LIFE INSURANCE FOR HOME LOANS:

It is a dream of every person to own a house of your own. If an individual is a young professional who has just started out, one of the best ways that he/she can fulfill his/her dream of purchasing a house for himself/herself is by taking a home loan facility. In Today’ it is much easy to avail a home loan as many lenders offer at a very affordable rate. However, availing a home loan is a huge financial responsibility, and in case something happens to an individual, their family would come under huge financial crises. Hence, it is important to be prepared by buying a proper life insurance policy.

It When a lender provides you a home loan, there are certain risks involved by which they seek security. Hence, the bank that lends you money as a home loan asks for a 20% down payment of the total value of the house property. The default risk is low if you utilize your own funds to make the down payment. In case if an individual falter and is unable to pay back the default, the lender can take over his property in order to heal their losses. Repayment of the home loan is a long-term promise and hence banks do consider an individuals repayment capacity before they provide you a loan. Hence, the payments that you make on the installment basis will be made in that way in which the installment is within 50% of the total take-home income. This provides that an individual is able to make monthly installments on time and without having to go through any financial crises over a course of loan term.

One of the best insurance products that an individual can use to protect himself against loans is by availing a term insurance plan for himself. The reason term insurance is recommended since it is economical and the benefits offered are much higher as compared to the benefits given by other life insurance products. In case of an individuals untimely death, the nominee receives a huge amount called the death benefit which will help in paying off the entire loan amount. Thus, it is always recommended that the amount assured chosen by an individual should be high so that not only does it cover the loan amount but also helps in taking care of the other daily needs of his family. He must also ensure that his policy term should be higher than his loan repayment term.

Different life insurance companies in India sell a type of cover known as the loan protector covers. These covers help in taking care of the outstanding loans that an individual may have to repay in case of his untimely death. This type of cover is generally sold as a single premium plan which ultimately takes care of the amount of the loan in case something happens to him. This type of cover is more costly as compared to a normal term insurance cover.

Life Insurance Policy For Senior Citizens:

Most financial experts suggest people to take life insurance as soon as possible. When you buy a life insurance policy at a young age, you can get access to high-value protection at an affordable price. While the same cannot be said for senior citizens, there are still many options available for them to get life insurance security. It is secure to say that life insurance is important for senior citizens who want to take care of themselves financially without being dependent on others.

Reasons why senior citizens require life insurance:

By the time of their retirement, most people have already taken care of their future needs through different investments. However, in certain cases, they might still have some requirements to meet and dependents to provide for. To take care of these requirements, senior citizens may need a life insurance policy even at an older age. Some of the important reasons why they would require life insurance are mentioned below:

1. Debts and Loans: There are many cases of people having outstanding debts at the time of their retirement. If they are willing to protect their families from this burden, they may require a life insurance plan as protection.
2. Dependents: Even at an older age, people may still have dependents in the kinds of spouse, children, or grandchildren. In that case, it is a best idea to carry on with the life insurance coverage.
3. Medical expenses: at the older age, most of the people are prone to various kinds of health ailments. If they don’t have a comprehensive health insurance plan, they may end up by spending money from their savings. A life insurance plan with good maturity earnings may come in handy in such a situation.
4. Living expenses: Even after at the age of retirement, people need a regular source of income to maintain their lifestyle. The daily payouts from annuity plans can be used to take care of one’s living expenses. With a proper life insurance security, people can take maturity benefits and take care of their daily living expenses.

Different Types of life insurance plans available for senior citizens:

In most of the cases, annuity plans or pension plans are suitable for the certain needs of senior citizens in the country. However, other types of life insurance covers including whole-life plans and term plans are also suitable for them. So have a look at the various types of life insurance products best suitable for senior citizens of India.

1. Pensions Plans: If you feel that your retirement corpus may not be enough for your needs, you may invest in pension plans to get daily payouts from your policies. There are various types of pension plans available in the market and policyholders are all free to select the frequency of getting payment.
2. Whole life insurance: This is something that provides security to a person throughout his or her life till 100 years of age. Since there is no certain time period for security, policyholders can meet the minimum needs of premium payment and get protection till the specified sum assured amount. Following the death of the policyholder, the maturity sum along with the bonuses will be made payable to the family of the insured person. This is an effective plan if you want to leave behind a specific corpus for your dependent family members.
3. Term insurance Plan: It is best to buy term insurance plans at a young age. However, the senior people may also take term plans for any of the reasons specified above. Most of the term insurance plans in the market have a maximum 65 years of entry age. If you get this coverage at your older age, the policy term may be limited to a maximum of 10 years. Also, the premium for term insurance tends to be very high as your age increases.

In addition to the plans mentioned here, senior citizens may also consider investing in various other types of plans like money-back policies. Based on their risk appetite, senior citizens may also select unit-linked insurance plans to maximise their investments schemes. Most of the top insurance companies in the market have plans designed specially for senior citizens. The country’s greatest life insurance provider, LIC, also offers many of the plans made for senior citizens in the country. Based on the benefits offered under these plans, you may choose the best suitable plan for your specific needs.

