Nationwide Life Insurance Review 2023

Life insurance gives some financial support to your loved ones in the wake of
your passing. This can amount for funeral costs, mortgage payments or even your
children’s future. Nationwide are one such provider of life insurance, and could
have the product for you

Who Are They?

Nationwide is an established British bank with a loyal customer base and
industry awards to back it up. They won Which? Best Banking Brand of the Year
award in 2018, and in addition to their banking services, have a multitude of
product offerings such as home, travel and life insurance. They are also a
Mutual Company, meaning that they are owned by their customers, and as such
profits go back into improving their products and services, and not into
shareholder pockets.

What types of life insurance does Nationwide offer?

Nationwide offers a few types of life insurance with an add-on option for
customers to choose:

Fixed Premium Cover

Your payout will not decrease over the policy period, and will remain the
same amount as when you first purchased the policy. Practically this means a
policy payout will be a hundred thousand pounds both at the start of the policy
and at the end.

Decreasing Life Insurance

Your payout will decrease over the policy period, but typically your
premiums will be cheaper because of this. Policy-holders elect this option when
they have mortgage repayments they are looking to cover in case of their
passing. Mortgage payments and long term loans of this nature decrease over
time, so this decreasing life cover will be set to reduce in the same way.

Additional Critical Illness Cover

Nationwide Life Insurance will allow you to purchase critical illness cover
in addition to your life insurance. This pays out upon diagnosis of a serious
illness. What this means is that you are covered for death, diagnosis of a
terminal illness, or diagnosis of a “critical illness” such as a heart attack,
stroke or cancer. What is defined (and subsequently covered) as a “critical
illness” will be dictated by Nationwide’s policy wording. This benefit, if
claimed, might take value away from the payout from your life insurance policy,
so be sure to check your insurance documents.

Nationwide Life Insurance Product Offerings

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Life Insurance Features

• Pays out a lump sum on death,
• Can choose between single or joint policyholders. In addition, on payment of
  claim in the case of a joint policy, there is an option to reactivate policy for
  the remaining policyholder (additional premium could apply).
• Several policy types available:
  • Level Term, Decreasing Term
  • Critical Illness Cover option
• Choice between paying premiums annually or monthly

Additional Benefits

• Waiver of premium if you can no longer work. This benefit pays your premium
  after 26 weeks if you become too ill or incapacitated due to sickness or injury
  to carry out your normal occupation (available for an additional premium)
• Advance Benefits Payment: one can claim a payment of up to £5,000, to help
  bring some early financial relief while the full claim is processed
• Mid-term changes are allowed, where policyholders might be able to alter the
  length of their policies, increase or decrease the amount of cover, and even
  remove a life assured
• Access to Nationwide’s Specialist Support Team offers a confidential service
  to help customers and their carers when they’re going through challenging times.
  Whether you are wanting to talk through financial issues, or even going through
  or recovering from depression, anxiety and the like, Nationwide’s Specialist
  Support Team can lend a helping hand

Why Might Nationwide Not Payout?

• Failure to provide accurate policyholder details given at time of
  application
• Self inflicted injury or suicide within 12 months of the policy start date
• Terminal illness diagnosed to a policyholder whose policy period is less
  than two years.
• For a joint policy, Nationwide will only pay the amount of cover once.
• If you have chosen to add on Critical Illness Cover, a diagnosis for valid
  payout must be for an illness listed on the policy document
• Missing scheduled premium payments

N.B. Policyholders must reside in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland
(not including the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands)

Defaqto Rating 2020

Four Stars (out of five): Nationwide offers a product with a good level of
features and benefits.

Advantages

• Flexible coverage options available, with different term covers (Level or
  Decreasing) to suit your needs, with mid-term changes available
• Good minimum terms starting from one year only
• 15% discount if you already have a mortgage, savings or main current account
  with Nationwide
• Also able to choose between single or joint coverage for a cost-effective
  way of protecting both yourself and your partner
• Good extra features of coverage if Critical Illness cover is chosen such as
  Accident Hospitalisation Benefit, and Children’s Critical Illness cover
• Option to put policy in trust so that upon a life claim, payout to your
  beneficiaries will not be subject to inheritance tax

Disadvantages

• Maximum terms of either 50 years or until you reach 90 years old, whichever
  is sooner. Some insurers offer whole of life coverage, with no more premiums to
  be paid upon reaching a certain age, but coverage continues
• Age limit on Critical Illness Cover being ten years less than Life Insurance
  when purchasing the product, and twenty years less when making a claim

Defaqto ratings