44 replies to this topic

[Bruiser]

That shit is all over the place in insurance
I applied for some subbie work with a big company some years ago, one of the hoops they made me jump through was getting some income protection insurance. Never thought I would ever need it, shopped around, could afford $600 a weeks worth.
Came off a roof 2 years and broke my back. How lucky, I would have had no cover at all
While making the claim, I was informed that you only get 75% of your agreed amount you think you have been buying all along, for some unimaginable insurancey reason. Never in a million years would I have dreamed such a scheme could be true, so had no suspicions my $600 per week would be anything but that.
So never read all the crap that came in the mail.
The bastard on the phone could have (SHOULD have) come clean that it works that way in my opinion
They hide shit and hope you won’t discover it till you claim
Lies of omission and dirty pool if you ask me
And they will use it go worm out of paying up if they can, it’s their bit of insurance to cover themselves.
More fool me for not checking for hidden traps, I wish I was better at legal document Mumbo jumbo

[Ice]

Don’t worry Bruce it happens all the time had a brick wall fall over into neighbours yard years ago now  {thats another story on its own } tried to make a claim the insurance company got me on a small technicality saying my brick pillars were to far apart  for the length of the wall, absolute wank that cost me and the neighbour 2K each to replace fence 

Insurance is just a scam 

Cancelled my policy with them the following day  frOck em 

[RallyRed]

Yeah, it is an expensive thing, that 95% of the time gives no return on investment ( except piece of mind).
Having said that, as someone who has had a house burn down, and a car be written off, I wouldn't be without it....even though we also had the BS on a claim where they measured the angle of an earth wall that slumped into the house after a few weeks of solid rain. Refused the claim as the good bit of the wall that was left, was a few degrees steeper than ASxxx standard for such things...thus not constructed to rule, so not claimable.

Edited by RallyRed, 22 June 2024 - 01:45 PM.

[Bruiser]

What do you do?
They must be preying on our insecurity to lose our worldlys
If there was no such thing as insurance, we would all carry our own risk, kind of like walking an uneven pavement in the dark?
Having had a good cleansing whinge, the time a big roo hopped into the front of my comprehensively insured van,
I did get it back eventually mostly as it was, for the cost of the excess as you would expect. That one was easier to understand, not so much
of the hidden clause business there. Didn’t feel cheated there I have to say to be fair.
But I still reckon those policy booklets are written by extra tricky lawyer types trained in latin so they are inintelligible to the common man
to trip most of us up.
My stepdaughter has to brake hard on main North road one day here in Adelaide for an idiot who stopped completely to let a bus in.
She is no drama queen type, practical sort of girl. She remembers not hitting the stopped car.
She was slammed into from behind, which crammed her into the car in front.
The insurance company asks the front car driver how many hits did you get, she says 2, so therefore our girl ran up her arse first, causing the third car to
pile up too. Her fault? She was slightly vague to be honest, but those kind of stressful moments can be hard to recall properly
But they leaped on that story and chose to use the report of the first driver with the 2 hit story because it worked out in their favour. Pricks.
Car written off, we didn’t get a cent
They do not want to pay you. Or anybody. They have important rich shareholders. Who need more money.
Another cleansing whinge

[Bruiser]

So to summarise and not whinge,
1. We need to analyse the policies like only a lawyer could
2 we need to make sure everything is up to builders standard etc

[dascind]

And add to this list, forget loyalty to any one insurance company and or bank for that matter (perhaps they are even worse!?).

 

Every year I shop around when renewals come in.

 

Once upon a time, loyalty had its rewards. But that was a long time ago. Remember when you could speak to someone actually based in this country. Not an overseas call centre where there is no empathy or an accent that is really hard to comprehend.

 

Hmmmm...