Life Insurance For The Women of India:

Life insurance is important for everyone irrespective of their age, income, or gender. Apart this, life insurance penetration in India is considerably is low among women compared to that of the men. This situation is even worse among homemakers in different households. Women who subscribe to health insurance policies are mostly working women. However, life insurance is also important for homemakers as well. Some financial planners are of the opinion that people who are not earning don’t need life insurance. However, this is much far from the reality. Women play an important role in the financial planning of a family irrespective of whether they are earning or not. Hence, life insurance protection is vital for all women.

For life insurance companies, women occupy a large hunk of their target market. This is the main reason why insurers have designed policies exclusively for women. Women can take benefit of any kind of life insurance plans including term plans, endowment policies, ULIPs, pension plans, child plans and many more. Before we have a look on some of the top plans available for women, let us first understand why life insurance is important for women in India.

Why is life insurance important for women?

The following reasons mentioned make a clear picture, why life insurance is important for women in the country:

1. Financial security for family: There are so many cases of women being the primary earners of their families. In those cases, the loss of the primary earner will have an adverse effect on the financial status of the family. To make ensure the financial coverage of the family, women must have a life insurance security that meets their specific needs.
2. Dependent family members: Women have dependents in the different kinds like spouse, parents and children. If they wish to ensure the financial coverage of these dependents, they must subscribe to a life insurance plan that offers comprehensive protection. Women can also plan collectively for the higher education or marriage of their children.
3. Retirement saving: women who are working have to design their retirement and their finances accordingly. Life insurance is one of the best investment opportunities available for them. Women can invest in pension plans to get daily payouts even after their retirement.
4. Security against critical illness: The cost of managing critical illness is much high in India considering the skyrocketing medical cost. A critical illness security can be taken by women along with a life insurance plan. Some insurers in the market also offer major illness policies specifically planned for women.

Life insurance policies available for women:

Some of the best women-specific life insurance covers offered by insurers in India are mentioned as follows:

1. LIC’s e-term plan: LIC’s e-term plan is available for both men and women in India. Women who are working can also subscribe to this policy and get protection. This plan is ideal for women who have dependents to take care even when they are no more around. Unlike most of the other LIC policies, this policy can be bought easily by online.
2. HDFC Life Smart Woman Plan: As the name suggests, it is a plan designed exclusively for women in India. This policy is same to any other unit-linked plan in terms of the investment potential. It comes with flexible options for women based on the various types they select. One of the highlights of this policy is that it waives premiums for three years in case of life-changing events such as childbirth, malignant cancer, or death of the spouse.
3. SBI Life – Smart Women benefit: It is a policy that aims to provide a combination of life insurance protection, savings, and major illness coverage under a single plan. This policy also comes with in-built premium waiver during life changing events. This policy comes in two different types of options i.e. gold and platinum which are based on the level of security chosen.
4. LIC Jeevan Bharti: Specially designed for women of India, this LIC plan offers women with a minimum amount assured of Rs. 50,000 and a maximum amount of Rs. 25,00,000. The LIC Jeevan Bharti Plan gives policyholders the privilege of the survival advantage, flexible premium modes, auto cover in the case of lapsed policies, and the advantage of converting the maturity sum into annuities.

In addition to the ones specified here, women can also access life insurance by the array of plans offered by different insurers. The number of policies planned exclusively for women is limited in the market. However, women can also subscribe to any of the regular based policies available for both men and women.

Procedure to File a Life Insurance Claim:

Filing a life insurance claim is an easy process. The need for a claim can arise in two situations, on death of insured or on maturity of the policy.

1. On death of life assured– It is important to initiate the claims process in order to avail the advantage provided by a policy. This can be done by following simple steps mentioned below:
   • Intimate the insurance provider instantly after the policyholder’s death. Intimation could be done either by the nominee, a relative, or the agent from whom the policy was bought.
   • Fill and submit the claim application. This form can be downloaded from the official website of the insurer or could be availed by contacting them for the same.
   • Provide the basic details pertaining to the policyholder and the policy. These include the policy documents, the death certificate, assignment or reassignment deeds (if applicable), information of the nominee, discharge form, etc.
   • Choose the payment mode.

An insurer can ask for additional information in certain cases. These could include a request for the certificate from the hospital, a medical certificate, a letter from the employer, etc.

2. On maturity– In case where a policy provides a maturity benefit it is essential to submit a claim for the same. This can be done by following a few mentioned steps:
   • Each insurer informs the policyholder before the date of policy maturity. A discharge voucher is given to the insured.
   • This discharge voucher needs the sign of the policyholder. Before signing, one should check and be assured about the maturity amount which is being offered.
   • The signed discharge voucher needs to be delivered to the insurer. In addition to this, the original policy document should also be submitted.

The insurer will pay the sum to the policyholder once the policy matures. In case where the policy is assigned to a third person or an organization, the sum will be paid directly to the said assignee.