Available for rental: Thomson View #17-xx

This 2 bedroom apartment (1,300 sf) is available for rental in May 2009. Monthly rental $2,100. View details. Interested? send email to kinlian@gmail.com

Insurance company disallow revival of policy

A friend approached me for help. He took a policy more than 10 years ago. Recently, he overlooked to pay his premium and his policy "lapsed". He wanted to revive the policy after one year, but was told that this is not allowed.

I asked him to get the reply in writing. From my understanding, a policy should be allowed to be revived within a few years, as long as the policyholder is able to provide evidence of good health. In this case, the lapsation was due to an oversight, due to poor service by the agent and the office in not reminding the policyholder.

In the policy condition, there is a provision for an automatic premium loan or for a paid up policy. These options should be explained to the policyholder. It was not done, as my friend was not told about them.

Sometimes, the agent wanted to get the policyholder to take up a new policy to replace the old policy. This could be a reason why they said that the policy cannot be revived.

In my friend's case, he called the office. I wonder if the customer service office is also adopting the same approch, to get the policyholder to take up a new policy? If this is the case, it will be unethical and against the interest of the policyholder.

This could be another example of taking the policyholder "for a ride". By getting the reply in writing, it will be possible for the policyholder to lodge a complaint with FIDREC or with MAS. 

Tan Kin Lian

Advice from three religion on how to handle debt

Read this.

Terminating existing policies

Dear Mr. Tan,

I read in your blog that you have cancelled a few NTUC policies recently. Can you explain your reasons?

REPLY

I have stopped full time work and my children are grown up. I do not need the coverage under the life insurance policies now.

I could keep the policies as an investment, but I found the return to be quite low. In recent years, the investment yield has been rather low and the expenses incurred by the NTUC Income  have increased significantly. This has resulted in a severe cut in the bonus rates payable on the policies.

Even in a good year (e.g. 2007), the bonus distributed has not been commensurate with the good results. I have lost confidence in getting a fair return and have decided to terminate most of my policies.  I can get a better return by investing on my own or in a low cost unit trust.

Contractor Particulars

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Are we over-reacing to Influence A (H1N1)?

The World Health Organisation has raised the alert level for Influenza A (previously called swine flu) to 5. When it moves up to level 6, it is a full blown pandemic.

A pandemnic meams that the infection has spread to all the continents. But the fatality rate of the infection is still quite low at this time. Not many people die from Influenza A. More people died from ordinary flu than from Influenza A.

Two doctors told me that the measures being taken, such as wearing masks, are not necessary at this stage. It is more important to wash the hands to remove the virus.

A few friends have cancelled their overseas holidays, losing the money that they paid for the tours. It is rather wasteful and the risk is quite low. Perhaps, they are alarmed by the coverage in our newspapers and the advisory given by our Government.

President Barack Obama said that "We should be concerned, but not alarmed". By all means, take some precautions, but do not over-react in implementing the harsh measures - unless things get much worse than now.

Tan Kin Lian

 

Additional points: 

The fatality level of Influenza A is 3%, compared to 65% for avian flu. More details here.

Latest update: 4 May 

Report from Mexico said that there were only 19 confirmed deaths from Influenza A, instead of nearly 200 deaths reported earlier (which was over-stated). Less people are now infected.