I will start by asking you, have you ever made a life insurance claim?

When waiting for a payout, many customers hurl the blame at life insurance companies sometimes forgetting that the problem of a delayed life insurance payout is possibly their own fault in the first place.

For you to know when your insurance company will make a payout you will need to consider the date of issue of the life policy. Some policies have terms that require a, for example, two year fraud and suicide exclusion. They say that if the insured party dies within that said period, there must be a thorough investigation to establish and rule out fraud and suicide.

In such a situation, get in touch with your (or dependants’/next of kin’s) insurance company directly without using any of the company’s agents or brokers to download all the relevant forms you need to fill in to have your claim paid.

A valid life insurance claim should be paid within 30 days. If the policy is two years plus old, then it should be paid more quickly. For your life insurance claim to be valid for a pay out, issue the insurer with a copy of the death certificate of the insured person as soon as you get it. You can even fax it or email a scanned document for easier processing. They then just need proof of the original later on in the process, but the copy will help start things along.

Call the life insurance company within two days after you made the initial claim to ensure that it is being processed and to check the company has all the necessary documents and information to commence and finalise the claim.

If you believe that a valid life insurance payout is delayed unnecessarily, then chase the insurance company to pay interest on the monies being held. Make sure you know the specifics of the policy taken out, for example, whether the insured party was covered for accidental death or natural death, to avoid unnecessary delays and expenses.