FAQ

A1. Insurance is an arrangement by which an insurer undertakes to provide a compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a specified premium.

A2. Insurance that pays out a sum of money either after a set period or on the death of the insured person.

A3. Life insurance is mainly of following types
a) Endowment b) Whole life c) Term d) Health insurance e) Pension f) UNIT Linked and g) Group .

A4.

1. Endowment : An endowment is a life insurance policy designed to   pay a lump sum after a specific term (on its ‘maturity’) or on death.
2. Whole life : A whole life is alife insurance policy which is guaranteed to remain in force for the insured’s entire lifetime, provided required premiums are paid, or to the maturity date.
3. Term : Term insuranceis a type of life insurance policy that provides coverage for a certain period of time, or a specified “term” of years. If the insured dies during the time period specified in the policy and the policy is active – or in force – then a death benefit will be paid.
4. Health : Health insurance is insuranceagainst the risk of incurring medical expenses among individuals
5. Annuity / Pension policies : Anannuity/pension is a type of policy issued by an insurance company that allows you to save money for retirement. The money you pay in can be either a lump sum or a number of payments. These contributions then earn interest, and after a period of time, provide you with a stream of income.
6. ULIP : A Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) is a product offered by insurance companies that, unlike a pure insurance policy, gives investors both insurance and investment under a single integrated plan.
7. Group : Group insuranceis an insurance that covers a defined group of people, for example the members of a society or professional association, or the employees of a particular employer who belong to the group for reasons other than the wish to buy insurance.

A5. LIC (International) B.S.C.(C) is an offshore subsidiary of Life Insurance Corporation of India, an organization wholly owned by Govt. of India. LIC (International) BSC (C ) incorporated in the Kingdom of Bahrain ( C.R No. – 21606 ) and licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain as a Life Insurance Company. The paid up capital of the Company is US$ 52.91 million (BD 20 million). The Company has assets of US$ 1.4 billion as on 30.06.2015.

A6. Determining how much life insurance you need requires an examination of your current and future financial obligations, along with the resources your family could tap.
Your future obligations are a combination of what it would cost to help your surviving family members meet immediate and ongoing needs like food, clothing, utilities, mortgage payments, funeral costs, taxes and your future obligations like college and retirement funding.
The resources that your surviving family members could draw on to meet those obligations include your spouse’s or partner’s income, savings and investments, other income producing assets, and any life insurance you might already own.
The difference between the two, your financial obligations minus the resources your family has to meet those obligations is the approximate amount of additional life insurance you need. If this sounds confusing, you’re not alone. That’s why most people turn to a qualified insurance professional when they want to figure out how much insurance they need.

A7. At present LIC (Intl) offers sixteen plans. Please go through our products section for full details.

A8. Premium payment option presently available with our products are monthly, quarterly, half yearly , yearly and single. One can also opt to pay premiums under “Limited term premium payment scheme”. Moreover option for advance premium for two to five years and commutation of premium in lump sum are also available.

A9. All policies will be issued in US $. Claims can be settled in any currency and money can be transferred anywhere as per the request.

A10. The policy bond is the document that is given to you after the company accepts your proposal for insurance. The risk coverage commences after acceptance of your proposal and the conditions and privileges of your policy are mentioned in the policy bond. Please check that policy bonds are in conformity with your proposals submitted to the company. This is an important document which would be referred to for various servicing interactions with you. It will be required at the time of settlement of claims on the policy. You will also require it if you are availing a loan or want to assign the policy. Inform your spouse/Parents/Children as to where the policy is kept. In case you are handing over the policy bond to any person or office, please take a written acknowledgement. Also keep a copy of the policy for your reference.

A11. Yes, you can hold multiple policies of different products at same time.

A12. If your policy has lapsed due to non-payment of premiums within the due date, the terms and conditions of the policy contract are rendered void, till you revive your policy.
A lapsed policy has to be revived by payment of the accumulated premiums with interest as well as giving the health requirements if required. Always keep your policy in force to ensure that your family gets their financial protection assured by your policy.
However certain concessions dependent on the term for which you have paid the premiums are available with the exception of some plans for claims concession.

