Friends Life was launched following the merged UK life operations of 3 companies - Friends Provident and the life assurance businesses acquired from Bupa & AXA UK. 

 In 2010 AXA agreed to sell its life assurance arm to Resolution, be held by Friends Provident & rename it Friends Life. They then also bought Bupa's Life Insurance protection operations.

Friends Provident had been trading since 1832. Axa Life Insurance was set up following the merger of Axa Equity & Law and Sun Life, and purchase of Winterthur Life. BUPA Life Insurance was part of the BUPA Insurance Group.

The new Friends Life was finally launched in 2011 - with over 5 million customers worldwide. Their UK Life & Pensions business marketed a range of products for customers and affinity clients like Tesco, John Lewis & Greenbee. In 2015 Friends Life became part of Aviva Group but the brand name was slowly dropped.

 Looking in 2021 to compare old or new Friends Life Insurance products. 

 FRIENDS LIFE INSURANCE  -  OLD PRODUCT REVIEW 2020

Old Axa Friends Life, Winterthur Friends Life, BUPA Friends Life and Friends Provident Friends Life may no longer available for new UK protection business; However, you maybe able to amend or adjust your existing insurance policy by contacting either Friends Life Aviva or Financial Adviser. 

FRIENDS LIFE MORTGAGE PROTECTION 

Designed to cover a repayment mortgage on death or terminal illness as it decreases during the plan term.

FRIENDS LIFE WHOLE OF LIFE INSURANCE COVER 

A whole of life policy that will always payout whenever death may occur. Premiums maybe reviewable.

FRIENDS LIFE INSURANCE   

Offering family protection if the policy holder dies or is diagnosed with a terminal illness during the term.

FRIENDS LIFE CRITICAL ILLNESS 

Helps ease financial worries if you or your children are diagnosed with a critical illness as specified by Friends Life Insurance.

FRIENDS LIFE INCOME PROTECTION 

Providing security by way of an income if you are off sick or have an accident or disability.

FRIENDS LIFE BUSINESS PROTECTION 

Offering company protection for a key person, loan or share protection or an employee dies, is diagnosed with a critical or terminal illness during the term.

FRIENDS LIFE ENDOWMENT POLICY 

Offering protection if the policy holder dies or is diagnosed with a critical or terminal illness during the mortgage plan term; Designed to provide a lump sum at the end to be used usually toward repayment of an endowment interest only mortgage loan.

Compare Friends Life Insurance against other Uk Insurers

FRIENDS LIFE INSURANCE - Frequently Asked Broker Questions

Can you make changes to your Friends life insurance policy ?

In terms of changing your life insurance policy, often you can request some of the following:

• reduce or perhaps extend the period of cover
• decrease or increase the amount of lifecover
• remove indexation option or any specific paid for policy features
• change the collection date of your usual premiums
• remove a life assured from a joint policy
• joint life policy separation, allowing a joint policy to be split into 2 new single policies if a couple divorce, split up or say change a joint mortgage into a sole name. 

The changes could be subject to medical underwriting based on your circumstances at the time & may well affect your premiums.

What if my health or lifestyle changes after I have taken the Friends policy out ?

Life Insurance cover is based on full disclosure at the time you took the policy out ie; being 100% as honest & accurate as possible. So any health or lifestyle changes since usually does not void your existing policy, as it wasn't relevant at that time of initial application. Please check your original T&C's 

How do I make a Death Claim ?

Check firstly if premiums are still being paid or alternatively is the policy perhaps "paid up" meaning no further premiums were needed. 

Then contact the Insurers claims line to inform them. They will provide you with their claim form for completion. You will need to send in a number of documents, most importantly being the death certificate proving the cause of death.

Insurers ( as well as other Providers ) will need the original death certificate, so ideally ask for several certified copies. Enclose your policy document, if you can find it and then send by recorded delivery or registered post to Insurers. 

Once received, the Insurers usually cross check all information before processing and settling a valid claim ie; was the medical & lifestyle information correct at the time of original application

If everything is hopefully in order, the Insurer may pay out a claim & usually in a matter of days or weeks.

Death Claims, Friends Life Insurance Trusts & Life of Another

Who the life insurance maybe actually then paid out to can be more complicated & many people wrongly assume it is a simple process.

If it is a joint life 1'st death policy or if it single life policy owned by another person " life of another"  then it will just be paid to the survivor. 

However, if it is a single life policy it can be more complex. Check if the policy was setup & written into a trust. If so the Insurer will pay the life insurance via the trustees named to the nominated beneficiaries directly. Sometimes there are a named beneficiary & others times a list of potential beneficiaries. The life insurance paid out doesn’t have to be included in the legal documents sent for probate and potentially it won’t be liable for inheritance tax either.

Should I put my Friends Life Insurance policy into Trust ?

If the life insurance wasn’t written into trust, it will be paid to the executors of the deceased’s estate. They will handle the administration, known as probate in N Ireland, England, Wales and confirmation in Scotland. If not, the benefits will fall into your estate if you died prematurely. If you have not made a will this can then cause further complications with the life insurance monies.

Until probate is fully granted, no monies can be paid out to those named in the will. On average, this can take upto 6 months. By not placing the plan into trust may also swell up the total estate values, leading to potentially Inheritance Tax IHT issues

So placing a policy in trust can help to ensure that the policy proceeds go to the correct beneficiaries you decide to nominate at that stage & help avoid possible probate delays & IHT costs. Ask the Insurers if they provide any standard trust form wordings & seek legal advice if unsure.

If I started smoking after taking out my Friends Life Insurance - Do I need to now tell them ?

If you had legitimately stopped smoking for over 12 months at that time of original application, you may wish to advise the Insurers you have started smoking again - but this should not affect the original policy terms which should still stand - you were being honest. Also maybe suggest letting your GP know if this is the case. 

Review on: Friends Life Insurance ~ for more information visit  friendslife.co.uk  aviva.co.uk *

( * Note: You are now leaving the regulated site of Uk Life Insurance Quotes. Neither ourselves, nor Sesame Ltd, is responsible for the accuracy of the information contained within the linked site.)

FOR PROTECTION PRODUCTS WE USUALLY OFFER FROM A RANGE OF PROVIDERS
For products with an investment element we will introduce you to an authorised adviser

Friends Life Insurance Company Review 2020 

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