discuss your insurance and investment needs in what is a difficult time for many of us at the moment so feel free to contact me if you have any questions. My personal email is denis@thorner.co.nz or phone 04 528 8088.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
DENIS.
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Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
Click here to view our disclosure statement.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
Life Insurance non disclosure – don’t let this happen to your family at claim time
Article courtesy of the Dom Post – note the comment from the Insurance Ombudsman.
The family of slain cyclist Frank van Kampen will be able to stay in their home after an insurance company backtracked on its decision not to pay out on his death.
Mr Van Kampen’s insurance company, ING New Zealand, told his partner Jude Pauwels last Thursday that it would pay out only half Mr Van Kampen’s life insurance, saying he had voided his policy by failing to tell the company he had a minor bowel condition.
The company reversed its decision yesterday afternoon after Ms Pauwels contacted The Dominion Post in desperation.
Mr Van Kampen, 46, a teacher, was killed by Te Horo grandmother Alison Downer, 71, who has admitted she was driving drunk when she hit him as he cycled home to Otaki from Waikanae in September.
Ms Pauwels is on a widow’s benefit and was relying on the $157,000 payout to cover the mortgage on Mr Van Kampen’s one-bedroom cottage, where she lives with her son Dante, 13, and the couple’s five-month-old daughter, Alexandra. “I get $400 a week and that barely pays for food and nappies and clothes for the kids.” ING’s initial offer of $80,000 would not have been enough to keep them in the house. “We’d literally be in the gutter.”
She was “very, very pleased” ING had changed its mind. But she said she should not have had to plead with the company or go to the media to get it to reverse the decision.
“It’s very stressful and traumatic that I had to go through this. It’s hard enough getting the kids through Christmas without Frank – and now this on top of it.”
Jeremy Nicoll, managing director of ING’s insurance division, said the company had changed its decision after he and a claims manager reviewed the case. “We took it to the next step and said, ‘Let’s be fair about this.’ We both had a look at it independently and came to the same decision [to pay the full amount].”
The staff member who made the original decision to pay out only part of the claim was “just following due process”, Mr Nicoll said.
Insurance and Savings Ombudsman spokesman Lionel Hinton said that, if ING would have offered different terms had Mr Van Kampen disclosed his bowel condition, it was within its rights to deny the claim, despite his death not resulting from that condition.
Ms Pauwels said the contrast between her situation and Downer’s was “so marked and unjust”. “Frank’s killer gets to spend Christmas in her beachfront mansion and I get to spend Christmas fighting for my home.”
Downer, who is on bail until her sentencing on February 3, had still not contacted the family or apologised, she said.
Make sure your life cover pays out quickly by ensuring you have made full disclosure to your insurer at application time. If you have any doubts, contact them to discuss the information you have supplied.
For further information on non disclosure, visit our web site www.thorner.co.nz
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Chance to win an $8,000 holiday plus spending money
Check the Sovereign website www.sovereign.co.nz to enter their client competition to win a dream holiday.
Good luck and remember you only have until 28 November 2009 to enter!
If you are not currently a client, contact us for some Sovereign Life Insurance quotes and to arrange an application. Sovereign also offer very competative home loan options that have no transactional fees. If you are contemplating a new purchase or have a fixed rate rollover coming up, speak to us about your options.
We are award winning insurance brokers who service clients NZ wide so if you desire service excellence. contact us for a full insurance review soon.
Update 10 December 2009 - It’s been drawn and a Thorners client has won the prize, Sovereign to contact the client today to sort the arrangements and hand over of the travel voucher.
Thank you for your interest and contact us if you have any insurance requirements.
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What happens if all of your information isn’t written on the application form?
It is really important when somebody else completes an insurance application for you that you check to see the answers are correct and that no information has been left out.
The insurer can avoid the policy and decline to consider the claim if all the information wasn’t written on the application form.
Even when your broker writes the answers on the application on your behalf, you are still expected to read all the answers and sign a statement declaring all the information is correct.
At Thorners we always provide you with a copy of everything completed during a Life Insurance interview to give you time to reconsider your answers.
Call Thorners if you are considering any form of insurance to get the best advice in New Zealand.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
Click here to view our disclosure statement.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
Is it fair that insurers exclude pre-existing medical conditions?
We are often asked why insurers exclude pre-existing conditions.
