A

Age limits

Any life insurance policy has minimum and maximum ages, below and above which the insurer doesn’t accept applications or renew policies.

Annuity Plans

These plans provide for a “pension” to be paid to the policyholder or his spouse starting at a pre-determined date. At the end of the tenure, you start to enjoy a regular pension amount till the end of either’s lifetime. In the event of death of both of you during the policy period, the next of kin get a lump sum amount. You can also have the flexibility of choosing a mix of a lump sum money back amount and pension under these plans.

Assignee

Assignee is the person to whom the benefits of a life insurance policy are assigned.

Assignor

Assignor is the person who holds the right/title of the policy and it’s he/she who can make a valid assignment.

Applicant / Proposed

The person whose life is proposed to be insured in the application for life insurance and who becomes the legal owner of the policy, after it is issued.

Assured / Insured

It is the person, whose life is insured i.e., upon whose death, the death benefits are payable under a life insurance policy. When the policy is on one’s own life, the policy owner and the insured is the same person.

B

Beneficiary

Beneficiary is the person(s) or entity(ies) (for e.g. corporation, trust etc.) who is named in the policy as the recipient of insurance proceeds upon the death of the insured.

Bonus

Bonus is the amount added to the basic sum assured under a participating life insurance policy.

C

Contracts `uberrimae fides’

All Life Insurance Contracts are based on utmost good faith reposed by the Insurer on the facts mentioned in the Application Form and all other documents annexed to the application on the Insured’s health, which the Applicant warrants to be true. Hence, all Life Insurance Contracts are `uberrimae fides’.

Claim Amount

It is the amount payable by the Insurer to the Insured/Beneficiary in the event of a claim arising.

D

Death Benefit

This is the payment made to the beneficiary of a policy upon the death of the insured person.

Deferment Period

Deferment period is the period that lasts from the date of commencement of the policy to the date of commencement of risk on the child’s life. This is valid under a Children’s Deferred Endowment Assurance Policy. During this period, premiums need not be paid.

Deposit Term Insurance

This is a form of Term Insurance in which the premium paid in the first year is more than the subsequent premiums. As the name suggests, this doesn’t involve a “deposit”.

E

Endowment Policy

Under the Endowment Policy, the assured is bound to pay an annual premium, which is determined on the basis of the assured’s age and the term of the policy. And the insured amount is payable by the Insurer at the end of a specified number of years or upon the death of the Insured, whichever is earlier.

F

Face Amount

Commonly used to refer to the principal sum involved in the contract. The actual amount payable may be decreased by loans or increased by additional benefits payable under specified conditions or stated in a add on benefit.

Free Look

Provision required in most states whereby policy owners have either 10 or 20 days to examine their new policies at no obligation.

G

Group Insurance

Under a single Group Insurance Policy, a number of people could be insured. This is usually the case of companies, where the employer insures all its employees under one policy.

Guaranteed Addition

This is a benefit by which certain amounts are added each year to the basic sum assured and are payable at the time of, on admittance of a claim. These amounts are calculated at a rate per every thousand of sum assured and are valid only for each year for which premiums are paid.

I

Insurability

All conditions pertaining to individuals that affect their health, susceptibility to injury and life expectancy are taken into account to arrive at the individual’s risk profile – and thereby the insurability.

Insurable Interest

This is measured by the loss, which the Policy Owner would suffer on the unfortunate death of the Life Assured. When a Policy Owner insures his own life, it is presumed that there is an unlimited insurable interest.

K

Keyman Insurance

This is a policy taken by an employer on the lives of its important employees, on whose life the business is dependent upon.

L

Lapsed Policy

A policy, that has been terminated due to non-payment of premium dues and hence is no longer in force.

Life Assured

This refers to the person whose life is being insured.

Loyalty Additions

Loyalty addition usually, is the difference between the performances of the Insurer (business-wise) and the guaranteed additions that the Insured enjoys. It usually is a small percentage of the sum assured and is given when the policy matures.

