The
process of applying, underwriting, and
qualifying for term life insurance has
completely changed over the last decades
and you could say it's turned on it's
head. If you've been around the market
long enough, you can remember long,
lengthy applications and running quotes
by what seemed to be protractors and
calculators on a person's living room
table. Those days are over and although
we've significantly improved the front
end of the process (quote and
application), you need patience on the
back end during underwriting and anyone
that tells you differently is just
trying to sell you something besides
land in Florida. Let's look at how the
process has chanced and what you can
expect.
It's
a recurring nightmare I have as a
term
life insurance agent. I've gone through
all the various term life insurance
plans, rates, and various riders with a
couple. It's taken a few hours
(seriously) to get to this point and
they want to apply. On one hand, I'm
happy because we were able to help them
find the right blend of benefits and
costs...a job well done but I then reach
into my fold-out brief case which is
starting to resemble airport pilot's
carry on in size and bulk. Out comes
the application in triplicate as it
thuds on the living room table. BOOM.
It looks like a small novel written in
red ink in all it's triplicate glory.
Now's the fun part. I have to go
through all sorts of horrible health
questions and by the time the whole
process is done, my feet have fallen
asleep from sitting so long. Grueling
is the only word to describe it and any
time I see a thick form (loosely
translated as government doc), the
nightmare comes right back to me. So
that was then...how is it now?
Insanely better...almost tolerable for
both us (the term life insurance agent
and the client) although still not up to
the "enjoyable" range. We can now quote
multiple term life quotes online in
under 10 seconds and by "we", I mean
"you". We give you the ability to this
all by yourself at your speed and in the
comfort of your own home. Of course,
we're a phone call or email away with
help, guidance, and just a vote of
re-assurance for the plan that interests
you since we only quote strong carriers
and competitive plans at the best rate.
What about the next step...applying and
qualifying for coverage?
The
applying is much better as well. In
fact, we can start the process in 10
minutes with just a few basic
questions. That's all it takes. We can
even do it over the phone. You have no
idea how revolutionary this is in our
industry. It's the term life equivalent
of levitation. Does that mean we're all
done and the life insurance carriers
just take anyone now with only a few
questions? Hardly. After all, at stake
are 100's of thousands of dollars if not
millions per policy so what's
happened? They shifted it to the
underwriting process. Traditional term
life insurance has always required a
para-medical exam where a licensed nurse
comes to you, draws blood, and performs
a general evaluation. That's still true
but now the real meat and bones of the
medical history documentation will be
down then by a trained professional
which probably makes more sense any way
since they have the medical background.
The other big change is the underwriting
process is going to take longer.
Once
the application and the paramedical
exams are complete, you can expect to
wait months before a decision is
rendered. What's going on during this
time? The
term life carrier is
scrutinizing every bit of information
they can get their hands on to make sure
they are making a good decision or
better said, a decision on a good risk.
This can mean more questions and more
requests for medical information. So
basically, the process has shifted from
the front end to the back. It's not too
bad since you don't need to do much
during the back-end underwriting period
of time but wait. If approved and if
you submit payment for premium up front,
you may be able to lock in the effective
date prior to when they actually come
back with a decision any way so there's
real downside here. We just feel it's
good for you to understand what to
expect. Expectations make the term life
underwriting process okay or unbearable
and we want you in the first category.
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