Funeral Insurance Information Sheet

Your funeral gives your family a chance to say goodbye. Funeral Insurance provides peace of mind, to know that your family has one less thing to worry about if you were to pass away.  Funeral Insurance will be paid to your nominated beneficiary or estate to help cover the cost of your funeral.

There are different options available to pay for a funeral in Australia.  We recognise that there are both advantages and disadvantages to funeral insurance compared to other non-insurance options, and each option may be appropriate for different people in different circumstances.  We think it’s important that people get their own information and decide which option is right for them.

Many Australians just don’t have the money immediately available to pay for the cost of a loved one’s funeral and other related expenses. Taking out Funeral Insurance with Insuranceline is a way of helping to make sure your family won’t be left looking for funds at a tough time. Insuranceline provides the money fast, usually within 24 hours of receiving a valid and completed claim.

Insuranceline has a funeral insurance product that is simple and easy to understand.

Key features

The Insuranceline Value Promise means that at the time of a claim for the Funeral Insurance Benefit, we'll pay the Funeral Insurance Cover Amount, plus any Bonus Cover, or 100% of the premiums paid toward your Funeral Insurance cover - whichever is greater.

If you are looking for a lower cost option, you may choose 70% Value Promise so that at the time of a claim for the Funeral Insurance Benefit, we'll pay the greater of the Funeral Insurance Cover Amount, plus any Bonus Cover, or 70% of the premiums paid toward your Funeral Insurance cover.⁺

• Insuranceline Bonus Cover gives you 10% more Funeral Insurance Cover at no extra cost after 5 years¹.
• The cost of cover does not increase each year with age.  With Insuranceline, as long as you don’t make any changes to your cover, your premium won’t go up every year just because you get older².
• The Early Payout Option gives you a choice after reaching age 85 of keeping your cover going and continuing to pay premiums for it, or of cashing it in early to receive an immediate payout of 120% of your average Funeral Insurance Cover Amount³.
• An unexpected, accidental death can place extra financial strain on a family.  Accidental Death Cover can be added to your Funeral Insurance benefit and is designed to provide extra financial support. 

Fast facts on our Funeral Insurance

• As at 30th June 2019, 295,588 lives are insured on our funeral insurance policies.
• $69,630,661 in funeral insurance claims were paid between 1 April 2018 and 30 June 2019.
• Based on a 5 year period of claims received (1/7/2014-30/6/2019), 30% of Funeral Insurance claims were paid within 5 years of the policy being taken out, paying an average of over $9,142.21 per claim.
• More than 70% of customers whose claims were paid between 1st April 2018 and 30th June 2019 claimed before they had paid in the equivalent cost of a funeral.
• Based on the claims paid between 1st April 2018 and 30th June 2019, even after 10 years, the average claim payout was 50% more than the cost of the premiums paid over that time.
• You have the benefit of a 30 Day money back guarantee which means you can take out cover and if you change your mind or cancel the policy within 30 days, we’ll provide you a full refund.

Common Questions

1.  What’s the difference between funeral insurance and funeral bonds/ pre-paid funerals?

Funeral savings plans, funeral bonds and pre-paid funerals are options for people able to afford the up-front payment – which can be as much as one-third of the value of the funeral being purchased.  The balance is then payable in instalments over a limited period of time.  If a customer dies before the full amount has been paid or invested, the family may only get back what has been paid in.

Funeral insurance spreads the cost of the cover over many years and means it’s not necessary for people to pay a large up-front investment to establish the policy.

With a funeral insurance policy, provided the premiums continue to be paid on time, payment of the full cover amount is guaranteed for Accidental Death in the first 12 months of cover, and for other causes of death after that time – no matter how much (or how little) a customer has paid in premiums. Exclusions may apply.

2.  Can customers end up paying more in premiums than the benefit amount they get when they claim?

The Insuranceline Value Promise means that at the time of a claim for the Funeral Insurance Benefit, we'll pay the Funeral Insurance Cover Amount, plus any bonus cover, or 100% of the premiums paid toward your Funeral Insurance cover - whichever is greater.

If you are looking for a lower cost option, you may choose a 70% Value Promise so that at the time of a claim for the Funeral Insurance Benefit, we'll pay the greater of the Funeral Insurance Cover Amount, plus any Bonus Cover, or 70% of the premiums paid toward your Funeral Insurance cover.⁺

3.  Why do premiums increase as a customer gets older? What are stepped premiums?

Insuranceline Funeral Insurance only offers level premiums. This means that the premium you pay when you first take out the policy is based on your age at the time you started the cover, and isn't recalculated every year to take account of your increasing age.²

Previously, as was the industry norm, premiums took into account the likelihood of a claim being made by age, so, as a customer got older, the cost of cover would start lower but increase (this is known as stepped premiums).