Life insurance jargon buster
Do you know the difference between decreasing term assurance with waiver of payment or level term assurance with reviewable critical illness cover?
Let us try and explain some of the key terms:
| Accidental death cover | Provides you with life cover whilst your application is being processed, if you die following an accident. |
| Cover | The protection given by your life insurance. |
| Critical illness cover | Pays a lump sum if you're diagnosed with a specified critical illness covered by your policy. Find out more about critical illness cover. |
| Death in service | A benefit that pays out a sum of money, if you die whilst employed by a company who offer this benefit as part of your overall employment package. |
| Decreasing term insurance (or decreasing term assurance) | Where the amount you are insured for decreases over the term, usually taken to protect a repayment mortgage. Find out more about decreasing term. |
| Guaranteed critical illness cover | The premiums will not increase during the chosen term. |
| Guaranteed insurability option | Allows you to increase your level of cover during the term of plan, without the need to provide further evidence of health, upon the occurrence of certain events:
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| Joint life | The policy covers more than one person. The plan will pay out the sum assured once depending on which policyholder dies first. |
| Level term insurance (or level term assurance) | The amount you are insured for remains the same throughout the term of your policy. |
| Mortgage term insurance (or mortgage term assurance) | Life insurance giving protection to cover a mortgage for a specific amount of time (the 'term'). |
| Policy | The legal documents that are issued once your application is accepted. It includes details of the cover, when we will pay out and when we won't, plus details of the cost. |
| Premium | The amount you pay for your insurance. |
| Reviewable critical illness cover | The premiums are usually reviewed to see if they will change on a certain anniversary of the policy, and usually every five years after that. |
| Reviewable term insurance (or reviewable term assurance) | A type of life insurance policy where the premiums will usually increase year on year (Legal & General do not offer this type of policy). |
| Terminal illness cover | Allows your life insurance policy to pay out the full amount if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, rather than when you die. Find out more about terminal illness cover. |
| Term insurance (or term assurance) | Life insurance giving protection for a specific amount of time (the 'term'). |
| Waiver of payment | Option to protect your life insurance premiums if you cannot follow your normal occupation due to a prolonged illness or accident. Find out more about waiver of payment. |
Terms and conditions may apply to the above. You can open and download the key features document from the right hand menu.
