Income protection- friends first?

Currently I just have mortgage protection life assurance and private health cover, but am thinking of taking out income protection. It seems to be better than serious illness cover as this seems a bit restrictive as to which illnesses are covered. With Friends First payments only start after one has been off work for 13 weeks, does anyone know if any company has a shorter time period as this seems long. Also does anyone have experience with friends first or other companies such as canada life? Any advice on taking out income protection would be greatly appreciated

Hi Carrie, most income protection plans have a 13 or 26 week period plan. If you go for 13 weeks the cost will be more. If you are working it is worth checking with your employer whether they have any income protection built in your benefits. Major companies will pay you for 26 weeks if you are sick and there are different options after that. It is left to the discretion of the company.
My experience with FF was bad. They declined me and I was able to get mine with Irish Life at normal rates with no hassle. Shop around & currently Friends First, Canada Life & Irish Life offer income protection. Canada life do consider high risk categories also eg. construction industry.

Friends First are the only company offering Income Protection with premiums that are guaranteed not to increase in the future.

Irish Life tend to be cheaper but they reserve the right to review premiums in the future (including existing policies) if their claims experience is worse than anticipated. Having said that, they haven't increased since they launched in 1994.

Both the above companies define disability as an inability to carry out your own job for longer than the waiting period (minimum 13 weeks).

Friends First don't need to be informed if you change job in the future; Irish Life do (and they might withdraw cover if they don't cover your new occupation.)

Canada Life's defininition of disability is far more restrictive than the other two - you have to fail a number of their "activities of daily living" tests - getting off a chair unassisted, walking up a flight of stairs etc. You'd need to be fairly severely disabled to get a claim from Canada Life.

Liam D. Ferguson
www.ferga.com

I had a PHI policy with Friends First and all they gave me was stress! They did everything they could to avoid paying me and I would wholeheartedly recommend that you avoid them at all costs. I know some people with income protection with Irish Life and they have had better experiences.

HTH

HAPPYGIRL said:

I had a PHI policy with Friends First and all they gave me was stress! They did everything they could to avoid paying me and I would wholeheartedly recommend that you avoid them at all costs. I know some people with income protection with Irish Life and they have had better experiences.

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While I sympathise with the fact that you obviously had a bad experience with Friends First, I think it's a bit unfair that you should write off a whole company without at least clarifying why they were unwilling to pay your claim. Friends First accept far more claims on Income Protection than they reject and they will never reject a claim without reason.

Most recent figures available to me is from December 2006, but at that date they were paying out over €13 million per year in Income Protection claims, 41% of which had been paid for over 5 years.

LDFerguson said:

While I sympathise with the fact that you obviously had a bad experience with Friends First, I think it's a bit unfair that you should write off a whole company without at least clarifying why they were unwilling to pay your claim. Friends First accept far more claims on Income Protection than they reject and they will never reject a claim without reason.

Most recent figures available to me is from December 2006, but at that date they were paying out over €13 million per year in Income Protection claims, 41% of which had been paid for over 5 years.

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That's fair enough Liam but if you had been through what I went through with them you would feel exactly the same way! Just the mention of their name makes my blood boil!

I had a PHI policy with them, like I said, and they paid me for approximately 3 months, then they decided I was well enough to go back to work even though my own GP and specialists deemed me unfit for work as my condition had actually worsened at that stage. I appealed with them on numerous occasions and they always rejected my claim even though I had pages and pages of test results and numerous reports from specialists - all of which stated that I was wholly unfit for work. My doctors were exasperated at their attitude.

FF sent me to an "independent" consultant who said that I viewed my illness as a passport to an easy life and that this patient is relaxed in spite of horrendous disabilities to the extent I would regard it as a case of "la belle indifference" and so on. There was no basis or evidence of his claims and yet FF rejected my claim on his report which he wrote having seen me for 15 minutes!! Karma will come back and bite him on the ass I'm sure!

FF made my life hell and that is why I wholeheartedly recommend that they are to be avoided.

Fair enough. I hope your health has improved. I'm just surprised as I worked for Friends First back in prehistoric times and have recommended their Income Protection products to many clients since going into brokering and I've only ever had one complaint over a claim, where the claimant was clearly in the wrong but Friends First eventually agreed to pay the claim as a good-will gesture anyway. Long story.

Did you complain to Friends First and/or the Financial Services Ombudsman?

I did take my claim to the Ombudsman but he decided against me. Kelly's report was so damning I didnt stand a chance!

It was hard to let it go - the reason I didnt proceed to the courts was primarily because, financially, I couldnt afford it - even though my doctors wanted me to proceed as they felt their evidence would withstand any arguments.

I was initially mis-diagnosed - maybe if the later diagnosis had been found earlier things would have been different however FF werent interested.

Even if I was offered the policy as part of a work contract again I would refuse it - thats how strongly I feel! My health really suffered even further as a result of the stress which the appeals brought me.

Would also like to sympathise happygirl.I'm a broker and have recommended FF for income protection a lot over the years so i'm v interested when they don't get things right. I've always found them fair when it comes to claims (they're currently paying out to a friend of mine who would be destitute without them as she was self employed) but I suppose thats not much of a consolation to you. I suppose there's no perfect policy on the market but in answer to Carrie b's post, if available to her, PHI cover is usually streets ahead of serious illness cover - but obviosuly each person/case is different.

Friends First income continuity program

HAPPYGIRL said:

I had a PHI policy with Friends First and all they gave me was stress! They did everything they could to avoid paying me and I would wholeheartedly recommend that you avoid them at all costs. I know some people with income protection with Irish Life and they have had better experiences.

HTH

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Hi Happy Girl,

I have had a similar eperience with Friends First. They refuse to answer questions, lie and refuse to comment. I have information from their file from data protection act. Perhaps we can do a joint complaint.

How does one contact other members?