Scottish Widows Life Insurance
Scottish Widows Protect
Founded
1815
Company Type
Limited Company
Company Overview
Scottish Widows Life Insurance dates all the way to 1812 with an original remit of setting up a general fund to protect the assets of widows and the female relatives of fund-holders.
Three years later, Scotland’s first mutual life office was open for business under the name ‘The Scottish Widow’s Fund and Life Assurance Society’.
In 2000, Scottish Widows was demutualised and became part of the Lloyds TSB Group and in 2009 became part of the Lloyds Banking Group.
Today, Scottish Widow has nearly 6 million customers, providing a range of pension and protection products, including Scottish Widows Life Insurance.
Documentation
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Scottish Widows Life Insurance Overview
Scottish publish their Life Insurance Payout rates and have some of the highest. In 2016, they paid out on 99.4% of Life Insurance claims.
As well as automatically including cover for children with Critical Illness Cover, Scottish Widows will pay out a one-off benefit of £5,000 in the event of that death of a child.
Scottish Widows Life policies automatically include Terminal Illness Cover and Total Permanent Disability Cover.
Scottish Widows offer Life Cover and Critical Illness Cover as a Family Income Benefit.
Scottish Widows allow you to choose the interest rate of your Decreasing Life Insurance cover, which can be anything between 0% and 18%.
Scottish Widows have a maximum and minimum limit for their Life Insurance cover.
Neil
Pensions Advice
Robert
Income Protection
Scottish Widows Policy Conditions
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Overview of Key Policy Details
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|---|---|
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Product |
Life Insurance |
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Options |
Level Term / Decreasing Term / Whole of Life / Family Income Benefit |
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Policy Coverage |
Single / Joint Life Insurance |
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Underwriting |
Full Medical Undewriting |
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Premium Type |
Guaranteed |
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Terminal Illness Cover |
Yes |
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Optional Critical Illness Cover |
Yes |
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Critical Illnesses Covered |
49 |
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Children’s Critical Illness Cover |
Yes |
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Indexation |
Optional |
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Waiver of Premium |
Optional |
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Minimum Cover |
£25,000 |
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Maximum Cover |
|
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Minimum Entry Age |
18 years old |
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Maximum Entry Age |
|
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Guaranteed Insurability |
Available if the policyholder:
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Policy Exclusions |
Self inflicted injury or suicide within 12 months of the policy start date. |
Drewberry’s Scottish Widows Review
Key Comparison Points
- When you choose indexation, Scottish Widows will increase your premiums by 1.4 times your benefit’s percentage increase. Other insurers will match the increase of your benefits and premiums rather than applying a premium increase in excess of your benefit increase.
- Scottish Widows only covers 49 critical illnesses, with 8 of these illnesses entitling you to only a proportion of your benefit. Other insurers can offer as many as 80 critical illnesses.
- While some insures have a predetermined decrease rate for their Decreasing Life Insurance polices, Scottish Widows allow you to tailor your Life Insurance policy to the terms of your mortgage. You can choose any interest rate from 0% to 18% to match your mortgage. On the other hand, however, there are insurers that don’t use any predetermined rate of decreasing cover, allowing you to decide exactly when your insurance cover will reach zero.
- If you add waiver of premium to your policy, the standard definition of incapacity that they use is Own Occupation. This means that as long as you are not well enough to return to your own occupation, they will continue to waive your premiums.
Additional Benefits & Services
Scottish Widows Care
With all Scottish Widows Life Insurance policies, they give policyholders and their families access to a free nurse advice service provided by RedArc, known as Scottish Widows Care.
If the policyholder or any of their family members have experienced or are experiencing a traumatic situation, they can contact a personal nurse. Personal nurses are able to provide support for serious illness, bereavement, trauma, disability and recovery after being discharged form hospital.
If the situation requires, a personal nurse is also able to provide a face-to-face second medical opinion from a UK-based specialist or a course of therapy if you are diagnosed with a serious illness.
Accidental Death Cover
For up to 90 days while your application is being assessed, you will be covered in the event of accidental death before your application has been either accepted or rejected. Your benefit amount for your Accidental Death Cover can be up to £250k or the sum-assured that you applied for if it is less.
Free Mortgage Cover
This additional cover is included automatically and covers you for up to 90 days while you’re in the process of buying a new home. Between the day of finalising your contract until the start date of your mortgage, you can receive up to £1,000,000 in Life Insurance cover and £500,000 for Critical Illness cover. Exclusions apply to this benefit and not everyone will be eligible to claim.
Children’s Life Cover
This is automatically included with all Scottish Widows Life Insurance policies with Critical Illness Cover. If your child is under the age of 22, a one-off payment of £5,000 will be paid in the event of their death.
Financial Strength
Scottish Widows has £2.6 billion worth of available assets which they use to invest in new products or services.
In 2016, it ended the year with a Group profit of £173 million and financial strength of A2, A and B+ from Moody, Standard & Poor and AKG. Over the years it has become a common household name and continues to commit to their philosophy of ethical, responsible investing.
Josh at Drewberry was extremely helpful and friendly in answering my many questions about the policy before I went ahead.
Scottish Widows Life Insurance: FAQs
We try to find out everything there is to know about the policies we advise on to ensure that we are in the best position to match you with the most appropriate policy.
Below, we have answered a few frequently asked questions given to us by our customers about Scottish Widows Life Insurance policies. If you need any further help, please do not hesitate to call us on 01273646484.
Matteo Mockler
Health & Wellbeing Expert at Drewberry
Q. What’s the difference between the critical illnesses and the ‘additional critical illnesses’ covered by my policy?
A. If you are diagnosed with a critical illness from the main list consisting of 41 conditions, you will be entitled to the full benefit amount. If you are diagnosed with one of the 8 ‘additional’ conditions, however, you will be entitled to either 25% of the claim amount or a maximum of £25,000.
Q. Do Scottish Widows’ Joint Life policies work on a ‘joint life, first death’ basis?
A. Yes. If you take out a Joint Life Insurance policy from Scottish Widows, it will only pay out upon the first death before ending. However, Scottish Widows will allow the surviving partner to renew the policy on a single person basis to cover themselves.
If they apply for a new policy within 3 months of their Joint Life policy ending, Scottish Widows will reinstate the policy with all of the same terms to cover the surviving person, with only the premiums of the Life Insurance policy being changed.
