UKC

Can anyone recommend life insurance for climbers?

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Looking for an insurance company that is more friendly to climbers for quotes for;

1. Income Protection,
2. Family Income Benefit, and
3. Decreasing life protection to cover paying off mortgage.

We have done searches on;

Motley Fool,
Compare the Market,
GoCompare,
Money Supermarket, and
Moneysavingexpert

None seem to identify early on an option to get a quote including climbing.

Have gone through nail-pulling procedure with LV= with the result that by including climbing our quotes were generally doubled but the Better-Half's quote on FIB was increased by 600%.

The insurance quote now surpasses what we pay per month for food, coffees, meals out and council tax all put together.

Ageas look to be the same as LV=.

Any recommendations?
 winhill 05 Nov 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

Have you tried Saga?
 Sam_in_Leeds 05 Nov 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

I'd find a broker mate, It's far more complex than home/car insurance and I don't think I'd want to buy something so important based soley on price...

 fleapitfan 05 Nov 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

Unfortunately, the manuals used in the assessment of life / critical illness are not very helpful when it comes to climbing. It's also very hard to make accurate rating judgements as there are so few stats available.

I end up underwriting most of our climbing applications. What sort of stuff are you climbing? If it's just mid-level trad in the UK, I think you could argue for standard rates. If it's Alpine stuff or Scottish winter you'll probably get rated by any mainstream provider in the UK.

Summit Financial Services are meant to be good - Not sure what their base rates are like, however. Rather than rating people, they may just charge everyone a shed load more to begin with!

Always worth querying the rating with LV. Just try to put things in simple to understand terms, as you're often going to be dealing with someone who doesn't climb for a hobby and is likely to have a relatively poor understanding of the risk you present.

Hope that's some help.

Critical illness and IP would usually just be dealt with by excluding any claim related to climbing.


 subalpine 05 Nov 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat: don't bother mate..
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

Summit Financial Services. They saved me a ton of money on my life insurance, and I'm a lot more confident that I'm actually covered for the various outdoor activities I participate in.
In reply to fleapitfan: mid-level trad and sport. no alpine/ice
 fleapitfan 05 Nov 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

I know at least one Underwriting manual which wouldn't lead to you being charged an extra premium.

Well worth writing to them and asking that they seek a second opinion.

Or as others have said, give Summit Financial Services a try.



In reply to Sam_in_Leeds:
> (In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat)
>
> I'd find a broker mate, It's far more complex than home/car insurance and I don't think I'd want to buy something so important based soley on price...

we sourced via websites and then organised via a broker but ended up in the above situation.

Many thanks all - will check out summit
 zebidee 06 Nov 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

There was an article about this a while ago which I still haven't got round to watching:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=3890
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

We actually have a series of articles on UKC about this subject:

Jan 2010 - Life Insurance for Climbers - http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2436

Apr 2010 - Protecting your Finances as a Climber - http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2681

Oct 10 - Does climbing affect your life insurance policy? - http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=3144

Jul 2011 - Financial Protection for Climbers - http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=3890

and an OI News item here:

Oct 2011 - 6 Top Tips to Ensure you are Covered for Climbing or Hillwalking - http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=4175

Alan
Simon Reed 09 Nov 2011
In reply to Alan James - UKC:

Thanks for this Alan,

A few things to note regarding Summit Financial Services and what we offer.

We have access to the same base premium as any whole of market IFA.

We can offer Income Protection & Critical Illness Cover to include your climbing and most other sports.

We can tell you whether you will be charged extra for your climbing or not on the initial phone call or email correspondence (85% of our clients are not charged extra and are fully covered).

Even if you’re already covered we can save you money and improve your cover.

If you have any further questions please call or submit an enquiry online as we cannot discuss personal protection in a public forum.

Kind Regards
Summit Financial Services

www.summit-fs.co.uk 0844 579 1008
 Andrew Wilson 09 Nov 2011
In reply to Summit Financial Services:

I took a policy out with these guys after being quoted a quarter of what my bank wanted to charge.

