There-in-One Plan
There There-in-One Plan
There is a (somewhat oddly named but certainly memorable) new online protection brand aimed at direct consumers. There is part of Reliance Mutual, which traces its roots back over 100 years. There says its core values for the brand are control, affordability and trust.
The There-in-One Plan (or should that be the There There-in-One Plan) is an online D2C plan which combines simple life and income protection insurance and is aimed at families. Customers can choose to have either life term or income protection insurance or both.
The term life element offers sums insured from £5,000 to £500,000 and can last up to age 60. Premiums are dependent on the customer’s age, health, lifestyle and occupation.
The Too ill to work element of the plan pays out a tax free monthly income for those working at least 16 hours a week if they cannot work due to injury or illness after a deferred period of either one or three months. The monthly benefit is then paid for up to 60 months in total, whether that is on a single claim or on multiple claims. The maximum monthly insurable benefit is the lower of 50% of monthly earnings before tax and £1,250. Customers are covered in 41 listed countries. An own occupation disability definition applies.
The plan is available to UK residents aged 18-54 at the start of the plan and cover can continue to age 60. A choice of terms is available, from five years upwards.
A customer age 30 wanting £100,000 of life cover and £1,000 a month (with a three month deferred period) of Too ill to work cover could pay £24.65 a month for their plan. There’s online Quick Quote system uses ‘sliders’ to enable customers to set out what cover they want and then adjust it accordingly if they want to pay more or less or get more or less cover. That makes getting an initial quote and then adjusting it if required to give a bigger or smaller benefit both quick and easy.
The insurer says a customer could complete just 11 health and lifestyle questions in order to be accepted. Suicide is excluded for the first 12 months and for all cover, the insured benefit can be increased or decreased at any point in the future.
Comment: Anew brand is always very welcome and it is good to see Reliance Mutual deciding that there is space for a new protection brand. It has chosen to launch with a D2C product that is quite innovative, while remaining as simple as possible to buy. All of that is good news, but adding simplicity always has a price and that is generally more restricted cover and that’s the case here too.
So, cover can only run to age 60 and high earners can only get limited IP benefits. There is also no waiver of premium benefit and we could see no mention of trusts when we looked online.
Plus points: Simple D2C cover offering both life and IP cover; A new protection brand (always something we welcome!); Customers are encouraged to review cover regularly and can easily change it to meet changing needs.
Not so plus points: D2C only at present; Benefits are limited – in particular for the IP element; Customers buying such cover online effectively will find it difficult to compare rival products or to check value for money; Most customers would be better going to a good financial adviser – although too many choose not to do so or may be unaware of that option.
Website: http://www.there.co.uk.
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 8. Overall: 7. Silver
Tags: There; IP; Term