Direct Life & Pension Services
The online arm of Direct Life and Pension Services, independent financial advisers, this site deals with personal insurance and pensions, which are essential for the self-employed, and those without a company pension plan.
DirectLife has a stable of big league insurance companies from which it can obtain immediate quotes (including names like Standard Life, Norwich Union, Royal and Sun Alliance, and Legal & General), but from this initial stage you are left to your own devices. You can ask to be sent application forms, and supply your name and address details.
Company Information lists the terms and conditions of the site. Here there are disclaimers such as ‘The nature of the technology means that the quotes system cannot be guaranteed. Terms are therefore only deemed to form a 'contract' when a proposal is completed and an acceptance letter issued by the insurer.’
SPECIAL FEATURES
Quotes and Product Information Product Guides is the most useful section with good explanations about life cover, critical illness cover, level term insurance, waiver of premium and special policies such as:
Life Plus: which includes a level of life insurance, usually paid on diagnosis of terminal illness, specified at outset and guaranteed to remain constant for the term of the plan, with the addition to and totally independent of the life cover, a level amount of critical illness cover set at a fixed percentage of the life cover amount at outset guaranteed to remain constant for the term of the plan.
Mortgage Plus: which includes a level of life insurance specified at outset, usually paid on diagnosis of terminal illness, which reduces at a rate to match the reducing capital balance on a typical repayment mortgage. Plus, the plan also includes an amount of critical illness cover, totally independent of the life cover, set at a fixed percentage of the life cover amount and which is guaranteed to remain at a fixed percentage of the life cover for the term of the plan.
On completion of the online application form (with vague questions on topics such as age, term of insurance, joint policy details, smoker), a handful of quotes appear very swiftly. Once you have selected those you are interested in, you then complete your address details for applications to be sent to you by snail mail.
Information on Stakeholder Pensions is thorough, with a good pension calculator, but applications can still only be made by calling a freephone number, despite their announcement in the Q & A section that states they will be offering an online Stakeholder pension service from 2001. The site is adamant that it is giving no advice on the products suitability and advises you to seek expert advice before buying a pension.
DirectLife has a stable of big league insurance companies from which it can obtain immediate quotes (including names like Standard Life, Norwich Union, Royal and Sun Alliance, and Legal & General), but from this initial stage you are left to your own devices. You can ask to be sent application forms, and supply your name and address details.
Company Information lists the terms and conditions of the site. Here there are disclaimers such as ‘The nature of the technology means that the quotes system cannot be guaranteed. Terms are therefore only deemed to form a 'contract' when a proposal is completed and an acceptance letter issued by the insurer.’
SPECIAL FEATURES
Quotes and Product Information Product Guides is the most useful section with good explanations about life cover, critical illness cover, level term insurance, waiver of premium and special policies such as:
Life Plus: which includes a level of life insurance, usually paid on diagnosis of terminal illness, specified at outset and guaranteed to remain constant for the term of the plan, with the addition to and totally independent of the life cover, a level amount of critical illness cover set at a fixed percentage of the life cover amount at outset guaranteed to remain constant for the term of the plan.
Mortgage Plus: which includes a level of life insurance specified at outset, usually paid on diagnosis of terminal illness, which reduces at a rate to match the reducing capital balance on a typical repayment mortgage. Plus, the plan also includes an amount of critical illness cover, totally independent of the life cover, set at a fixed percentage of the life cover amount and which is guaranteed to remain at a fixed percentage of the life cover for the term of the plan.
On completion of the online application form (with vague questions on topics such as age, term of insurance, joint policy details, smoker), a handful of quotes appear very swiftly. Once you have selected those you are interested in, you then complete your address details for applications to be sent to you by snail mail.
Information on Stakeholder Pensions is thorough, with a good pension calculator, but applications can still only be made by calling a freephone number, despite their announcement in the Q & A section that states they will be offering an online Stakeholder pension service from 2001. The site is adamant that it is giving no advice on the products suitability and advises you to seek expert advice before buying a pension.
COMMENTS
login to add a comment...Excellent information on the details of various types of cover, and good starting point for whittling down quotes, but policy details are non-existent. The cheapest quote may not be providing adequate cover. Follow up research is at the applicant’s risk.
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