OUTsurance Life is to add funeral cover to its current offering. According to Danie Matthee, CEO of OUTsurance, the new product which will become available next month will meet customer demand in South Africa for a dignified funeral, while offering much greater flexibility for policy holders.
He explains, “Our research on funeral policies revealed that South Africans take out on average between three and four funeral policies in their lifetime, which is not ideal. There is a high cancellation rate. OUTsurance addresses the various pain points for consumers which cause these cancellations and will meet our current client demand for funeral insurance by providing affordable, flexible funeral cover.”
To ensure that cover remains relevant, clients can increase or decrease cover and premiums as circumstances change with no penalties. The business will also use technology to make it convenient and simple to buy – funeral cover will be available online.
Paul Myeza, Chief Operating Officer of OUTsurance Life comments, “Typically a policy holder is faced with a difficult life event such as a health challenge and is unable to pay the premium for a short period. Clients are then faced with debit order cancellation fees and a cancelled policy resulting in the need to purchase a new one once the policyholders’ financial situation has improved. Unfortunately the new funeral policy has yet another waiting period.
“We will deal with these issues by allowing a great deal of flexibility. Should a client experience an adverse financial situation, they will be offered one premium holiday for every 12 months of premiums received. Up to three months can be banked meaning that if a client can’t pay premiums, they may have up to three months where their policy will be unaffected.”
The ‘pause and play’ feature would allow a client to contact OUTsurance and request to pause cover for up to three months, without the policy being cancelled, no claims occurring within this period would be covered. A policy premium would only become due in the fourth month and the client would not have to pay back the unpaid months. Also the client would not have to serve a new waiting period if the policy is reinstated before the end of the pause and play window.
Cover and additional benefits can be increased or decreased at any time due to changing family circumstances or alternatively to manage costs if affordability becomes an issue.
OUTsurance offers competitively priced cover from R30 000 to R100 000 for the insured, a spouse, children, parents and parents in-law. Clients can also select R5 000 worth of additional cover for each of the following: transport, tombstone, catering, after tears event and marquee. Therefore cover can be increased up to R125 000 depending on the client’s specific needs.
Speedy payment of claims is particularly important with a funeral product. Families are traumatised at the death of a family member and they need the money to be transferred immediately to make arrangements. Repatriation within South Africa and to neighbouring countries Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana is also included in the cover.
Matthee says, “OUTsurance was developed as a business that exists to pay claims, so clients can be assured of a speedy experience. We are passionate about offering value for money and simple products backed by awesome service – our funeral product meets these requirements.”
The funeral product will be available from 1 June online.