A life insurance policy could lapse for several different reasons. The two most common reasons that an individual allows their life insurance policy to lapse are either that they forgot to renew their policy or they just don’t think that they can afford to pay the insurance premium.
Letting your life insurance policy lapse is not a good thing. You may mistakenly believe that you can just call up your life insurance company and have them reinstate your policy after it has lapsed for some time like you could a cell phone or cable or electric bill, but this is not true. If you allow the policy on your life insurance to lapse you will most likely have to re-apply for a new insurance policy. This can end up being quite expensive. For example, if you had a term life policy that was locked in a decade ago when you were healthy and young, then it is almost certain that your premium will be higher now even with the same death benefit. How much your premium cost goes up will depend on how healthy you are. If you health is not as good as it was, or you have begun smoking or if there are any other changes in your health, this will cause your life insurance premium to increase.
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Don’t forget to renew your policy. Most insurance companies make it very easy for you to renew. One way you can ensure that your policy is renewed is through implementing automatic withdrawals out of your bank account. This way you won’t ever have to worry about writing a check and mailing in a payment. Your premium will automatically be deducted from your savings or checking account when the premium payment is due.
The second major reason that people let their life insurance policies lapse is because they think they cannot afford to pay the premiums. This is not a good excuse because you can not afford to not have life insurance. When you die there will be expenses and it is your responsibility to cover your expenses. There are things that can be done to make your policy more affordable. One of the most common ways of doing this is to adjust the payment frequency. Ask about annual, semi-annual and quarterly payments. Most insurance companies will give you discounts on these payment terms. You can also find out about having the death benefit lowered. The most important thing you need to do is ask your insurance companies what your available options are before your life insurance policy lapses.
