In the majority of cases life insurance companies deal with people when they are most vulnerable. Individuals that are looking for life insurance are vulnerable because they are concerned about the financial stability of their loved ones. They want to be able to buy the most coverage that is going to meet these needs. Read about insurance company delay tactics
Beneficiaries are vulnerable because they are putting in a claim during a stressful period of their life. They have just lost a loved one and are dealing with their emotions and other matters. Many assume that once they put in their claim for the life insurance that it is going to be handled in a timely manner. Quite often individuals end up having to deal with delayed life insurance claims.
How Long Should It Take For A Life Insurance Claim To Be Paid Out?
Insurance companies are very organized. Quite often the beneficiaries because of the situation they are in are not. Putting in a insurance claim for life insurance is a new experience for them. The insurance company will have a format that must be followed for issuing a life insurance claim. The beneficiary will have to follow this format. Quite often they get confused as to what they need to do, or what documents have to be produced. The death certificate will be one of the documents and the beneficiary is required to get a copy of this.
If the beneficiary is well versed in what they have to do and submits their claim properly there should be an answer soon. The insurance company can review the policy, and in reality the policy could be paid out within a couple of weeks. Beyond that, one is probably looking at delayed life insurance claims.
How Do I Know That I Am Dealing With Delayed Life Insurance Claims?
Being as individuals are new to life insurance claims they really don't know what to expect. They can ask the insurance company how long they expect before they will release the money. In many cases, there may not to be a straight answer. Most likely the answer will be that it all depends. However, the insurance company may not go into detail as to what it depends on.
If after a couple weeks the insurance claim has not been paid or contact has not been made then that the red flags should go up. Contact should be made with the insurance company again to determine what the status is. Probably by this time if there is going to be a delayed life insurance claims issue it is going to surface. The insurance company is not going to take the initiative to contact. the beneficiary. It will have to be the other way around.
What Reasons Are There For Delayed Life Insurance Claims?
The insurance companies are going to scrutinize the policy carefully when a claim is presented. Their mandate is going to be to look for any reasons that can justify them not having to pay out the life insurance claim.
Misrepresentations
Their first focus will be to determine if there has been anything misrepresented on the insured's application. Unfortunately, when individuals are filling out the life insurance applications they can be very complex. Individuals tire from answering all the questions and start to get lax in the information that they are providing. Unfortunately, information that is left out or is incorrect can be used against the beneficiary as reasons for delayed life insurance claims. An unreported doctor or hospital visit is the most common.
Exclusions
If they are not able to find anything wrong with that the application then they will look for other reasons. The next focus will most likely be on any potential exclusions that were in the insurance policy that were not adhered to. For example, some insurance policies dictate that there will be no pay out if the cause of death is suicide. Even though the death certificate has the cause of death the insurance companies will drag this part of their investigation out.
Validity of Beneficiaries
If all else fails then they may look for excuses as to the validity of the beneficiary. They can come up with excuses such as they are making sure that no one else is going to put a claim in. There are a lot of different tactics that the insurance companies can use for delayed life insurance claims. Some insurance companies have better ethics than others. It is all going to depend on the specific company that is being dealt with. Getting an experience life insurance law firm is the best bet.