Thorners August 2011 Newsletter
Lean about Contract Works requirements when doing rennovations on your house!
Read our newsletter now if your looking for a new home for your mortgage?
Click here to read our August newsletter.
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
Click here to view our disclosure statement.
Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
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
Life and Medical Insurance Disclosure at Application Stage
Many of us rush through the Life or Medical Insurance application form without considering the content of the medical history questions. To our detriment at claim time , the insurer may find a history of non disclosed medical issues and either declines the claim, excludes the condition being claimed for or just cancels the policy due to non disclosure.
The major areas of non-disclosure are:-
Skin Conditions (acne, eczema, dermatitis and lesions);
Ear, Nose and Throat (tonsolitis and recurrent ear infections particularly with children or during childhood)
Breast Conditions (Lumps, mastitis and inflamation)
Cancers and Tumours (any history of cancer or tumours and lesions even if diagnosed as benign must be disclosed)
Musco-skeletal (any spine, knee or hip issues)
Bowel Disorders ( Hemorrhoids, IBS and colitis)
Elevated Blood Pressure and Lipids (Anything regarding blood pressure and cholesterol)
Mental health ( Post natal depression or use of aropax etc)
Female Genito-urinary Tract
Many of these can be quite personal or embarassing and Insurers offer a confidential service to report/disclose these directly to the underwriter rather than discussing them with your adviser.
Talk to Thorners if you need to discuss this further.
Click here to learn more about Thorners Life Insurance Services 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
Disclosure is no duty – it’s about being honest
In our opinion many people out there don’t really know what they are signing when they enter into a contract for insurance, or for that matter any other agreements for the provision of goods and services. Signing a contract is all so mundane these days, who really reads what they are signing? What does it mean anyway?
Your duty to disclose is unavoidable. Every time you sign an agreement or contract, the provider company expects that you have provided a full and accurate record of all information that they have specifically asked about. It is your responsibility to be transparently honest; and when you sign the dotted line you are accepting full responsibility for any consequences if you have not been completely frank.
When it comes to answering a question don’t bother asking yourself whether or not it might or might not be important enough to mention, let the insurance company decide that. All the information that you provide is strictly confidential.
The consequences of non disclosure will usually come at claim time (and/or when you are next applying for insurance cover) when your insurance history is checked against any further information provided for the claim.
The worst case scenario is that you will not be paid for your claim and your contract will be made void for non disclosure. This means that all your premiums are refunded from the start of the contract as though you cease to exist. Further, and of far more concern is that you will not be able to get further insurance through that original provider or any other insurance company.
Let’s face it, it is about being honest, not about trying to get a windfall from some faceless profit driven corporate company. And don’t panic if suddenly you recall something you forgot to mention originally, just call your adviser or the provider company and let them know. It is never too late.
The same applies for contents insurance claims. Ever heard the story about being paid out for an insurance claim i.e. X lost their watch and then found it a few months later. What a windfall!
In this type of circumstance you will be required to either pay the money back or give the insurance company the new replacement item. Be honest and do the right thing or be prepared to risk losing your insurance cover.
When dealing with Thorners you are required to tell us of anything you know, or ought to know, that may affect the decision of a prudent insurer whether to accept your insurance, or renew your policy, and if so, on what terms. If you have not disclosed all material information, or if you have misrepresented that information, then an insurer is entitled to cancel the policy retrospectively from the beginning.
In simple terms you need to tell us about any convictions, traffic offences and claims or other material information and keep us informed so that we can make sure your policies are valid at all times.
Click here to view Thorners domestic insurance services
Click here to learn more about Thorners Life Insurance Services or Call Us on (04) 528 8088
