About Policy Application

What is cooling-off period#?

Policyholders are given a cooling-off period to review the terms and conditions of their long term insurance policies. The policyholder has the right to cancel the policy and obtain a full refund of the insurance premium (less a market value adjustment where applicable) if he/she changes his mind within that period.

How long is the cooling-off period#?

The cooling-off period is 21 days from the date of signing the insurance application form, 14 days from the issue date of a policy, 5 days after the delivery of the policy to the policyholder or his representative, or in the case of a policy replacement 14 days after the date on which a copy of the Customer Protection Declaration Form is delivered to the insurer of the policy replaced, whichever is the latest.

Should the client declare his/her past medical history only when applying for a medical plan*?

Since the insurer bases any premium and policy terms on the information provided by the clients, for the insurer to fairly assess the risk taken, the clients should always give precise and true details of their past medical history no matter applying for a medical or life policy. If a policyholder has given false information or hidden material information, the insurance contract can be declared null and void, as regards an alleged breach of the "Utmost Good Faith" principle. In handling claims case, the insurer will look into all the past medical history of the related policy, if untruthfulness is found in information submission at the policy application, the insurer has the right to terminate the policy and no claims will be entertained.

The client should be responsible for the content in the application form, and must carefully read any proposal form before signing it, and ensure that all the information disclosed is correct and complete.

What will be the possible loss brought forward by Policy Switching?*

The existing coverage enjoyed by the insured may be affected as a result of changes in health condition, for examples, the newly conceived illness will be regarded as high-risk, leading to higher premium for the new policy after policy switching. In some cases, such illness will be excluded from the coverage, or result in a rejection of policy application.

Moreover, the existing policy may distribute dividends in near future - for it has been in force for a long time. This may then induce loss to the policyholder in case of policy switching. The claims benefits of the policyholder will also be affected as the "Incontestability" and "Suicide" provisions will be effective only after the new policy is in force for two and one year respectively.

Under what circumstances should clients submit their ID copies?

To safeguard the interest of clients and to ensure the future policy-related requests can be processed effectively, our agents will ask for ID copies from clients who submit policy applications, for company's record.

For total deposit amounts over HK$400,000 or US$50,000 (the accumulated amounts for any six consecutive months), clients should submit their ID copies and the completed "Special Financial Questionnaire for Large Amount Premium Case". Under some conditions, further documents may be requested, e.g. Assts proof.

*Source: The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers's website
#Source: Office of the Commissioner of Insurance’s website