Why keeping your paperwork ready can be a life-safer

Getting paperwork in order is not always an enjoyable task, right?

It can be tedious, boring and not to mention, make you miss out on so many fun activities.

Yes, we couldn't agree more.

But it can make a huge difference during emergencies.

How does life insurance work? You select a plan which covers certain emergency scenarios. You pay a premium every year. In case such an emergency does take place in life—like a critical illness, accident or death—you or your nominee makes a claim against this policy. The insurer evaluates the claim and pays the benefit.

Now, throughout this process, there are many times when the paperwork becomes important. Let's look at three different scenarios.

• You want to check your bonuses and returns:
  A lot of life insurance plans come with an investment component. Some other plans involve a regular bonus payment. This is when the insurer pays out a certain amount of money every few years to insurers who have renewed their policy diligently.
  Now, imagine a situation where you have moved to a different city. Your phone number and address has changed. The insurer wants to contact you about a certain bonus payment. They only have the outdated details; and no way of knowing how to contact you. What then?


• You want to change the payment account
  Let's assume your insurance policy premium gets deducted automatically from your bank account. Now, you have shifted jobs and as a result, changed your primary bank account. The old account has little balance or worse, is closed. And you forget to inform your insurer.
  
  In case you miss any communication from the insurer reminding you of the payment, or are traveling, you may end up missing the premium payment. And after 30-45 days, the policy could lapse. You may then miss out on some of the bonuses and benefits due to you.


• You want to make a claim
  When you raise a claim with an insurance company, you will need to submit a set of documents.
  
  Typically, the documents required changes with the claim. A critical illness claim, for example, will need different documents compared to a death-related claim.
  Broadly speaking, however, these are the documents that you or your nominees will need to submit.


• The duly-filled claim form
• Proof of identity: PAN card, Aadhaar card, passport, etc.
• Proof of relationship with the policyholder
• The original policy document

Additionally, based on the nature of the claim, you may have to submit some additional documents too. Check out the details here.

Now, if your paperwork isn't ready, or there are details that are outdated like home address or bank account details, then there can be mismatches in the documents. This can lead to unnecessary delays in the claim payment or worse, rejections. Plus, it makes the claim verification process much easier for the insurer.
And, we'll admit, it also helps us maintain a good claim settlement ratio.
In FY 2019-20, we settled 97.54% of claims, with an average turn-around time of 2.4 days!