The Best Way To Process Life Insurance Claims In Nigeria
Some people are beneficiaries of life insurance policies. In a case where your benefactor dies, you are the one to go redeem your benefit and not wait for the estate executor. You need to understand how to process life insurance claims.
You need to know how to go about this entitlement of yours in time so as to save yourself the embarrassment of running into debts as your provider is no longer there. So in this article, I will be taking you through the process of obtaining your life insurance benefits as a beneficiary, so stay glued till the end.
Related: How to chose the best life insurance plans in Nigeria
As pointed out earlier, this article is to guide you as a life insurance policy beneficiary on how to process life insurance claims. However, in this article I will be attending to questions like, How long does it take to process life insurance claims? What are the processes involved? How do you file an application claim? All you need is to stay glued to the end. Happy reading!
Also read: Definitive guide to life insurance policy in Nigeria
Tips On How To Process life insurance Claims In Nigeria
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Search for Insurance Policies
The first thing to do after your benefactor has passed on and you want to process life insurance claims is to search for his insurance policy or policies if he holds more than one. Ensure you identify all of them so that you don’t miss out on any of the benefits. The following are some of the policies you may find-:
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Individually owned Policies
These are policies bought personally by the policyholder. In a case where you find it difficult to find the holder’s insurance policy certificate, do well to contact either the company or broker for help or better still a check on the policy holder’s bank statement or checkbook can help you discover the evidence of payments.
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Group Policies
Group policies are obtained to provide coverage for a group of people. This may be bought by an employee, a credit union the policyholder belonged to or a bank. Even though the group owns the policy, an insurance certificate is given to the policyholder as proof of insurance. You should look out for such certificates in the policyholders’ file or safe deposits boxes.
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Employer-based policies
Some companies purchase group life insurance policies for their employees which you may not know unless you ask questions and try to find out. Try finding out about this or better still ask the employer about this. This can help you not to lose your entitlements.
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Accidental death and dismemberment policy
In case of accidental deaths, banks, credit unions or employers do offer this kind of insurance policy. Endeavor to find out about this either by checking the deceased records or checking with his employers still.
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Travel Accident Insurance
You may also take into account the cause of the deceased death. If he died as a result of an accident, then you are likely to be entitled to an insurance policy benefit. This is because every traveler is entitled to a travel accident insurance policy. When you purchase an air ticket, you also buy the travel accident insurance policy. Such policies are usually paid for alongside the costs of obtaining a ticket. This means that in case of an accident that leads to death, your beneficiaries are entitled to compensation from the airline company.
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Mortgage life insurance
For someone who purchased a mortgage life insurance, his debts are taken care of by the insurance company after he’s no more. So, if your benefactor dies and leaves some debt, you can do well to find out if he has a mortgage life insurance policy and does well to contact the company to pay up such debt if the policy has not expired before his death.
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Credit life insurance
This is issued to a person to cover a loan or a line of credit he takes. If the policyholder dies with an outstanding credit, the benefits would be used to pay off the outstanding balance.
After finding out the various life insurance policies of the holder, proceed with the following steps-:
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Inform insurance companies that the policyholder has passed on
To process life insurance claims, go on and inform the insurance company of the death of the holder if the policy is self-purchased but if it’s purchased with the help of a broker, do well to contact the broker who will then do the needful assisting in processing the claims.
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Fill out the claims forms
After notifying the insurance company or the agent, you would receive a claim form to fill and submit such along with the death certificate of the policyholder. Also contact other beneficiaries to fill out such form, if you are not the only beneficiary, so as to be able to present a valid claim.
You should also fill the IRS form W-9 to be used to notify the IRS of any interests paid to you. Be as careful and accurate as you can so as to avoid discrepancies which could cause a delay in processing your claims. All these forms are crucial if you want to process life insurance claims.
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Wait it out
After filling out the form and submitting the necessary documents, you will have to wait it out as insurance benefits take some time to come. You should also continue to monitor the process by remaining in constant touch with the company or agent so as to hasten things up a bit.
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Payments
The last aspect you go through when you process life insurance claims is payment. Your insurance benefits can be paid in two ways – lump sum payment or installment payment. In lump sum payment, you would be paid the insured sum immediately but installment payment, you would be given a fixed or predetermined sum at specified times.
However, the manner in which you are paid is determined by the policyholder and not the beneficiary. Payment would mostly depend on what the policyholder stated in the insurance policy and may also depend on how you choose to collect your settlements.
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Taxes
While some policies are tax-free, some require taxes to be paid. It totally depends on the type of policy you are entitled to. So, you have to find out from the insurance company or broker whether you have to pay taxes on your received benefits.