Unless a policy offers cover for pre-existing conditions, the insurer isn’t obliged to cover any of them.
Companies generally exclude associated treatment for pre-existing conditions as they pose a higher risk and greater likelihood of a claim.
For sound advice on any new Life insurance policy, contact Thorners. We service clients New Zealand wide and have a sound knowledge of the best options available.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
Click here to view our disclosure statement.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
Redundancy, mortgage protection and disability insurance are all different
Mortgage protection insurance, which sometimes has a redundancy cover component, will only pay the mortgage for six months if the insured is made redundant. The amount paid under the policy will also be offset against any redundancy benefit. Redundancy insurance payouts are not made if the consumer anticipated being made redundant and there may also be a long wait period before a claim can be initiated following acceptance of the new policy.
During recessions more people take out income and mortgage protection insurance when they feel their jobs are at risk – but “there’s no perfect insurance solution to protect them from that”. It only covers a percentage of lost income if they suffer an accident or illness.
Many consumers don’t know how much they will be paid if they have to make an income protection claim, and don’t realise that if they get an ACC payment, it will be offset against their insurance.
A consumer with income protection insurance who opts to take lower levels of ACC cover may be caught out if their policy provides that it will offset either what the insured receives – or what they were entitled to receive – under ACC. This means even if the consumer deliberately reduces their ACC entitlement, the insurer can offset the full benefit they could have claimed.
Most income protection insurance problems stem from its disclosure provisions. Karen Stevens, Insurance Ombudsman, says non-disclosure complaints form a quarter of her work. People don’t tell their insurance provider information they needed to properly underwrite the policy.
Insurers can then choose to void the policy – so not only will the person not have a claim paid, they will not have a policy in the future.
If you are looking for sound insurance advice, contact Denis Thorner today on 0274 575 190 or by email denis@thorner.co.nz Denis services clients New Zealand wide.
Click here to view our disclosure statement.
Denis Thorner, winner Best Trade / Service Business at the 2009 Upper Hutt Business Excellence Awards.
Click here to view our disclosure statement.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
20% extra Life Insurance for free for a very limited time
For some time Sovereign has been concerned about the level of under insurance within New Zealand. Over the past few years personal debt levels, and therefore the need for adequate cover, have significantly increased but sales of insurance have remained relatively flat. This situation is likely to get worse with the current recession, where affordability not only impacts on people’s ability to purchase insurance, but also causes them to reconsider the need for the cover they already have.
Today Sovereign announced a new initiative to help customers afford appropriate levels of new insurance.
From 21 April, and until 31 July 2009, Sovereign will provide new customers who take out Rate for Age Life Cover an additional 20% of the sum assured free of charge for two years. This is up to a maximum additional amount of $100,000 sum assured per customer, not per policy. For example, if the customer were to set up a TotalCareMax policy with $500,000 Life Cover, they would receive an extra $100,000 sum assured free for two years. At the expiry of the two year period the additional 20% sum assured Life Cover will automatically end.
This special offer is automatically available on all TotalCareMax Personal and Business Life Rate for Age policies (including Voluntary Workplace policies) issued by Sovereign on or after 21 April 2009, until 31 July 2009.
Existing customers who make increases to their Life Cover will also benefit from the offer, but the increased amount will be set up as a separate policy. Replacement business is excluded from the offer.
Use Thorners online application process on the web page or contact us very soon to apply for your new life cover today and benefit from the 20% extra cover while the offer lasts.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
Click here to view our disclosure statement
Click here to view our disclosure statement.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
Thorners Online Insurance Quotes and Application
Thorners offer an online life and health insurance quote option where you can obtain quotations instantly online.
Whilst Thorners like to personalise your cover to your situation, many New Zealanders know what cover they want and want to get a price for it now.
Thorners take this a step further as you can also complete an application for Life and Health Insurance online. This should take no longer than 10 minutes to answer the questions and if need be, you can save your application and come back to it at a later stage. The process ensures your information remains confidential to Thorners and the Insurance company.
If you are contemplating taking out a new Life or Health Insurance policy, try our automated service today.
Thorners are only a call or click away if you require assistance or require further information. www.thorner.co.nz also contains informative blogs and information on other topical insurance, mortgage and financial items of interest.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
Click here to view our disclosure statement.
Click here to view our disclosure statement.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
