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-   -   Life and critical illness cover with UK provider (https://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-57/life-critical-illness-cover-uk-provider-940216/)

Mic1 Aug 19th 2021 4:36 pm

Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 
Hi all,

i'm sure many would have come across this situation but i have several life and critical illness policies with UK companies and obviously want to be sure that coverage is still valid if moving abroad. My immigration attorney is under the impression that they would still be operative as long as monthly payments continue to be fed from a UK bank account.

Before i call them and set the cat amongst the pigeons, i just wanted to reach out to see if anyone has left them running whilst abroad?

Many thanks

Mic

christmasoompa Aug 19th 2021 4:51 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 

Originally Posted by Mic1 (Post 13042350)
Hi all,

i'm sure many would have come across this situation but i have several life and critical illness policies with UK companies and obviously want to be sure that coverage is still valid if moving abroad. My immigration attorney is under the impression that they would still be operative as long as monthly payments continue to be fed from a UK bank account.

Before i call them and set the cat amongst the pigeons, i just wanted to reach out to see if anyone has left them running whilst abroad?

Many thanks

Mic

I'd not take any notice of what your immi attorney says personally, why would they know about insurance? You'll just need to look at the T's and C's of each policy, and see what they say - mine don't cover me if I am no longer a UK resident (https://www.legalandgeneral.com/life...moving-abroad/), so I'll need to take out new insurance when moving, but I'm sure each provider has different requirements so best to check the small print really carefully.

MidAtlantic Aug 19th 2021 4:55 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 

Originally Posted by Mic1 (Post 13042350)
Hi all,

i'm sure many would have come across this situation but i have several life and critical illness policies with UK companies and obviously want to be sure that coverage is still valid if moving abroad. My immigration attorney is under the impression that they would still be operative as long as monthly payments continue to be fed from a UK bank account.

Before i call them and set the cat amongst the pigeons, i just wanted to reach out to see if anyone has left them running whilst abroad?

Many thanks

Mic

Check the policy documents. When I moved in 2009 I had two life insurance policies from different companies and both explicitly said in the policy documents that coverage remained unchanged in the event of moving permanently to a whole list of countries, which included the USA. Fortunately it has not been put to the test! I never read or heard anything about payments needing to be made from a UK bank account (although mine are). I suspect they don't care as long as they are paid.

Winston_the_Great_Dane Aug 19th 2021 5:06 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 
I'm with Legal & General. They were happy to continue cover as long as payment continues to be made from UK bank account. Simply gave them my new US address and they sent me written confirmation. Job done.

christmasoompa Aug 19th 2021 5:09 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 

Originally Posted by Winston_the_Great_Dane (Post 13042368)
I'm with Legal & General. They were happy to continue cover as long as payment continues to be made from UK bank account. Simply gave them my new US address and they sent me written confirmation. Job done.

Interesting, they've told me the opposite. I guess their policy on it must have changed, hence why the OP needs to check their own provider's requirements very carefully.

celticgrid Aug 19th 2021 5:44 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 

Originally Posted by Winston_the_Great_Dane (Post 13042368)
I'm with Legal & General. They were happy to continue cover as long as payment continues to be made from UK bank account. Simply gave them my new US address and they sent me written confirmation. Job done.

Substitute "Aviva" for "Legal & General" and you have described our experience. No problems at all just continuing with the existing policy.

Winston_the_Great_Dane Aug 19th 2021 7:13 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 

Originally Posted by christmasoompa (Post 13042369)
Interesting, they've told me the opposite. I guess their policy on it must have changed, hence why the OP needs to check their own provider's requirements very carefully.

Not sure, when you asked, but I did this within the last 2 years, potentially within the last 18 months (had spare time during COVID furlough)

Mic1 Aug 19th 2021 7:40 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 
Thanks everyone.

I'll now check tomorrow and FYI, post what they say.

Mic

kodokan Aug 19th 2021 8:41 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 

Originally Posted by celticgrid (Post 13042379)
Substitute "Aviva" for "Legal & General" and you have described our experience. No problems at all just continuing with the existing policy.

Same experience here with Aviva. I have a life insurance policy with them from nearly 20 years ago, and a zombie Stakeholder pension. They had no problem with my moving first to Switzerland, and now the US. They’ve confirmed I’m covered in both cases (it does appear to be country-specific, from memory of the phone calls I had), and the premiums have been paid by DD on my UK bank account. They have my US address, and send my annual pension statement here - it’s all above board.

As an aside, it’s been a useful way of ensuring my UK bank account has regular transactions, to stop it being accidentally closed through inactivity.

christmasoompa Aug 19th 2021 9:22 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 

Originally Posted by Winston_the_Great_Dane (Post 13042403)
Not sure, when you asked, but I did this within the last 2 years, potentially within the last 18 months (had spare time during COVID furlough)

About 2 months ago. :)

Mic1 Aug 20th 2021 6:02 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 
As promised, Scottish Widows are fine with maintaining the policy regardless of the policy holders' whereabouts, as long as the premiums come from a UK bank account.

Just waiting for Aviva to confirm.

Winston_the_Great_Dane Aug 21st 2021 1:04 am

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 

Originally Posted by christmasoompa (Post 13042453)
About 2 months ago. :)

:(

Mic1 Aug 23rd 2021 11:38 am

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 
Okay, now have it in writing that both Aviva and Scottish Widows allow policies to remain as long as the premiums come from a UK bank account. The only difference between the 2 was that once i move, i can't increase/decrease the level of cover with Aviva. The lady at Aviva seemed very knowledgeable on the matter and said that as far as she was aware, all companies now operate in the same way. I mentioned Legal and General's stance and she was extremely surprised.

tht Aug 23rd 2021 1:00 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 

Originally Posted by Mic1 (Post 13042753)
As promised, Scottish Widows are fine with maintaining the policy regardless of the policy holders' whereabouts, as long as the premiums come from a UK bank account.

Just waiting for Aviva to confirm.

while I don’t doubt they are OK with the US, I am guessing there would be a list of countries that they would not cover you moving to.. the risk profile in the US or EU has got to be different to say Afghanistan….

Mic1 Aug 23rd 2021 9:15 pm

Re: Life and critical illness cover with UK provider
 

Originally Posted by tht (Post 13043608)
while I don’t doubt they are OK with the US, I am guessing there would be a list of countries that they would not cover you moving to.. the risk profile in the US or EU has got to be different to say Afghanistan….

I'm sure there are exceptions, but these words were straight from the horse's mouth !


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