For the love of Home Ownership

Easy to say and yes I am happy, actually I am ecstatic that I finally entered the home owner elite. Well it seems that way at the moment even though I know we are no more elite than anyone else. In actual fact nothing has really changed. I have to pay money to someone else every month for the privileged of staying in a house. I do not like where I am going with this. I love my new house, all mine now I need to make it my own. The mortgage and insurance are taken care of and I have my new carpets arriving next week so all is well.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Life Insurance And The Underwriting

By Graham McKenzie

So many people apply for life insurance policies, but only a few of them get approved for the same. It is certainly not the easiest of jobs to get a life insurance policy. You may have enough money to pay the premiums, but it does not make you eligible for the policy. Your application for a life insurance will be assessed and analyzed. In other words, a thorough underwriting would be done on the application. Underwriting consists of the risk analysis to approve the application, and the decision on appropriate premium amounts to be paid by the individual.

Underwriters help the insurance companies in analyzing the risk involved in approving a particular application. At the end of the day, insurance companies are looking to make profits, and for this underwriting becomes an important exercise for them. Underwriting includes three steps, performed one after the other. The steps include examining the application, deciding to insure or not, determining the premium.

Examination of the application is all about collecting the client information. Various details about the applicant are collected and stored for assessment. The details could include marital status, sex, type of living area, age, and current health status etc. The applicant is measured against each of these parameters.

After all the information about the applicant is handy, the risk assessment triggers. The applicant is remarked against all the above parameters one by one. These parameters are termed as the risk factors. The applicant needs to score low on these risk factors to get through this phase successfully. Each of the risk factors holds its own importance and value. However, most companies give extra significance to the age and health of the applicant. If the applicant is young and healthy, the chances of approval are very strong. As against this, if the applicant is old and ailing, the denial is on the cards. The living environment of the applicant has a huge role to play as well. If the applicant happens to live in a polluted and unhygienic area, the insurance company starts to feel a little edgy about approving the application. At the same time, a good and healthy living environment of the applicant makes it considerably easy for the companies to approve the application. Gender is another point of evaluation for many companies. Women are thought of living a better and healthier life as compared to men. This is because they are known to take lesser depressions in life. On the other hand, married men are believed to life a healthier life as compared to the married women. Another important aspect of consideration is the living habits of the individual. If the applicant smokes and drinks, there are likely to be negligible chances of an approval. The aim behind all these considerations is to ensure that the probability of the individual living longer is more.

The above risk factors not only determine the approval or denial of the insurance policy, but also the monthly premiums. Once the application is approved, the score of the applicant on the risk factors also decides his pr her monthly premium amounts. A young and fit individual would have to pay lower monthly installments, as compared to an old and ailing individual.

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