Declined Life insurance Claims

Appealing Rejected Life Insurance Claims

Losing a loved can be one of hardest things anyone can experience. Having to deal with the emotional impact of bereavement along with the practical and financial elements will test most of us. This can often be magnified significantly if you have a declined life insurance claim.

What is Life Cover?

In short, life cover should pay a lump-sum (sometimes an income) to either a nominated beneficiary or the person’s estate. It is normally designed to pay on the first or second death (if a joint policy) and may include additional benefits such as Terminal Illness Cover (if you have an expected prognosis less than 12 months).

Different Types of Cover?

They are several different types of life cover (the below list is the most popular but not an exhaustive list):

• Term assurance. This is often taken out to cover an asset or debt (for example a mortgage). The term is fixed at the outset and will either: decrease as times goes on (Decreasing term assurance), stay the same (Level term assurance), or increase (Increasing term assurance).
• Whole of life plan normally pay a lump sum if you die at any point during your life. The most popular Whole of life plans are ‘Over 50’s plans’ which are often guaranteed to pay-out.

Your life policy may have additional benefits such as an increasing cover option or waiver of premium.

Why are Life Insurance Claims Rejected?

According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI) there were 44,495 claims made against term assurance policies in 2020 and 237,458 successful claims made against whole of life policies (these policies are guaranteed to pay-out).

The same figures confirm that almost £106,000,000 million pounds worth of Life Insurance claims were rejected in 2020 alone. That’s over 2 million pounds a week in declined Life Insurance claims.

Being declined a Life Insurance pay-out can have a serious impact, not only on your finances but also on your standard of living, at a time when you really don't need it.

Some insurance companies apply simple algorithms when assessing claims and can decline claims without correctly assessing all the information. Some may decline your claim because of non-disclosure without robustly checking why. For example, you may have had a cyst removed that wasn't cancerous but because you never disclosed it the insurance company declined your claim.

You may have also been sold the wrong type of insurance or given bad advice when you took out the policy. Some Financial Advisers 'churned' policies after customers were diagnosed with certain conditions, basically making the new policy invalid.

Whatever your circumstances we will forensically examine your situation to ensure we construct the best possible case for you. We will often put your case forward to the Financial Ombudsman so it's important we have a robust case for you. Even if the claim was some time ago, we can still look to get the compensation you are rightfully entitled to.

You don't have to use a company like us to make a complaint and you can complain yourself to your insurance provider, financial adviser, or Financial Ombudsman.

What Can I Do?

You can always make a complaint yourself, free of charge, to your financial service provider or the Financial Ombudsman Service. You may also search on the internet for “insurance claim solicitor” or “insurance complaint company”.

When appealing a declined Life Insurance claim, it’s important to take an evidenced based approach. At Resolute Claims, we have specialists who have extensive knowledge in helping people overturn rejected Life Insurance claims.

We have already helped customers successfully appeal their rejected Life Insurance claim. You can visit our case study section of our website to see how we’ve helped.

How Can Resolute Claims Help?

Resolute Claims can provide free information and support if you feel let down by your insurance provider. When you call us, you will be assigned an expert in that area of insurance. We will be able to provide you with free help and guidance in helping you to make a claim. We can even write to your insurance company and provide you with our opinion and the likelihood of success.

If you decide to use our service, you will be formally assigned a case manager. Your case manager will specialise in appealing Life Insurance claims and have extensive knowledge of the processes involved in making a successful claim.

We will investigate the claim which normally involves looking at the policy terms, medical information and precedent cases.

If you would like more information, you can call us on 0333 050 8792, start a webchat below or book an appointment here.