Do I Need to Read the Fine Print on my Policy?

It is essential that while you may have an excellent insurance agent or insurance broker for your term life policy, that you also take the time to read and comprehend your policy. After all, the verbiage in the policy documents is what will determine how well your family can survive if you are prematurely removed from their lives due to your untimely passing. It is not what you want to hear, but it is important to read the fine print very carefully on your policy, this may help in keeping insurance rates low.

One item that is of primary importance in reading the fine print on your policy, is to look for what you expect. If you wanted the return of premium type of life insurance policy, and thought you bought that, your policy will include that in the fine print. If you do not find that terminology or verbiage anywhere in your policy documents, then make sure that you contact the term life insurance agent or broker with whom you are working. They may have merely explained it to you, but not realized that you wanted it in the policy.

Read to Avoid Mistakes

This brings up a very good point. Wherever humans are involved in the process, mistakes may be made. While the insurance carriers typically try to hire detail oriented agents, underwriters, and do their best to ensure an accurate policy, mistakes happen. Sometimes there are accidental omissions, and even sometimes accidental inclusions. If the agent mis-heard you and thought that you wanted to include a special area of payments along with the coverage, then that can cause errors as well.

Both the error of omission and the error of inclusion can cause a headache for your family later on down the road if they should need to call up the insurance company to cash in the policy. If you pass away, they have no other way of knowing your true intent. Legally, your intent will be recognized as it is written in your term life insurance policy. There is an even more important reason to scour the information that is presented in your documents.

When You Survive

If you are planning on getting one of the great term life insurance policies that costs a bit more, but includes return on policy premium, make sure you are getting that. It is more likely than not that if you have gotten an excellent policy at an excellent rate that the insurance carrier is making a safe bet that you will not pass away. You may be in excellent health, go to the doctor every year, and just have some great genetics. Add to that that you do not even leave the house for work every day, and you are preventing a lot of potentially bad car accidents.

Read the fine print because you probably will not use the policy. Yet, you know that the premium you are sending in every year for thirty years equals a good deal of money. With that in mind, you were wise enough to pay a bit more to play the odds that you will not die. You signed up for a return on policy premium plan. This means that after your entire policy period of thirty years, you will receive back the money that you sent to the term life insurance carrier over the years. Make sure that if you signed up for it, that it is recognized in your policy documents. Make sure that the other documents state the correct values as far as the payouts are concerned as well.

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