Zurich Conversion Option on a life insurance policy

A Zurich Conversion Option is an option you can choose when you are taking out a life insurance policy. Protection is the foundation stone of any strong Financial Plan. When arranging any protection cover there are always a number of key elements to be considered: cover which suits your need, the price you pay for it and having the flexibility to amend your benefits as the future need arises.

Once of the most important flexible benefits in any Protection plan is the Protection Continuation Option (PCO) / Conversion Option. The PCO allows you to extend the term of your plan, either at the end of the term or during the life of the plan*, without the need for additional medical underwriting. This is of particular benefit to clients who may suffer from illness later in life, if when underwritten at that point in time may be refused cover. It’s a form of protecting against the unknown.

For a life insurance quote please see https://www.labrokers.ie/life-insurance/

 

Future proofing through the Protection Continuation allows you to:

  1. Guarantee similar cover later in life
  2. Gives you flexibility through the term of the product*
  3. Allows you to disregard future illness which may occur

 

Why Zurich for Protection Continuation

As with all of our benefits on our Protection plans Zurich lead the way for innovation and flexibility in our product offering. Some of the key features of our Protection Continuation offering are:

  1. Available on Life Cover and Serious Illness benefits, including Cancer Cover
  2. Rolling conversion option (introduced in late 2014)  applies on our current Guaranteed Term and Guaranteed Mortgage Protection plans
  3. Added flexibility on our Guaranteed Mortgage Protection plan allows to you convert the decreasing benefit to a level term benefit during the life of the plan
  4. No early age restriction on when the benefit can be exercised. You just need a minimum of a two year term on the newly converted policy. That allows your clients the flexibility to convert right up to age 73 next birthday for Serious Illness or 88 next birthday for Life cover (or 83 next birthday if converting a plan where the max cessation age of life cover is 85 next birthday)
  5. The continuation option also applies to our rider benefits such as Hospital Cash, Personal Accident Benefit & Surgical Cash
  6. Even if cover has lapsed you still have 90 days from the lapse / cessation date to exercise your continuation option

 

The Opportunity

Conversations around this benefit are primarily centred around cost. However have you ever considered how the price you pay at the outset impacts the future costs for your client? In this regard Zurich’s consistency of competitive pricing on all our Protection Benefits has a significant advantage over Price Matching arrangements. We explore this is greater detail in the slides attached.

 

Added Flexibility of the Long Term Care Conversion Option

Even if your client’s were not covered for Protection Continuation Option the Zurich Guaranteed Term Plan allows you to convert your life cover benefit into a long term care plan under the Long Term Care Conversion Option. This is an automatic free benefit on Zurich’s Guaranteed Term Protection Plan.

Where a client permanently looses the ability to perform three or more Activities of Daily Living (ADL), they are aged between 60 & 65 and there is 10 years remaining on the policy, they can convert up to €150,000 of life cover to a monthly benefit, which can be paid for up to 50 months.

 

Exercising the Continuation Option

Exercising the Continuation Option on a Zurich Protection Plan only takes a few simple steps:

*When exercising the Continuation Option we would encourage you to refer to the policy document of your client’s original policy for the Ts&Cs that will apply in your client’s circumstances. There are some helpful tips in relation to this outlined in the attached flyer.

Information on Zurich’s protection products https://www.zurich.ie/broker-centre/products/protection/

Free Life Insurance Quotes which include a Conversion Option https://www.labrokers.ie/life-insurance/

LABrokers.ie offers Zurich Standard PRSAs with 0% contribution charge

 

 

LABrokers Zurich Conversion Option

Zurich Essentials Protection