M

Maturity

This is the date upon which, the face amount of a life insurance policy is paid to the policy holder – that is, if the policy hasn’t been previously invoked to cover contingencies like death etc.

Maturity Claim

The payment due to the policyholder at the end of the stipulated term of the policy is called maturity claim.

N

Nomination

An act through which, the policyholder authorizes another person to receive the maturity claim. The person who is authorized, is called the Nominee.

P

Policy

This is the legal document that details out all the conditions of the insurance contract between the Insurer and the Insured.

Policy Period

This is the time period during which the Policy is in force and the protection cover is valid.

Premium Notice

This is the notice that informs the Insured about the premium due. And is sent by the Insurer or one of its agencies to the Insured. This is also termed as Renewal Notice.

Paid-up Value

Paid-up Value is the reduced amount of sum assured paid by the Insurer, in case the Insured discontinues payment of premiums. This is applicable only when the Insured has paid the premiums in full for the first three years. 

Premium

The payment, or one of the regular periodic payments, that a policyholder makes to an Insurer in exchange for the Insurer's obligation to pay benefits upon the occurrence of the contractually-specified contingency (e.g., death of the policyholder).

R

Reinstatement

A lapsed policy can be reinstated to in-force status after expiration of the grace period which the Insured enjoys to pay premiums. The Insurer has the privilege to deny reinstatement depending on the insurability of the Insured. Moreover, this will also necessitate the Insured to pay up the total amount of the past premium, due.

Risk

This is the obligation assumed by the Insurer when a policy is issued. The process of evaluating and selecting risk is known as underwriting.

Rider

A provision attached to a policy, that adds benefits not defined in the original policy and customizes the policy for the individual’s needs.

Rebating

All or part of the commission earned by the Insurer’s agencies being passed on to the prospect as an inducement to buy or renew a policy. Under law, rebating is strictly prohibited.

Reinsurance

This is a method by which the Insurer transfers the risk under a High Sum Assured Policy to another entity (who will be called the Reinsurer) on payment of a Reinsurance Premium.

Renewable Term Insurance

The policyholder has the option of renewing a Term Insurance at the end of a term without evidence of insurability. This is usually applicable for a limited number of successive terms.

S

Solvency Margin

It is the net worth of an Insurance Company usually calculated by the excess of assets over the amount of liabilities (which includes policy liabilities also).

Suicide Clause

The clause in the Insurance Contract that defines that no death benefits will be payable by the Insurer, in case the Insured commits suicide during a specified initial period, usually in the first year of the policy.

Sum Assured

This is the amount that the Insurer agrees to pay the Insured/Nominees on the occurrence of a contingency (e.g., death) or on maturity.

Surrender Value

A policyholder has the option to cancel his policy with the Insurance Company, provided premiums have been paid for three consecutive years. And thereby claims a surrender value, which is usually part of the total sum assured.

Survival Benefit

This is the payment of the sum assured to the Insured by the Insurer through installments. This usually is the case with a money-back policy where, the Insured enjoys the benefits of surviving the contingency (e.g. death).

T

Term

This is the period for which the Insurer provides the Insured with insurance coverage.

Term Life Insurance

A policy, that provides risk coverage for a specified period of time. However, does not build cash value to the Insured.

U

Underwriting

Underwriting is the process of selecting and evaluating the risks associated with a policy and determining the amount and terms on which the Insurer will accept this risk.Risks that are not acceptable or open to insurance – usually assessed by the Insurer, are Uninsurable Risks.

Uninsurable Risk

Risks that are not acceptable or open to insurance – usually assessed by the Insurer, are Uninsurable Risks.

V

Void Contract

A contract that is usually drawn up by fraud or providing false details. Under a void contract, there cannot be any action as no rights or obligations are cast on the parties to the contract.

W

Waiting Period

A specific time that must pass following the onset of a covered disability before any benefits will be paid under a disability income policy.

Y

Yearly Renewable Term

This is a method of charging premium whereby, the premium paid for each year would provide insurance coverage for that particular year. This is also known as the Single Premium basis under Group Policies.