Insurance
Insurance company has a duty to render a clear statement on ILP
By Tan Kin Lian  •  June 28, 2009
[caption id="attachment_2801" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Photo by priagovindh"]Photo by priagovindh[/caption] Hi Mr Tan, I'm writing regarding a recent blog post "Full refund of premium under ILP". I was surprised and envious when I read this. For the past 6 months, I have been pursuing X for two ILPs I bought a few years ago. I wanted to track my investments and insurance, but was not given the full disclosure of fees involved. The total contribution I make every month goes to 1) policy charges, 2) mortality charges, 3) insurance, and 4) investment funds. The fees and charges were not disclosed to me explicitly. I learned about these fees only very recently when I started to track my investments. I realised that the numbers cannot balance month to month. Then I read the policy booklets in detailed, and learned of all the extra charges. X was also not able to give me the number of fund units that I buy every month, after the deductions of the charges. Hence I am unable to track the performance of my investment. I tried to contact them several times. But every time I'm told this is not possible. The company sends a yearly statement on the "Average" no. of units I have, and I'm told that is the only best info they can provide me. Unfortunately, it is not clear how many units are deducted for charges, and how many are added. I've spent many nights on Excel spreadsheets, running the statements, the info they provide, and the amount deducted from my bank. I tried to balance the numbers to the current units I hold, to no avail. I get a lot of pressure from X and my financial advisor. They told me I'm being unreasonable when I ask for the funds' units every month, and that no insurance or fund companies can give me this information. I cannot imagine being stuck with these two policies for the next 36 years, not knowing where my money is going every month. I am considering bringing my case to MAS and FIDREC. Is my request for more transparent information an unreasonable one? Read more...
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By Tan Kin Lian
Mr Tan Kin Lian (fomer NTUC Income CEO) started his insurance career in 1966 in a local life insurance company. He has also worked in various positions as a computer programmer, organisation and methods officer and consulting actuary. Mr Tan writes daily in his blog. The information in his blog is transparent and has an open approach.
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