Aegon Religare iTerm plan gives a pure coverage risk on the death of the person insured. This is a pure protection insurance plan and customer has to pay yearly premium till the maturity of the policy. More over this insurance policy is available by online method alone! It means a lot of simplification in terms of all the paper work.
Selecting the insurance...
It is a simple 3 step process to buy this iTerm Insurance policy online.
- Know correct amount for which you need insurance
- Calculate the premium based on term and compare with similar products
- Buy Insurance Online
All of this can be done online and they have a very neat way of setting various criteria like whether the policy seeker is a male/female, smoker/non-smoker, tenure slider etc., See the image for more details.
I strongly feel this product will certainly change the way people buy term insurance. This is one of the path breaking product kinds and it will change the overall perspective of the insurance buyers. Also, it will boost the online insurance sales since most of the term insurance policy buyers come from educated section with computer usage knowledge. It would be interesting to see how they handle this plan via online mode against physical proposal forms and medical tests to provide a smooth buying experience.
I did a bit of comparison with other term insurance plans in the current market by various companies. I found this plan to be a perfect match of value for money and convenience. In fact for any age category, this plan seem to provide the best cover for the same premium amount, the premiums were lesser by atleast 40% compared to LIC’s Amulya Jeevan!
Here are the salient features of this plan:
- The term period falls in band of minimum 5 years and maximum of 25 years.
- Any customer with minimum 18 and maximum of 60 years in age is eligible for the plan.
- One of the most cost effective term plans available in market.
- Simple, uncomplicated product. Easy to understand even by first time Insurance buyers (refer to the image).
- Online availability, allows you to insure yourself conveniently through your computer!
- Tax benefit under section 80c
- Free Look Cancellation – In case, you are not satisfied, you may choose to cancel the policy within 15 days of receiving the policy documents. They will recover the costs from the paid premium towards medical tests, stamp duty, etc.,
- The iTerm plan does not have any riders attached to it. If the policy holder meet with an accident and loses eyesight or any other body part that causes the person become physically challenged, then this plan is useless. This is the biggest shortcoming. Special thanks to Raghu for bringing up this point.
For more details on the plan, visit their site here. My only concern is that you can’t buy this policy if you don’t use Microsoft Internet Explorer! Even I wrote a mail to the grievances manager of Aegon Religare about this since a huge number the users have switched to other browsers in the recent past. The reply I got was shocking.. which read “At present we do not have the facility where you could buy the policy online without the internet explorer. We would suggest you to buy the policy which has the Internet Explorer compatibility.” Not sure when these companies will learn to support their sites for web browsers compatibility.
{ 71 comments… read them below or add one }
Will keep this on my mind for the next year investment quota
Gud that u have written a mail to the manager .. see very less people using IE now
You are saying it wrong! Insurance should never be an investment… never link those two! that is the reason why we have this plan.. this is a pure insurance product. Which means, you won’t get anything in return upon surviving the policy tenure. All your premiums are completely towards risk coverage. That is why they are able to provide the insurance at a very cheap rate! Just to quote an example, if your age is 26 years and your insurance amount is 1 crore for a tenure of 25 years, the annual premium would be around just Rs 8,000/- !!!
Great info!
Your blog is really an information warehouse
Thank you Roshmi. Actually, one of my blog reader had asked for a review of this Aegon Religare iTerm insurance plan. Since I found this product to be so good, published a post
. I am glad you liked the content here!
Thanks for the info Mohan. Keep up the information flow. No newspaper has highlighted this information till now, that its way cheaper than other products in the market.
You are most welcome! Yes, this plan hasn’t been advertised much in the media. Even I got to know about this plan via one of my blog readers comment where in he asked me to review it! All credits to him for bringing this plan into light
Roshni is right ! Your blog is a mini-wiki for ignoramuses like me. I will discuss this with my dad.. these days I have (finally) started showing some signs of interest in ‘financial’ discussions
Thanks Mohan!!!! How’re the exam preparations coming along?
Thanks.. your comments pamper me more
. Good thing is that I have started to get up early (around 5 am!!) and cover some portions in bits and pieces.
Good to hear that. Earlier you start to plan your finance, better the benefits you reap!
