Launching the Underwriting Hub, Taking a closer look at Aviva Underwriting
Hi everyone and welcome to this week’s protection update – 11th March – where is the year going?
I actually had a week off last week which is why my protection update was short (because I pre recorded it before I went away), but the theme of last week’s update was underwriting.
For me, this is something the industry needs to improve.
But let me be clear; I don’t mean improve in terms of each providers underwriting philosophies… that’s the business of the providers.
But I mean make it easier so that advisers such as yourselves can make more accurate protection recommendations based on the likely outcome your clients receive.
That’s why we’ve made the UnderwriteMe tool available to you. But it doesn’t cover all the providers which does still make it difficult when trying to evaluate the whole of the market.
So during my protection updates, I want to keep coming back to this subject and try and help give you the tools that you need to do your job on the subject of underwriting.
This week I’m going to take a look at Aviva who are the first provider to feature in our new Underwriting Hub that you can now access on the adviser site (just under protection).
Diabetes?
Did you know that if you had a client who has Diabetes (either type 1, type 2 or gestational diabetes); Aviva offer instant decisions through their portal 85% of the time. This was actually following a review of their automated approach last year and it means that Aviva could be a really good fit for your diabetic clients.
We are however only talking about life cover. Critical Illness and IP would not be available.
But if your client is managing their Diabetes condition, you should be able to get favourable terms with Aviva.
Now this is the first entry we’ve added to our new Underwriting Hub. This will continue to grow over the coming weeks and months, so watch this space.
Link to Underwriting Hub – https://rightmortgageadviser.com/underwriting-hub/
Automatic Medical Limits
Now I’m going to keep the focus on Aviva as my example, but let’s say you were about to make a recommendation for some protection cover; how could you manage the expectations of your client in terms of any further medical evidence that might be required by the life office?
Life offices will request further medical evidence (such as GP Reports, Medical Examinations, Nurse Screenings) either based on the application, or, based on the age and sum assured of your client. That’s what I mean by Automatic Medical Limits. In other words, it doesn’t matter how healthy your client is, if the client is a certain age applying for a certain sum assured; certain medical evidence is always required.
Let’s play a game and look at 3 clients. What you have to do is decide what automatic medical evidence is required, or whether none is required automatically.
Life Cover – Client 1 – Kevin, 58
Applying for life cover with a sum assured of £220,000 with Aviva. Will any medical evidence automatically be required?
The answer is NO. and I know this because looking at the Aviva Medical Evidence sales aid (which is attached to this protection update); it tells me that the point at which a 58-year-old applicant for life cover would automatically need a GPR report is when the sum assured hits £220,001.
Aviva Automatic Underwriting Requirements – https://www.aviva.co.uk/adviser/documents/view/al98002c.pdf
So, having access to this information as part of your research would be very valuable because you would be able to manage the expectations of your clients?
I can see this on page 3 of the Aviva Automatic Underwriting Requirements sales aid.
And all the providers have different limits.
Critical Illness Cover – Client 2 – Sally, 47
Ok, what about Client 2 Sally – this is a 47-year-old applying for Critical Illness Cover with Aviva. The sum assured is £310,000.
Any automatic evidence required?
YES. Sally would be required (regardless of what it says in the application form) of undertaking a Paramedical Mini Screen and, if she is a non-smoker; she would be required to take a Cotinine test.
How do I know this?
Well on page 7 of the Aviva Automatic Underwriting Requirements sales aid; it shows me that for applicants of Critical Illness Cover between the ages of 46nb and 50nb; any sums assured greater than £300,001 and £350,000 would automatically require these 2 pieces of medical evidence. If the sum assured reached above £350,000 then a GP Report would be required as well.
Let’s look at one more… this time Income Protection.
Income Protection – John, 39
I’ve got Client 3 John, who wants quite a big Income Protection policy. Its actually £5,500 per month of Income Protection Cover with Aviva. The client is 39 years of age. What automatic medical evidence is required?
Well, the fact the client is 39 years of age (40 next birthday), means with Aviva, NO automatic evidence is required.
But what happens when John reaches his 40th Birthday?
Well at that point, if he hasn’t already set up his Aviva Income Protection policy, then some automatic medical evidence would kick in.
Looking at page 9 of the Aviva Automatic Underwriting Requirements sales aid; I can see that John would be required to take a Medical Examination. If he’s a non-smoker, he would be asked to take a Cotinine test. A GP Report would automatically be requested. A full blood profile would be requested including a Lipid Profile. And finally, a HIV test would also be required.
That’s what happens to this client if he doesn’t take out the Income Protection cover now, but instead leaves it until he is 40.
I know many of you listening to this podcast will be aware of this kind of thing but some of you won’t, so I’ve added a link to the Aviva Automatic Underwriting Requirements sales aid to this week’s protection update, but it also features on the Underwriting Hub.
What I’d like you to do is let me know about the types of content you would like to see added to the underwriting hub.
You might have some great resource tools you use yourself so if you don’t mind sharing them with your fellow advisers; send them to me and we will build this up so that you’ve got great resources that will make your life a whole lot easier when it comes to sourcing protection cover for your clients.
Roadshows – this month – actually on the road!
We’ve got 6 roadshows starting in just a couple of weeks’ time so please make sure you register. We’d love to see you there.
- We’re coming to Knutsford (just south of Manchester on 22nd)
- Birmingham Motorcycle Museum on 23rd
- Edinburgh on 25th.
- Newport in south Wales on 29th.
- Brentwood on 30th.
- And finishing off with Durham on 31st
This is an ambitious set of roadshow events with us doing 6 so please come along and support them. We’re looking at advice quality and ideas to drive up revenues within your business.
Bob and myself would love to see you there.
So that’s it from me for another week. Have a super weekend and I’ll speak to you soon.
