Have you a dentist client who’s thinking of buying a practice – perhaps to get into business for themselves, or to expand? As an IFA you will often be their first port of call.
Like us, you may have seen a new trend emerging from lenders asking for income insurance to protect themselves when a loan/mortgage is set up. This can seem like another layer of long-winded red tape for your clients – but it doesn’t have to be.
What if we said we could have locum insurance set up in as little as 2 hours?
Locum insurance or income protection?
When an insurer wants to protect their interests, they may specify that an income protection policy is taken out to cover the loan instalments. Locum insurance is an option that many IFAs would not have considered as a viable option. After all, it’s not strictly an ‘income protection’ plan. Let’s explain.
Income protection plans as you’ll understand them pay an income when the policyholder suffers an injury or illness that results in a loss of earnings. Typically it would cover a percentage of their gross earnings prior to the incapacity.
A locum insurance plan from Practice Cover similarly pays a weekly sum when a policyholder suffers an injury or illness preventing them from working. Although the sum is designed to cover the cost of a locum, it can actually be used as they wish – towards practice overheads, to compensate colleagues who cover their workload, or perhaps a trip to the Maldives to recover… Of course the lender will expect their monthly instalments to be covered too!
With locum insurance you determine the deferred period and amount of cover required, depending on the client’s attitude to risk and budget. It doesn’t need to be linked to earnings.
Locum insurance quotes in minutes – an agreed policy in hours
As you’ll know, income protection that’s specific for dentists could take very little time to set up if the telephone underwriting assessment goes well – but could take weeks or even months to get approval since there are both medical and financial underwriting procedures to follow. There are also a limited number of dental IP providers, since the dental profession is seen as high risk. For some people with complex financial interests, proving income can be complicated and time-consuming.
You may have also been in the embarrassing position where the IP provider loads premiums. In other words, your quote to a dentist can be far less than the actual premium payable. This is not uncommon. According to Defacto a third of IFAs stated that between 11% and 30% of income protection premiums initially quoted were “significantly higher” after underwriting.
How do we differ?
Practice Cover can move you from quote to policy acceptance in as little as two hours, subject to any referrals for pre-existing conditions a policyholder may have. We make it clear up-front what they will pay and what they could receive if they claim – and we have an extremely high claims acceptance rate.
The maximum claim payment period is limited to 52 weeks but this should be long enough either for the dentist to get back on his or her feet or for a decision to be taken to sell up.
This is not to say that our locum insurance is any less thorough or appropriate than typical income protection products. We are fully regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, with many happy IFA and practitioner customers.
So if you've got any clients who are expanding their interests and whose lenders are insisting on insurance against the dentist's illness, please get in touch. We guarantee to make it a painless experience! For more information on offering our locum insurance as an IFA, click here.
The opinions presented in this blog are solely those of the author on behalf of Practice Cover Limited and they do not constitute individual advice. Practice Cover is a trading name of Practice Cover Limited and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
