When Your Term or Whole Life Insurance Policy Lapses
Learn what are your options when your term life insurance or whole life insurance policy lapses and how to reinstate it.
There’s no question that life insurance is a critical part of your personal and family financial planning. But in today’s busy world, with as many things as you’ve got going on, it’s possible that you could forget about making your monthly premium payment.
When you pay your premiums regularly, your policy remains “in force,” but when you miss a payment, your life insurance company is required to give you a 31-day “grace period” in which to catch up. At the end of the grace period, if you haven’t submitted your back premiums to the life insurance company, your policy will lapse.
When you have a term life insurance policy that lapses, the coverage ends immediately and back to the last month for which you actually paid the premiums. With a whole life insurance policy, if there’s money in your cash value account, those funds will be used to pay your premiums until the funds have been exhausted. Either way, once the grace period is over, your coverage is over and your loved ones are left without life insurance protection in the event of your death.
If you’re in a financial or life position where you don’t truly need the insurance coverage any longer, there’s no real problem with letting the policy lapse. But, if your policy is lapsing because you can’t afford the premiums, but you still need the insurance coverage, letting the policy lapse could have serious consequences for your future.
Many insurance companies, when offering life insurance coverage to an individual, don’t check to see if the individual has had coverage before, or if that coverage has lapsed. But some life insurance companies do check to see if you’ve had coverage lapses in the past. If you have, they may choose not to offer coverage to you in the future, which means you’ll have a very hard time finding the protection you and your family need, even if you’re able to better afford it than you were in the past.
When your policy lapses, it isn’t necessarily the end of the world for your life insurance protection. You can request that your coverage be reinstated by your life insurance company. Each company handles the reinstate process differently, but in general, you’ll be asked to pay all of your back premiums, and you’ll only have about five years within which to request a reinstatement. As long as your health status hasn’t changed, reinstatement can be very simple. If your health has changed, however, it may not be possible to have your old policy reinstated – another reason to be sure that you keep the policies you have in force.
Forgetting to pay your premiums is one thing, while being unable to pay your premiums is a very different thing. Before you let your life insurance coverage get away from you, speak to a trusted BeamaLife advisor about your options at (866) 972-3262. It may be possible to reduce your coverage amount to lower your premiums, or there may be another type of coverage or a different insurance carrier with better premiums. At BeamaLife, we’ve created our own technology, and partnered with 100 of the top insurance companies. We’ll find the type of policy that makes the most sense for your financial goals and needs, and we’ll get you the coverage you want at the price you want to pay! Please complete life insurance quote from now for term life quote or whole life quote.
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