Still not into full study mode… Since it is going to be open book exams, I am not getting enough motivation
Any thoughts/info on how is their claim settlement and how hassle free it is? The only reason I am more oriented towards LIC is because of its settlement policies plus a thought of being a government powered insurance agency. This plan looks great without any agents in between customer and company.
Your way of looking at the claim settlement as a major factor before buying insurance is pretty common in India and that is one of the reason too why people go with LIC more than any other private insurance company. Well, it is the IRDA who clearly defines the claim settlement procedure and hope it shouldn’t be troublesome as long as the terms and conditions have been clearly mentioned in the policy offer document.
Claim settlement ratio is still a good measure of how good a company is while setting claims. Aegon Religare is a new company and still needs to build confidence and some history. It will take time. but Personally I feel we have got a Insurance company which india needed from long time, It is showing leadership in the way no one has shown in decades
Did you know that LIC has the least Solvency margin as per IRDA Report 2007-2008. Though its a state govt owned company, This fact makes me hate LIC more than ever.
Really? that is bad! can’t imagine how LIC is able to manage the leader position in the market amidst all these! Must be the sheer number of policies being sold that is making it maintain the position. Competition is always good in market and customer will be the king in competitive environment.
Well … Truly speaking LIC is having fights with IRDA every now and then , Some how it feels like because it has been Govt favortie for half a millenuium , It can break some rules, they have even tried to pressurize IRDA for decreasing the solvency ratio .
Having low solvency ratio is acutally not a big deal , because Capital infusion can happen in LIC any time from govt when they want . Solvency margin says that you have to have enough money than your potential liabilites (underwritten Claims) , so that incase of some unexpected events like Floods , Terror attacks or something like that we can avoid a situation when there are more claims than the money a insurance company has .
Manish
Low solvency ratio is very bad. Capital infusion of any kind cannot be sustained and just because it is a Government agency, you should not take comfort in the fact. The reason is, insurance is the lowest on the priority list in any case for the Government. So please choose your insurance wisely. I sound like a negativist, but please do not buy the term plan on show in this post for at least another 3 years.
That is a good point. Looking at LIC and their solvency ration, I’m pushed back as other players might be following LIC’s foot prints
You don’t sound negativist, but that is a good point to consider while selecting an insurance provider.
Well, i just checked up the latest solvency ratio as disclosed on IRDA’s website which is actually given for the year 2008. I dont think LIC is doing bad at all in terms of maintaining solvency ratio. I mean as a customer its financial strength should not be of concern at its current state. Its suppose to mantain a solvency of 1.5 times. that means a 50% buffer for liability, where as it is maintaining a 1.75 times which would mean a 75% buffer. Sounds good to me as a policyholder.
hey Mohan, good stuff….I have forwarded this link to few of my frens who might find this useful too!!!!
How was weekend?
Good to know that. You can also use those social bookmark options at the bottom of the article to share with your friends via facebook, twitter, digg… almost every option is out there!
Weekend was good.. too many family functions to attend and so little time to study… weekend just gets over in no time!!! how was yours?
Dear Mohan,
One important point you should include in your analysis:
The plan does not allow any “Accidental disability and Dismemberment rider” with the plan. Consider a case, I am 30 year old, I buy i-term for Rs 1 crore by paying aprox Rs 11 K per annum. Next year, I meet with an accident and lose my eyesight or both legs. This plan is useless. This is the biggest shortcoming. Term insurance plans are typically aimed at young population. In the early years, the biggest risk is accident and more important is accidental dismemberment. This plan does not address it. This is the biggest weakness in the plan. I trust you will highlight it in your review.
Regards,
Raghu.
Disclosure: I am neither a financial planner nor an agent of any life or non-life insurance company.
Raghu, thanks for bringing up that point. Since I couldn’t see any raiders in the product brochure, I sent a mail to their customer care and what you stated is right. They replied saying “The iTerm plan does not have any riders attached to it”. I have updated the same in the initial post as well for the benefit of readers here.
You are welcome Mohan.
My pleasure to have you here
Thanks for sharing Mohan. Do we need to submit any health documents before taking policy. -Sai.