[yel327]

That shit is all over the place in insurance
I applied for some subbie work with a big company some years ago, one of the hoops they made me jump through was getting some income protection insurance. Never thought I would ever need it, shopped around, could afford $600 a weeks worth.
Came off a roof 2 years and broke my back. How lucky, I would have had no cover at all
While making the claim, I was informed that you only get 75% of your agreed amount you think you have been buying all along, for some unimaginable insurancey reason. Never in a million years would I have dreamed such a scheme could be true, so had no suspicions my $600 per week would be anything but that.
So never read all the crap that came in the mail.
The bastard on the phone could have (SHOULD have) come clean that it works that way in my opinion
They hide shit and hope you won’t discover it till you claim
Lies of omission and dirty pool if you ask me
And they will use it go worm out of paying up if they can, it’s their bit of insurance to cover themselves.
More fool me for not checking for hidden traps, I wish I was better at legal document Mumbo jumbo

 

 

That is normal for income protection insurance Bruce. The 75% exists for two reasons. 1, so there is incentive for you to get back to work. 2, it normally comes hand in hand with TPD insurance, and the idea of that is the TPD pays all debt so you don't need as much income weekly. 

[RallyRed]

Correct I reckon.
As well as an incentive to get you back to work/ stop bogus claims...I also understand that you SGC ( i.e. your payroll into your Super) comes out of it too.That is, the insurer is now giving you your salary, so they pay the super out of it before you get it.
I looked at this stuff back in the ladt 90's in detail, when Super was 9%...unsure what happens now as it's about to go to 11.5%?.

[Rockoz]

I had income protection insurance as part of my super policy.

As I wasnt working in the industry that the super company normally covered, they told me to nominate my income.

Had I been in the industry, they would have worked out my policy cover based on super contributions.

No idea why there was a difference, but there was.

I worked out my income based on my hourly rate and gave it to them.

They deducted the premiums based on that.

Unfortunately I had to claim on it, and used up the entire 2 years the policy allowed for.

What I found out was, that I should have added my super contribution to my income.

I got paid whatever the figure was each week, less the super contribution.

No drama there, but I thought they should have mentioned to add it when I nominated my income.

 

I can honestly say that the insurer that handled this claim was the first time I had been happy with the process.

Ive dealt with insurance companies lots over the years, both as a claimant and also a repairer, and in an Emergency Service capacity.

They are generally a real pain to deal with.

 

TPD insurance is a bit of an issue, only because it is poorly named.

Perhaps that is something to dissuade people from even attempting a claim.

Total and Permanent Disability seems like a big thing to have to claim.

What I found out is that it is actually an inability to return to your previous job description because of injury.

Or an inability to return in a reasonable amount of time.

I claimed the TPD as well, and the process was easy.

And the payment was quick as well.

The trustees of the super company gave the recommendation to the insurer to pay out.

 

I would have to go through reams of documents to get more precise details, as during that time I was consuming loads of opiod painkillers.

Memory isnt that great from those particular years.

 

Given what I went through, I would recommend everyone to have the income protection and TPD added to their super if it is available.

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[yel327]

Personally, I would keep the Income Protection outside of Super if possible. Reason is the TPD release from the policy can be and often is a lot harder to get out of Super than it is straight from a policy. What I mean is the Policy may pay but it pays into the Super Fund. Then you have to qualify for the Super Fund's criteria too. Where this can be a trap is the definition of TPD. The Policy might be own occupation but Super Fund any occupation, and this is often the case, but there also can be other unforeseen roadblocks. Income Protection is tax deductible at personal tax marginal rate if you pay for it outside of Super, so depending upon your income level it can become cost effective too as Super has a lot lower tax rate.

[RallyRed]

Yeah, the " within Super- Outside Super" is a big decision for LOI insurance.
From memory -
within Super, cheap,not tax deductible,2 years max. payments if you can't work,
Outside Super - more expensive, tax deductible, payments can go till 65y.o.

Always something to seriously think about.If you could never work again, a Gov. pension to live on? or 75% of your wage?

