Filing a Term Insurance Claim: What You Need to Know?

Term insurance plans secure families' financial future due to life's unpredictability. Insurance providers offer easy online procedures for renewal and death claim. Claim settlement is key and if policyholder dies during term, insurance company pays sum assured to beneficiaries. To check if you are a beneficiary, follow the steps provided.

What is the purpose of your claim?

There are essentially three reasons of claim settlements:

• Maturity claims: This is concerned with the maturity benefit of the policy, meaning the compensation offered at the time the policy matures or completes its tenure.
• Death claims: If the policyholder passes away when the policy is still active, then the death claim is paid to the beneficiaries.
• Rider claims: Even top term insurance plans can be strengthened with riders. If you have purchased a term life insurance policy with riders such as accidental death or critical illness, then the beneficiaries may be eligible for an additional cover over the basic sum assured basis of the conditions of the policy.

Understanding the burden of suffering from the loss of a loved one, insurance companies ensure that the death claim settlement process is prompt, effortless, and smooth. Click here to file a claim.  

The Procedure of Death Claim Settlement

The loss of a loved one can be a traumatising experience, and so claim settlement is made easy by insurance companies. Here is a step-by-step guide for insurance claim settlement:

• Step 1: Intimate the insurance company as soon as possible to initiate the claim settlement process. You will be expected to fill out the claim intimation form, which is available online on the website of an insurance company, or it can be secured from the nearest office.
• Step 2: Keep the following information and term plan documents handy for filling out the claim intimation form: policy number, name of the insured, date of death, cause of death, place of death, name of the nominee, etc.
• Step 3: Furnish all the necessary documents for claim settlement.
• Step 4: Submit all the documents to the insurance provider for verification.
• Step 5: Following the regulation issued by the IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority), insurance providers are obligated to settle a claim within 30 days after receipt of the necessary documents.

Documents Required for Claim Settlement

To process a death claim, here are the commonly required documents:

• Duly filled claim intimation form
• Death certificate
• Original forms and term plan documents
• Proof of identity of the beneficiary
• Age proof of the policyholder
• Medical certificate as proof of the cause of death
• Deeds of re-assignment/assignment (if applicable)

Insurance companies classify death of the insured member under two categories: early death and non-early death – based on when the policy was purchased. It is considered an early death if the policyholder dies within three years of the policy purchase. In such an event, the insurance company may do the following:

• Ascertain with the hospital to determine whether the policyholder was admitted there at the time of death.
• If the death occurred owing to an air crash, they might check with the airline if the insured member had been a passenger.
• Ask for a medical certificate if the death occurred due to medical or unnatural causes.
• If the cause of death was suicide, accident, or murder, then a police FIR and the post-mortem report are asked for.

To Conclude

It is always recommended to be completely transparent in your insurance form for a hassle-free claim settlement procedure. If the insurance provider detects any misinformation, there is a possibility of claim rejection which would leave your family vulnerable in times of trial. It is also advisable to undertake a term life insurance comparison before you buy a policy and check the claim settlement ratio to assess the reliability of the insurance provider.

Chirag Iyer - BFSI Enthusiast

Chirag is a writer and an avid reader who loves to drink coffee! His other interests include boxing, karate, and singing