What is life insurance and how does it work?
Legal & General's life insurance policies help you to protect your loved ones or mortgage in the event of your death. You choose the amount of cover you need and the length of time you want to be insured for. If you die during the term, your policy pays out your chosen amount of cover.
Legal & General's life assurance policies automatically include terminal illness cover at no extra cost, and this means we'll also pay your chosen amount of cover if you're diagnosed with a terminal illness and have less than 12 months to live. Conditions apply.
We also provide you with the option to add critical illness cover. This important benefit means that your policy would pay out on death or on the diagnosis of one of the specified illnesses.
What type of life insurance do you offer?
Whatever your need for life insurance, we hope to have a policy that suits you; we currently offer:
Level term assurance, which allows you to make sure your family is protected in the event of your death.
Mortgage life assurance, which is designed to help pay off your interest only mortgage if you die during the term of your policy; and mortgage decreasing term assurance policy where the amount of cover provided decreases over time. This policy is designed to help protect a repayment mortgage, so the amount of cover reduces roughly in line with your remaining mortgage debt.
Premiums for all of these policies remain the same during the term unless you change the amount of cover held, and full details on all of these policies can be found in the Key Features Document.
You can also choose to add critical illness cover and waiver of premium to your application for an additional cost. Both of these options are available online.
Who can apply for life insurance?
You must be a UK resident at the time of applying and the minimum age is 17.5 at your next birthday.
You can apply for the policy to cover you alone or you and another person. If the policy covers two people it will only pay out once and the policy will end. The policy will pay out when the first of these two people dies or has a valid terminal illness cover claim.
If you decide to take out life insurance with critical illness cover the policy will pay out when the first of these two people dies or has a valid terminal illness or critical illness claim during the period of cover.
How much will it cost?
Legal & General's life insurance premiums can cost as little as £6 per month, that's just 20p a day. Your individual premium will depend on your own needs and circumstances.
Can my partner take out cover?
Yes, your partner can take out cover. You can apply in joint names or take out a policy each. If the policy is taken out in joint names it will only pay out once, when the first of these two people dies or has a valid terminal illness cover claim during the period of cover. If the policy includes critical illness cover, it will pay out once when the first of the two people dies or has a valid terminal or critical illness claim. If two separate policies are taken out both policies will pay out when you die or have a valid terminal or critical illness claim during the period of cover.
Will I get any money back if I survive the term?
No, you won't get anything back if you survive the policy term. Legal & General's life assurance policies have no cash-in value at any time.
Can I cancel my policy if I no longer need it?
After applying for cover you will receive a 30 day cancellation notice which you must send back if you decide not to continue with the policy.
If you cancel within 30 days we will return any premiums paid. If you cancel after 30 days, please be aware that you won't get anything back. The plan has no cash-in value at any time.
How much life insurance do I need?
This is different for everyone because everyone's circumstances are different.You may want to think about leaving a lump sum for for your dependants or help to clear an outstanding mortgage or debt on your death.
Can I add critical illness cover?
Yes, you can apply online to add critical illness cover to your life insurance policy. Adding this important benefit means that your policy would pay out on death or on the diagnosis of one of the specified illnesses.
Can I add waiver of premium?
Yes, you can apply online to add waiver of premium to your life insurance policy at an additional cost. This means your premiums are waived if you suffer incapacity caused by illness or injury that stops you working for more than 26 weeks.
What happens to my policy if I decide to move abroad?
If you take out a policy with Legal & General and then move abroad later on during the term of your policy, your cover will continue as long as you carry on paying premiums.
For policies that include critical illness cover, if you live or travel outside the EU, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands for more than 12 consecutive months, we reserve the right to decline any claim and we may cancel your policy.
For policies that include waiver of premium, if you live outside the EU for more than three months we reserve the right to decline any claim and we may cancel your policy.
What if I need to make a change to my policy?
We recognise that sometimes your protection needs change, and as your needs change, so should your cover. Legal & General's polices include flexibility options that allows your cover to adapt with you, because you have the freedom to:
- change the term of your policy
- increase or decrease the amount of cover under your policy
- remove a life from a joint policy where cover is no longer required for that person.
What is the Defaqto 5 star award?
Legal & General have been awarded 5 stars by Defaqto for their plans that include critical illness cover. These stars tell you that that their plans are some of the best available on the market and include excellent features and benefits.
Defaqto is one of the UK's leading independent financial research companies. They regularly assess the quality of products and award star ratings; allowing customers to make informed product and provider decisions.
What is the difference between using my guaranteed insurability option and using one of the flexibility options?
If you have the guaranteed insurability option under your policy, you're able to increase the amount of cover when specific life changes take place without the need for further medical evidence or health assessments.
If you want to increase the amount of cover using one of the flexibility options it's likely that an additional medical assessment will have to take place, although you can do this at any time during the term of your policy.