Getting married is undoubtedly one of the busiest and most stressful times of your life. You have all sorts of arrangements to make and you have a deadline so you have to make them quickly. You probably can’t think of anything other than getting married to the person of your dreams and feel you can only afford to focus on your big day. Although this is understandable, and indeed expected, you also need to consider your insurance. Tying the knot will drastically change your insurance needs and options and you should try and sit down with your soon-to-be spouse and evaluate these carefully. Re-evaluating your homeowners, life and health insurance well before the wedding is definitely a good idea so when you come back from the honeymoon, your insurance needs are covered and you can go about “being married”.
Short-term insurance
When you get married, both your household contents will be covered under a single policy, but this is probably not the case before you say “I do”. If you are both insured by the same insurance company which is unlikely, you could simply move all your property on to one person’s policy. If not, it is wise to shop around for the best possible rate while retaining adequate cover. Getting married will change your risk profile and your monthly rate is likely to be much less, especially your vehicle insurance.
Health insurance
Similar to short-term insurance, married couples tend to pay less for health insurance than their unmarried counterparts. Most health insurance companies do not offer domestic partner cover and if they do, it is considered taxable income if you submit a claim. To that end, it is advisable for unmarried couples to have separate health insurance policies, but all that changes when you get married. Compare your policy to your partners’ and see which offers the best possible benefits for the lowest premium. It is also not a bad idea to shop around for a possible alternate insurer than either of you currently use.
Life insurance
Many consider life insurance the most important policy to consider, especially if you are starting a family. They will need to be protected in the event of either of your deaths and as such, this should be discussed well before the wedding. If you already have a policy in place, you would want to consider increasing the cover so that your loved ones are not left without a source of income after your death. If you have not already done so, you will need to change the beneficiary on your policy as well.
Ensuring that all your insurance needs are taken care of before you start your life together will not only provide you and your soon-to-be spouse with much needed peace of mind, it could also save you a few pennies on your monthly installments which is often very welcome.
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It’s an unfortunate occurrence when insurance problems prevent the natural progression of processing a claim that allows you to get back to your life. When insurance agencies sign you up for the policy it’s absolutely imperative that you read the entire policy in order to understand the limitations. However, there are plenty of times when even adhering to the limitation and restrictions that the insurance company doesn’t do the fair and right thing.
In order to maintain their bottom line, insurance adjusters are trained at how to effectively deny or stall claims. This is especially true when the loss causes serious physical damage or consequences to the victim. The adjuster will look at every possible angle to prevent the victim from collecting the full amount that is due to them.
Illegal stall tactics are not uncommon. In fact, most people who have ended up finally receiving a settlement had to prove the legitimacy of their damage for one to three years before the settlement was funded. Illegal tactics are designed to wear you down. Since you’re not a lawyer, they will make the assumption that you do not know the difference between legal and illegal action on their part. You may be given false information, denied timely payment, or in some worker’s compensation cases sent to a physician paid to clear you to return to work.
If you talk to the insurance representative regarding these issues you are likely to be told that these are simply preventative measures that are designed to uncover fraud. The truth of the matter is that while there are fraud preventative requirements put in place, the longer they drag out your claim the more likely you are to bend to their desires and the less likely you will be to find that the law and your policy protects your rights.
Make sure you have accurate documentation of any professional opinions that support your claim. If your doctor makes a statement about an undesirable prognosis, make sure you get it in writing. If your medication is denied because of insurance problems, get your receipt or a statement of denial from the pharmacy.
The more you gather your information the easier it is to maintain your position. For property damage claims to buildings and homes, it is most likely in your best interest to retain an independent appraiser or insurance claim consultant. In most injury related cases, you can find a lawyer that will offer you a delayed retainer, meaning they will receive a percentage of the final award rather than an up front payment.
When you do have to deal with an insurance company representative, keep it short and sweet. Don’t engage in any additional information. Emotional outbursts and friendly chats can help to feed insurance problems and provides the insurance company with a little more leverage.
Really frustrated with insurance claim problems and unanswered insurance questions? Get real insurance advice instantly by calling the insurance Problem Solvers Hotline at 919-669-9111.
Insurance brokers popularity had significantly increased in the last couple of years. Traditionally, if someone wanted to find the best insurance rate, they would have to approach multiple insurance companies, fill out various forms and then request rates from each company individually. Very often a structure of a product is very complex, and it could be very difficult to understand to an average customer differences in terminologies and coverage. This is where insurance brokers come in. They represent their clients. They work with a number of
Insurance companies and choose the policies that are best for their clients. Since they know insurance products inside out, they have the ability to consult the client and match him/her together with the product that is least expensive and has best coverage. Most often, brokers are commissioned sales people, who get reimbursed by insurance company. This means there are no upfront costs for the client.
