How Special Events Increase Benefit works?
- Willi Olsen
- Updated
The best life insurance companies in New Zealand allow you to increase your cover as your circumstances change and you reach important anniversaries or events in your life.
What are Special Events Increase Benefits?
The Special Events Increase is an important built-in benefit that allows you to increase the amount of life cover without providing new medical information, following a significant event in your life, which results in increasing financial responsibilities.
These significant events include:
- having a child by birth or adoption
- becoming a carer for the first time.
- becoming married or entering into a civil union
- divorces or dissolves a registered civil union
- death of a spouse or partner
- your child starting secondary school,
- taking out or increasing a home loan for your primary residence, a new residential investment property, a holiday home, or a bare block of land zoned as residential, provided the relevant property is solely residential.
- receiving a salary increase
Special Events Benefit Applies to
Most insurers offer special events benefits to the following products
Why is the Special Events Benefit important?
Because of time, circumstances, and our health,.
The Special Events Benefit allows you to increase your life insurance without new medical information or tests.
This can be especially beneficial if your health has deteriorated or changed.
How the Special Events benefit can help you
The key element of these increases is that they are available without further medical underwriting. This means that should your health change, you are still eligible for an increase to your cover (provided you have not been diagnosed as terminal, which is defined as 12 months).
We recently had a client who got life and trauma cover with us. There is a standard three month standdown for cancer on new policies, and unfortunately, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer within five weeks. We worked with her to get the pay-out covered but were unsuccessful. At that time, she hadn’t been diagnosed as being terminal, but with the aggressive cancer she had, it was likely.
We advised her to take out a $100,000 loan and increase her life cover by $100,000 as a special event on the loan. This gave them money to live on, and when she tragically lost her cancer battle, her husband was able to repay the loan with the extra cover on her policy.
Maximum Amounts
Here is a breakdown of the Asteron Life, AIA Insurance, Fidelity Life and Partners Life maximum amounts. Always refer to policy document.
Asteron Life: Special Events Increase
The maximum increase per special event for each applicable type of cover is the lowest of:
- 75% of the sum insured for the applicable cover(s) at the commencement date
- $300,000
- five times your increase in salary (if applicable)
- the loan amount or the amount of the loan increase (if applicable).
Qualifying period
The Special Events Increase benefit can only be used once in any 12 month period for each type of cover and before your 60 birthday.
To use the Special Events Increase benefit, you must send to Asteron Life a written request within:
- 180 days after the special event; or
- 30 days either side of the policy anniversary following a special event which occurred within the 12 months before that anniversary. With your written request, you must include evidence of the special event (as detailed in section 11.1.1 in the Asteron Life Policy Document).
Request an increase
If you would like to request a special event increase to your life insurance policy, please contact us.
The maximum increase for each special event cannot exceed the lower of:
- 50% of the original Life Cover Benefit for the life assured; or
- $250,000.
The total of all increases made under this Facility cannot exceed the lower of:
- 100% of the original Life Cover Benefit for the life assured; or $750,000.
Qualifying period
The Special Events Increase benefit can only be used once in any 12 month period for each type of cover and before the age of 55.
To use the Special Events Increase benefit, you must send to AIA Insurance a written request.
Request an increase
Fidelity Life: Special Events Increase
Fidelity Life allows you to increase the life cover amount up to the lesser of $250,000 or 25% of the life cover at the date of commencement of the cover.
If you take out or increase your mortgage, you can increase the life insurance coverage amount by up to the lesser of
- 50% of the sum assured at the date of commencement; or
- the increase in the value of the existing mortgage or the amount of a new mortgage; or
- $250,000
The maximum increase for each special event cannot exceed the lower of:
- 50% of the original Life Cover Benefit for the life assured; or
- $250,000.
If you have had a salary increase of at least $10,000 or a salary increase of at least 10% you can increase the life cover amount by up the lesser of:
- 25% of the sum assured at the date of commencement; or
- 5 times the increase in his or her salary; or
- $250,000.
Qualifying period
The Special events increase benefit can only be used once in any 12 month period for each type of cover.
To use the Special Events Increase benefit, you must send to Fidelity Life a written request
- six months following the event; or
- 30 days of the following policy anniversary
- With your written request, you must include evidence of the special event (as detailed in section 2.7 in the Fidelity Life Policy Document).
Request an increase
Partners Life: Special Events Increase
The following limits apply to increases under the Special Events Increase Benefit:
- Each increase is limited to the lesser of $1,000 per month; the amount of any additional or increased mortgage repayment commitments; or
- forty percent (40%) of the increase in annual salary; and
- The maximum total for all increases under this Special Events Increase Benefit during the duration of the policy is seventy‐five per cent (75%) of the Aggregated monthly Life Income Cover Sum Insured
If you take out or increase your mortgage, you can increase the life insurance coverage amount by up to the lesser of
- 50% of the sum assured at the date of commencement; or
- the increase in the value of the existing mortgage or the amount of a new mortgage; or
- $250,000
The maximum increase for each special event cannot exceed the lower of:
- 50% of the original Life Cover Benefit for the life assured; or
- $250,000.
If you have had a salary increase of at least $10,000 or a salary increase of at least 10% you can increase the life cover amount by up the lesser of:
- 25% of the sum assured at the date of commencement; or
- 5 times the increase in his or her salary; or
- $250,000.
Qualifying period
The Special events increase benefit can only be used once in any 12 month period for each type of cover.
To use the Special Events Increase benefit, you must send to Partners Life a written request
- 180 days of the life event occurring, or within
- 60 days of the following Policy Anniversary Date, whichever is the later. With your written request, you must include evidence of the special event (as detailed in section 3.9 in the Partners Life Policy Document).
Request an increase
Other Conditions
Only one special event increase can be made in any 12 month period.
Any increase in your cover which occurs as a result of a special events increase will attract an additional premium at the same rate as your underlying cover.
Special events increases are subject to further terms and conditions as detailed in the Policy Wording.
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