Legal & General
(Picture: REUTERS)Established almost 200 years ago, Legal & General (L&G) provides financial services and products such as mortgages, pensions, investments and insurance, including life insurance.
Its policies are provided by Legal & General Assurance Society Ltd. This is a subsidiary of Legal & General Group, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
What types of life insurance does L&G offer?
L&G offers a range of single person and ‘joint’ two-person life insurance policies including level term, decreasing term, increasing term and over 50s life insurance, whole of life cover and critical illness cover.
Here’s a look at what each of these policies covers.
With all term insurance policies, the arrangement lasts for a specified period of time: the ‘term’. This can be anything from, say, five years up to 25 or even 30 years. The length of the term is often but not always linked to the duration of a loan such as a mortgage.
Cover - the ‘sum insured’ is provided against death at any point during the term. If the policyholder survives beyond the end of the term, the policy terminates without any value and no payment is made.
Level term life insurance is arranged to pay out the same amount regardless of whether a claim is made at the beginning or the end of the policy’s term.
Increasing term life insurance promises to pay out a higher amount the longer the policy runs, should a claim be made. It’s designed to keep pace with inflation so that the payout reflects increases in the cost of living.
This rising potential benefit makes increasing term cover relatively expensive.
Decreasing term life insurance does the opposite, with a potential payout that reduces over time. For example, it can run in tandem with a mortgage arrangement where the amount on the home loan decreases as the customer steadily pays off the balance that’s outstanding.
The reduction in the sum insured over time means decreasing term cover has lower premiums than an equivalent increasing or level term policy.
If you’re aged between 50 and 80 years old, over-50s life insurance promises to pay out a lump sum when you die that loved ones can use to pay any outstanding bills and funeral costs. Providing you fit the age requirements, there’s no medical to pass and you’re guaranteed to be accepted.
Whole-of-life cover pays out no matter when you die. This is in contrast to a term insurance policy that only pays out if the holder dies within the plan’s term.
Critical illness cover is a form of protection product that’s designed to pay out before your death if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness.
How much life insurance do I need?
The amount of cover you need depends on your liabilities, your income, any savings you might have and the number of people that are dependent on you.
A life insurance calculator can help you get an accurate figure that will ensure you’re neither left under-insured nor over-paying for more cover than you need.
How much will life insurance cost?
While cover can start from as little as £5 per month, your premiums will entirely depend on your circumstances and the level of cover you choose. In general terms, the younger and healthier you are, the lower your premiums are likely to be.
How good is L&G’s life insurance?
Fairer Finance, which rates financial services firms, scores L&G 68% for customer experience. It gives the provider 83% for how it deals with customer complaints, 68% for claims pay-out rates and 53% for transparency. Independent reviews aggregator TrustPilot has L&G on 4.4 stars out of 5 (from 130 reviews).
L&G paid out 97% of life insurance claims in 2020 - a total of £459.5 million to 11,755 customers. It also paid out 92% of critical illness claims, amounting to £202.5 million to 2,843 customers.
Before you apply
Some companies offer their workers a death-in-service benefit that will pay out a tax-free lump sum to your dependents should you die while in their employment.
If your company offers this, taking out a separate life policy might not be necessary. But it’s worth checking if the sum that your employer would pay out is enough to cover your liabilities. If not, you might consider buying a separate life insurance policy to make up the shortfall.
How to contact L&G
Life insurance customers can contact L&G between 9am and 6pm from Monday to Friday. Existing customers can manage their accounts the MyAccount section at myaccount.landg.com
Alternatively, L&G can be found on Twitter as @landg_uk and on Facebook.