You are most welcome Sai. Well, after purchasing the policy online, you will be asked to go to an authorized diagnostic center to get the complete medical check up done and the diagnostic center folks will take care of sending the report to insurer.
I purchased this plan. The medical guy came to my home and took blodd samples and did ECG and BP check. So basically it was hassle free.
Thank you very much for your info. Does this plan support the choice of taking the plan on Joint life(first claim) basis?
Hi Justin, I have no clue on joint policy. Please call up their customer care to get more info.
Hey Mohan, gr8 info!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep them coming. Although the point raised by Raghu is rather valid.
Yes, even I missed that out when I initially looked at the product brochure. I had to get in touch with customer care to get that info!
Quite helpful and thanks for providing the info. I have already a couple of LIC policies, may be this one shall add to my kitty
Well, I appreciate your comment response clarifying the difference between insurance and investment, truly speaking insurance can also a be investment, but it is called capital insurance and risk or non-capital insurances are where you get the insured amount only incase of any risks and where as it is opposite for capital insurances. Most of the Indian insurance companies provide capital insurances, thou the premium amount is high, you cannot convince any Indian customer to enrol until unless he is assured of getting anything back once the policy is matured. Here in Germany, it is hard to find any Capital Insurances, yet everybody has insurance and even your employer does provide one for you…
That is very true. But my strong suggestion is to go for insurance and investment by opting for separate products instead of combining. This will result in better benefits. Mixing up investment and insurance is not at all a good idea. Policy holder will not be getting the true value for the money if he/she chooses to mix up in via one plan.
I Hope it Covers accidental and suicidal death.
Don’t take me wrong, I have seen cases where a cause of death would be accidental but they successfully prove them as a suicidal death; In which the nominees are helpless and could not claim the insured amount.
By default most of the term insurances do cover accidental covers from day 1. But Suicidal death is not covered for the first year. It is covered from second year onwards… I haven’t understood the logic though!
I read somewhere that people who died in 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai could not claim their insurance from private companies but people having insurance with LIC, Their nominees could claim all the relevant amount, why so? I also came to know form some source that some companies wont release money if the death cause is a snake bite or in a case of accident if the policy holder is in fault and many many more clause, which we are not aware of. is there any documentation mentioning all these clause for I-term which would tempt me to buy this policy?
Hi Ronak, yes, even I read in some of the print media that many were denied the insurance cover. Not sure about the clause in Aegon Religare iTerm towards such incidents. Since it is an online policy, I am assuming they do provide the Terms & Conditions called out before proceeding with payment.
Hi Mohan, My congratulation for putting this informative blog. I want to go for this policy but I am over weight. Last time i tried to buy a Whole life Insurance from LIC, but they were charging double premium for me due to overweight and high blood pressure. How should I go this time with this policy with Aegon.
Without riders, this plan will become useless for anyone.
Hi Anurag, thanks! Well, even in this policy I believe they will make you go through the medical tests before confirming the policy. Based on the test results, they will make the adjustments in the premium for the selected cover.
Any such similar term insurance policies in the market with riders? I feel this iTerm policy is useless without any riders. Wish Aegon Religare considers this request and comes up with riders for iTerm.
Hope your request is being heard by the Aegon Religare as well as other insurance providers in the indian market
I spoke to one of the guys from religare today as i felt the premiums of iTerm were very low compared to other term plans and also very less compared to religare’s normal Term plan itself.(25lcs 25 yes rs Iterm costs around 4700 where as normal plan costs 5600) I wanted to make sure there is no bug in the online calculator, but to my surprise the guy who spoke to me said not to go for i Term plan as there are lot of problems related to claime settelemen of iTerm plan. His point was that complete resposibality of declarations were on customer & if even a small mistake in declaring few things like height,health condition,habits etc etc could lead in to trouble during settelement. Another surprising tpoint was these guys are providing cover upto 30lacs with out any medical checkps, where as other insurance companis limit is 15lacs.
Hi Mr Mohan
Though this iTerm plan can be onlin purchased but it is confined to the residents of a few cities only?
Can you highlight when this restriction will remove?
Sorry, i don’t have much info on that.
