Absa Life Insurance

Who better than a bank to underwrite your life cover, right? Having large surpluses of capital has enabled Absa (and other banks) to fund a long-term insurance division not only to provide the basic life, dread disease and disability cover, but also a special extreme living insurance policy.

Absa Life@Ease

Priding themselves on providing a single, comprehensive insurance policy which covers all your needs and is easy to understand, Absa’s Life@Ease includes a death benefit, accidental death benefit, functional impairment, physical impairment, critical illness benefit, and a range of others, most notable a final expenses benefit, catch all disability benefit and income protection.

The final expenses benefit is essentially a funeral plan. It covers the immediate expenses of the policyholder’s funeral, such as catering costs, burial, coffin and transport. The policy pays out the amount within 48 hours after the death.

While the functional impairment covers only total disability and physical impairments covers only corporeal damage (such as the loss of a limb or ability to walk), the “catch all” disability benefit covers both total and partial disability.

Income protection is a great addition to a disability insurance policy. Whereas disability cover pays out a lump sum in the event that an insured is permanently disabled, an income protection policy pays out for lost income while the insured recovers from a temporary or permanent disability. For a full list of Life@Ease benefits, visit the Absa website.

Absa Life Xtreme

Traditionally adrenaline junkies are considered too high an insurance risk to be covered and are therefore rejected after risk analysis. Absa have decided to grab this bull by the horns with their Life Xtreme policy, which covers accidental death and serious injury for South Africans between the ages of 18 and 45 while still allowing them to bungee jump, scuba dive and mountain bike. Extreme, right?

The policy pays out a maximum of R1 million in the event of accidental death. Serious injury, such as the loss of a limb, will pay out only a percentage of the death benefit according to the severity of the injury. The policy does not include dread disease or death of natural causes to limit Absa’s risk. If you’re happy putting bank charges to good use take out Absa’s life insurance, alternatively compare life insurance from Insurance.co.za.