Insurance brokers sell insurance policies ranging from life,car,disability and term insurance.
There are also some specialized policies that brokers sell. They include corporate, farm and crop insurance.
Insurance brokers often attend seminars to keep up to date on insurance regulations, products and laws.
Other duties of insurance brokers are:
- compare and explain products and providers
- help their clients calculate net worth
- build and maintain a client base
- maintain detailed client files
- help their clients identify goals and objectives
- make recommendations on how clients can achieve their goals and objectives
- help clients gather information from bank account records, income tax returns, life and disability records, pension plan information and wills.
There is no denying the fact that the insurance industry is replete with a range of paperwork which includes form filling, underwriting and data entry; and this often leads to a fair amount of human error. Besides, the insurance industry also has to deal with various other processes, some of which include the launching of new products, handling of claims, as well as making payouts. With a suitable BPM solution in place, an insurance company can expect the efficiency of all included processes to rise considerably.
A case in point is the incorporation of BPM solutions by a European insurance company. This company was successfully able to utilize its existent manpower for core functions, while the automation helped smoothen out the administrative tasks that were linked to the various processes. The overall cost of ownership of the implemented solution was also lowered considerably.
Based out of Malaysia, CMS I-Systems® was looking for a solution that could give them a higher ROI through its ability to be embedded easily into their existing systems, while also being responsive to any required changes in processes. The solution that they opted for not only delivered on these parameters, but also reduced the time that the business needed to follow through.
Specific benefits, when it comes to BPM solution for the insurance sector, are many. For starters, since there would be a drop in the tasks that are generally human based, one could expect such a solution to increase the process’ efficiency. This, in turn, would translate into increased profits because of the processes being streamlined. BPM Insurance would allow you to formulate and regulate all the information flowing through the system, you would have the ability to improve agent as well as customer service management through an assortment of alert, notification, and messaging options. In doing so, you could also give your entire customer/agent base real time access to updated information.
Another important factor to consider is that the insurance sector has to ensure adherence to various state and federal regulations. This therefore, makes it very important for any business to keep a close watch on the execution of the processes. Good bpm software would come with options that would allow you to monitor process compliance on an ongoing basis. Besides, you can also expect a good BPM solution to give your senior management real time direct monitoring and tracking access through dedicated dashboards.
Since underwriting forms a crucial part of the insurance industry, it is only natural that this aspect needs to be addressed. Through the implementation of a successful BPM solution, this process can be standardized across all departments/sections; and while every department/section should have the ability to employ different parameters, the process remains common, thereby allowing better control in the insurance workflow. This would, in effect, give underwriters the chance to focus on their core expertise.
So while the BPM solution would help in aspects like documentation and the formation/improvement of processes, it would also help in reducing the business’ dependency on certain employees. Also, since a BPM solution leaves room for refinement, you can expect process optimization to be a continual process.
Most insurance companies will classify insurance discounts in one of four categories. There is a simple, 4 part, breakdown that you can use to score the value of a companies discount for you. One company might be better for you than another based solely on discounts or credits offered. One company will have better rates and discounts than a retired couple where another might focus more on drivers from the age of 21 to 25. Learn about what credits are available to you with each company to know where your rates can be headed.
Learn about available discounts to be sure that you are getting the cheapest insurance rate available to you. If you are prepared with the knowledge of what is available to you, you will be able to ask the right questions, and make the right buying decisions, to ensure the lowest possible insurance rate
The four categories of insurance discounts are as follows:
1) Discounts you can receive right now
2) Discounts that will come with time
3) Discounts that will come when making your next purchase
4) Discounts due to Situation / Employment / Lifestyle
Insurance discounts add up to big savings year over year. Don’t let discounts that you can qualify for today pass you by. You should also know what discounts will be available to you in the future so that you are informed of what to ask your insurance agent or company for. Knowing the discount factors that impact a house or car insurance policy will allow you to make a better buying decision when shopping for that new home or car.
Be certain to communicate with your agent. An insurance agent is there to guide you. Simply reviewing your rates every couple of years will save you money in the long run.
This is part 1 of a 5 part series on insurance discounts. Look for parts 2 – 5 from this author. Each section will focus on any discounts, or credits, available under your policy.