Brother just wanted to check their is a point raised that in online insurance the onus of providing details regarding weight , height etc. is with the policy holder and the company can dispute the fact at the time of settlement although i have nothing to hide but is it possible that i can be doubly sure that they will not be able to hold any of my genuine mistake unknowingly ofcourse at the time of settlemnt.
Pankaj
The plan is good and cheapest in this category. But when you go for their premium calculator it shows less premiun for 60 lacs(6684) than 40 lac(6784). i am not able understand their logic and may be there is some bugs in their calculator
Yes, I checked the same thing. To me it looks like – a sum assured above 50 lacs warrants a medical checkup – hence the lower premiums – which may however be increased by the company based on the results of the medical checkup. Any sum assured below 50 lacs requires no medical checkups and hence the higher premiums. However, I could not find this information on the website or the brochure.
By the way, Bharti Axa has come up with a term plan till the age of 75 – which is the highest offered by any company. Although the premium would definitely be higher, a term plan should definitely be for as higher a term as possible. For an age of 35, the premium for a minimum sum assured of 25 lacs is around 13K. Opinions?
Thanks for the confirmation Jaywant. Appreciate the additional information you have shared here. I suggest you check for a similar sum assured with other insurance providers as well. With such comparison, you get a fair idea to go for the good deal from prominent players.
Nice info. Even religare’s Level term Plan provides till the age of 75. This one also seems to be a good one.
Hi,
The plan seems quite attractive but I have few naive questions which I would request group members to clarify:
1. The plan as of now is applicable for select cities but does it mean once the plan is bought and the insured person moves to a city which is not in the list, the plan doesn’t hold good and is not insured? Looks weird to ask but its better safe than to be sorry.
2. I am not sure if the premium has any dependence on the city you are currently living? Also, can a person split 1 big sum term insurance into 2-3 insurances if there are premium advantages for lower sum coverage?
3. I hope the plan covers all kinds of deaths (yeah only deaths) occuring from accidents and illness except suicidal deaths in the 1st year.
1. There would be no such binding on claims occurring due to death in cities which are not in the list. IRDA does not permit that.
2. No. A person cannot split one large sum policy into multiple smaller policies to avoid medicals or for lesser premia.
3. Yes. Death is a death. So claim has to be passed so far it fits into the regulatory mandate.
Hi Mohan,
your article was very helpful. Could you suggest some term insurance policy for Accidental disability and Dismemberment rider.
Check MetLife’s Met Surakhsa. http://www.me.....eindia.com.
the plan looks best ,but what about the claim payment history of the aegon-ralligare? actlually many life insurance companies have poor record of claim payment. IRDA should publish data regarding pending claims and no. of court cases for refusal of claims of all the life insurance companies in India.
aegon-religare is the newest kid in the insurance industry but is backed highly experienced partner companies. It would be too early to talk about claims in aegon religare. All companies are bound by IRDA regulations and now there is an Ombudsman too. Also, I have worked with three Pvt Life insurance cos in various departments including Claims. Believe me, the processes are quite liberal as against the general perception. If the claim is genuine and straight then the process gets completed without any hurdle. Ofcourse, some unfortunate cases get stuck and hence delayed.
The same is case with any company in India including LIC. If we were to dig out pending cases of entire life insurance industry then I bet percentile figure of LIC would top the list.
But you have hit the nail on the right spot: IRDA is talking about transparency and I am sure claims data publishing would also be on their list. I checked their site, but could not find any data.
I am quite assured that claims if genuine and well documented would get faster response.
Dear Jayant your statement “There would be no such binding on claims occurring due to death in cities which are not in the list. IRDA does not permit that.” is contratry to what Aegon Religare associates told me. The policy holds good in any city provided the address is changed by the person on time. Do you have some differing views here? Could you be more explicit?
Even I meant the same. I think I was not clear grammatically. I meant IRDA does not permit any claim to be rejected on geographical grounds once a policy is issued. There would be no issue with Aegon Religare iterm product as far claims are concerned.
Mohan – If you permit me, I would want to collate some information on claims. Ofcourse, I would need sometime on this topic as my notes would have to be vetted by my ex colleague whom I consider as insurance expert. A lot of queries regarding claims should get cooled off if we get some enlightenment on claims.