[yel327]

Yes. I just read what I wrote and it's a bit mixed up as I was throwing TPD into the mix. I forgot about the 2 years max for Income protection within Super.

 

Definitely talk to an insurance expert or qualified Financial Planner (as in a proper one, not an Accountant) when obtaining Income Protection and TPD Insurances. I know it's just a "what if" exercise, but if the worst happens (as in not death but incapacity) you want to ensure your family is taken care of (ie TPD paying out debts) and you receive an income if you are unable to work (Income Protection). You don't want the Income Protection ending after 2 years if you still need it, and you don't want the TPD to pay into the Super Fund but you have to wait until 65 to access it as the early withdrawal of Super is often a far higher bar to get over. 

[IanC]

Not sure if TPD has changed. I received mine almost 20 years ago. TPD and Death are/were a standard part of your superannuation. It was based on how much super you have at the time you claim. GIO insurance paid me out with out much fuss. Check your policy for your TPD amount.

[Rockoz]

My income protection and TPD were with TAL through my super.

From the phone calls I had, I was told that the trustees of the super fund dictated to the insurer as to whether to pay out or not.

TAL were okay to deal with and they were considering giving me a lump sum after 18 months because it was obvious I wasnt returning to work anytime soon.

I have read horror reports of people dealing with TAL of late, especially in regards to workers comp.

I had an easy run by the sounds of it.

When I asked about the TPD it was again the super trustees that took the information and allowed the claim.

It had to go into my super, but as I was not working for so long, and was considered to have financial hardship, getting the money out wasnt a problem.

My age may have had something to do with it as I was approaching 60.

 

I had a chat with a few of my ex workmates at a toolbox meeting about how I found the cover really helpful, and a couple mistakes I made.

But, they were all bulletproof and not interested.

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[yel327]

One of mine is with TAL, the other is OnePath. Both are outside of Super. I also have some within Super I believe as part of the Life Insurance cover and its cheap but may not provide cover for the situations described. If I were to be injured and unable to work in my current job, my TPD and Income Protection would trigger. However, within Super, I'd only have 2 years of IP cover and the TPD may pay into the Super Fund, however the Super Fund most likely wouldn't give me the TPD amount until 65 if I was able to do A job. Like answer phone calls, work in an office etc. all of which I'd actually be qualified for but not what I do.

Those are my reasons anyway and just a heads up if anyone is considering similar insurance, situation may not be the same for others. Always good to have some knowledge before leaping in.

[Rockoz]

Would check on that though.

I didnt think I would qualify for TPD as I thought I had to be worse off physically than I was.

Their criteria was that you were unable to do your current job, not any job.

When I chatted with them, I told them that at some point I may be able to do a lesser job, but would require retraining.

They told me it wasnt like workers comp, where they would attempt to get you into any job as long as it was a job.

The fact that I would likely be unable to perform my current duties was the trigger for the TPD to pay out.

Yes, it got paid into my super account, but I had already taken all my super out anyway, and would never go back to that industry anyway.

From the phone call to having the money in my account was less than a week.

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[yel327]

You were lucky, if you were younger it may have been much harder to get it out of Super.

[IanC]

My TPD payout went straight into my savings account. I was around 45 years old. And as Rob said. I was paid out because I could no longer work in the job I was trained for. You still can work in another field of work if you're physically ok to do so. I was a boilermaker working in the mining industry. Now I work at a pub. It probably took 3 months for my payout to go into my account.

[neglectedtorana]

After shopping around I bought a new home and contents policy from Suncorp. Cheaper annual premium with more coverage but a slightly higher excess.

The agreed value of the house is slightly less but the policy I chose has 25% extra if the agreed value is not enough in case of a rebuild.

 

I did read the PDS and there is some odd wording, storm cover doesn't cover flood but the policy also has flood coverage,

As best I can I have checked the fine print. See what happens next year.

[yel327]

I'll have a look at Suncorp at renewal. Currently with NRMA but was GIO the year before that. Went looking for best price with good coverage.