A13. A Policy of insurance embodies the terms of contract between an Insurer and a Policyholder and these terms endure throughout the currency of the Policy unless modified by mutual consent of the Insurer and the Policyholder.  There arise a number of cases where, after issue of a Policy, the Policyholder desires an alteration in the terms thereof to suit his convenience, e.g. an alteration in the mode of payment of premiums, reduction of Sum Assured, reduction in the premium paying period etc. Examples of alterations which may be allowed subject to fulfillment of certain conditions are listed below.

• Alteration in class or term
• Reduction in the Sum Assured
• Alteration in the mode of payment of premiums
• Removal of an extra premium
• Alternation in name
• Correction in policies
• Settlement option of payment of sum assured by installments
• Grant of accident benefit
• Grant of premium waiver benefit under children plans
• Alteration in currency and place of payment of policy monies

A fee for the change or alteration in the policy may be charged by the company.

A14. Kindly make a thorough search before concluding that you have lost the policy bond. Look for the same within your residence, among your investment papers, at your office and even with your agent to whom you might have entrusted the document for some reason.
It could have been even pledged with LIC (Intl)/any other financial institution for availing a loan by you. LIC(Intl) retains the policy bond when you avail for a loan against the policy. Make sure that the document you are searching is not one that has already been assigned to LIC(Intl) , or to another financial institution.

If the policy bond is partially destroyed due to natural causes like, fire, flood, etc, the remaining portion may be returned as evidence of loss of policy to LIC (Intl), while applying for a duplicate policy.

In case you are sure that the policy bond is untraceable due to unknown causes, there is a simple procedure to comply with while applying for the duplicate policy at the branch that services your policy.

A15. Your address is very important for us. Without your latest address we would not be in a position to contact you for any service. We would not like to keep any benefit that is due to you pending for want of this very important information. Whenever you shift residences, please inform the new address to us. Otherwise any communication we send to you, like premium notices, discharge vouchers for maturity and survival benefits etc., will get delayed in reaching you.
LIC (Intl) provides for change of addresses, inclusion of telephone numbers, mobile numbers and email addresses in your contact addresses information. Kindly inform your servicing branch to incorporate the same in your policy records.

A16. Many of our plans are of endowment/savings type and you would be allowed to raise a loan against your policy should you require funds. You repay the loan with interest or continue paying the interest and allow the loan to be deducted at the time of the claim payments. Further loans on policies are also allowed after deduction of earlier outstanding loan. Most financial institutions also allow loans against LIC (Intl) policies based on the value LIC (Intl) quotes on request from you.

A17. In case you are raising a loan against your policy from LIC (Intl) or any other financial institution, your policy would have to be assigned to LIC (Intl) or the financial institution. When you assign the policy the title of the policy is shifted from your name to that of the institution.

The policy would be reassigned to you on the repayment of the loan.
Assignment of policies can be done even when a loan is not required or for some special purposes.

A18. This is the value which is payable to you should you decide to discontinue the policy and encash the same from LIC (Intl). Surrender value is payable depending on terms and condition for particular product. Surrender of policy is not recommended since the surrender value would always be proportionately low. Should you decide to take insurance at this stage it would be available to you at a much higher premium because your age would have advanced since taking out the earlier policy. Therefore retention of earlier policies and continuation of all policies without allowing them to lapse is the best strategy for continuing life insurance protection.

A19. When your maturity and survival claims are due, we send intimations to you in advance. If such intimations have not come to you before the due date kindly inform us so that we may take necessary action. In order to avoid the above we request you to update your contact information whenever there is a change, with our records.

A20. Death of the life assured should be intimated to the respective branch wherefrom the policy was issued along with original/certified death certificate. Depending on terms and condition of the policy, beneficiary as recorded in policy document may be asked to submit additional forms and certificates if required. After submission of required documents claims for death will be settled.