Alternatively, If you know somebody who can write a short note on claims, nothing like it.
I am fine as long as no personal information is shared in the public forum abiding by the privacy statement of this blog.
Aegon I term plans on the face of it looks to be the best, but the harassment like medical check ups & demand for extra premiums are not genuine at all.
I got this policy online & went through all the medical exams directed & at the end i received a demand for higher premium saying that i have higer sugar levels in blood. then i went ahead and did the same blood test in some other hospital – where the test results showed that my suger levels in blood are normal.
Hence i suggest not to go for Aegon iTerm plan as the conditions they specify are not genuine.
All term insurance policies make customers go through medical tests and they do change the premium based on medical test reports. I have a friend of mine, who had to face a similar situation, reason being above normal cholesterol. Looking at your case, why don’t you call them up and inform about the report from other hospital?
Sorry, but one question. were you directed to get the tests done in a specific hospital only or were you given an option to choose among few diagnostic centers? More details would really help the readers here.
Dear Mohan
your blog is very informative. i want to know that these private insurance mostly term insurance they issue policy without any medical chackup as compre for same amount LIC have mendetery medical chackup…. what happend in case of misshappening and the clam to my nominee? let me clearify plz.
Sorry, I didn’t get your question quite right. Since most of the term insurances involve high cover, company will make you go through tests. I am not aware of any term insurance provider issuing policies without medical check ups. Of course, if your policy holds good under signed off terms and conditions, in case of demise, nominee will be paid with the insured amount.
Does someone know of actual actual settlement experience with Raligare? that could tell more when comparing with LIC.
Vijay
Since Religare is fairly new in the indian insurance business, not much info on that. Any readers having this info can share the details.
Nice info. Even religare’s Level term Plan provides till the age of 75. This one also seems to be a good one.
I was looking all this while only at ULIPs and Endowments. Though I knew about Term plans, never really thought of them because they don’t return anything back upon surviving maturity period… there is a shift in my thinking now.. let me reconsider my options now.
Sounds good! All the best with your planning.
Dear Mohan,
I am new to your blog and i have to say this that your blog is very informative.
I am planning to buy a term insurance. I’ve checked SBI Shield/ LIC and HDFC. Comparing all those Aegon’s premium is much lower and enticing.
Have one question.
Incase tmrw the company closes it operations, what would happen to my insurance plan?
Can you suggest me some some good companies term insurance plan. I am looking for a plan of 30Lakhs.
Regards,
Preetham P
No Insurance company in India can shut down its doors without handing over the liabilities to another company which is ready to take it over. Recent e.g. is AMP Sanmar which was taken over by Reliance Life and so were its assets and esp current and future liabilities.
Look at Met Suraksha, Met Smart and BSLI’s Dream Retirement with enhanced life cover. Given a choice personally, I would definitely opt for Aegon’s Iterm. Agents wont be interested in this product as they wont get hefty commission in this so they try to divert giving various reasons like claims etc.
Also,one has to remember that many cases of term plan get stuck due to various reasons esp medicals etc coz the company wants to be extra cautious while giving huge life cover with minimal premium.
Hi Mohan,
Do you think it is a good idea if we combine iTerm plan with Royal Sundaram Accident Shield plan
Thanks
Anil
Hi Anil, I haven’t looked at Royal Sundaram Accident shield plan. So I wouldn’t be able to comment on that.
Hi Mohan,
A very informative blog.
I have a very basic doubt regarding the term plans as to whether the premiums need to be paid for the entire duration of the policy or we can stop paying after say 5 years and still enjoy the benefits.
What do you suggest would be the best Term Policy of 50 lakhs amongst all the players in the market ?
Best Regards
Raja G
Raja, that is the best advantage of Term insurance policies. Since you wont get anything in return upon term completion, it is upto you to decide on when you want to stop paying premiums. You may want to note that if you miss any premium in the middle, reinstating the policy is a pain again as the insurer may ask you to go through the medical tests once again and based on your current age at that time, they may change your premium to higher amounts for the same cover.
Well, each policy has its own pros and cons. I suggest you shortlist about 3-5 products and then evaluate one against the other to buy the one that matches your needs.