 Malpractise 09 Nov 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat: I've just took a policy out with Summit after having a nightmare with other companies (I was after life/mortgauge cover). I'd had quotes from being uninsureable to £60 per month. Summit got it down to £13.99 - bargain. Highly recommended
 Gibson 16 Nov 2011
Just taken out a new policy which betters my existing cover for both life & critical illness, but now also covers me for my climbing.
Dead simple changeover, not a headache like I thought it was going to be.
Couldn't ask for better really!
In reply to Gibson: with whom? Summit?
 telemarker 16 Nov 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

Another vote for summit, great price and really good to deal with.
 Gibson 20 Nov 2011
In reply to Gibson:

Yeah Summit mate.
 JJL 20 Nov 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

Hi

FWIW I managed to persuade Standard life to unload my premium for climbing. It helps when the person on the phone has at least some idea of what you're talking about.

J
Just an update on my circumstances.

Unlike the other attempts which felt like pulling the ears off a gundark whilst balanced on the horns of a half dead tauntaun - Simon and Summit Financial Services were great. Simon came through like Han Solo saving Luke (although if Simon tries kissing MY sister then we will have words!).

I'm really pleased with the customer service and management of my requirements and all within budget to boot!

Simon and the team are very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful and I'd wholeheartedly recommend using them.

Big thumbs up!

Thanks to all that helped in the thread and apologies for the Star Wars references!
 howiebartrip 21 Nov 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

I went with Aviva - option to be covered for climbing which does increase your premium but bot dramatically unless you are planning 1st ascents or trips above 6000m.
DavidKing 12 Dec 2011
I'm looking for the same thing. What do you think about this life insurance policy?
http://www.britishinsurance.com/life/family-income-benefit.aspx
 kms 12 Dec 2011
In reply to DavidKing:

i'd second a broker. online is as less personal as a toilet attendant really wanting to know how your night is going.

a broker will find the best one and will talk to the underwriter on how serious your climbing is and work out a premium accordingly.

we pay £9.15 per month for both me and the wife with aviva on a decreasing covering the mortgage
 Becky E 12 Dec 2011
In reply to DavidKing:
> What do you think about this life insurance policy?
> http://www.britishinsurance.com/life/family-income-benefit.aspx

It rather depends on how much they're going to hammer you for being a climber. Get some quotes, talk to Summit etc, see what they say...
 Edd Reed 12 Dec 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

Take care when going with a broker. Their commission may rely on you sticking with that policy for a number of years and they make you responsible for that, we are still paying over the odds as we said we would be climbing in the US for two weeks in the year that we took the policy which got loaded for it.

So think hard if you are going to be climbing in non-European countries - also the brokers face when we told him our climbing grade was Very Severe was a picture.
 popebenedictus 13 Dec 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:

I would also recommend Summit. Having been quoted £75 a month by Norwich Union, I went to Summit FS who got me a deal for £12.99 a month. Ironically the Summit FS insurance was underwritten by Norwich Union.
 sheppy 24 Dec 2011
In reply to popebenedictus:
Got to second that, I am now saving a fortune with Summit on mortgage life protection insurance. Arranged again ironically with Aviva who were one of the most expensive when approached direct.
Simon Reed 29 Dec 2011
In reply to Edd Reed: Thanks for raising this Edd...

In our opinion, clients only cancel a policy early if they have a) found better cover, b) no longer need the cover or c) cannot afford.

None of these situations should result in the client having to repay broker's commission - which is normally reclaimable from the broker, by the insurer, if a policy is stopped in the first 2 to 4 years.

So if a broker asks you to sign a form about a "clawback period" - don't. It is not common practise and alarm bells should ring!
pete82 29 Dec 2011
In reply to grumpybearpantsclimbinggoat:
I have decreasing life insurance with Co-op Bank - I told them I'm a climber, and it didn't affect the price. So might be worth giving them a try.

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