Unum urges IFAs not to collect extra underwriting data

Unum has completed the roll-out of its fully electronic income protection (IP) application and underwriting process that means the vast majority of cases will be processed on the spot.

It expects at least 80% of applications to be decided immediately by the system, including many requiring ratings.

The provider also asked well-meaning advisers to resist the temptation to take extra or unnecessary data that was not asked for during the process as this can slow the decision time.

Linton Penman, head of retail marketing at Unum, told COVER the process was expected to significantly reduce the need for GP reports even for high value cases and meant applications could now be completed online including final signatures and direct debit details.

"It's not that unusual for life and critical illness, but it's very unusual for IP," he said.

"We're able to do it because have such big portfolio of IP business and can issue the policy about 15 minutes later.

"On paper, taking six weeks is not unusual when requesting a GP report, but the trouble is that a lot of IFAs think that's the norm, so it's part of our campaign to get more advisers recommending IP," he added.

The system has been trialled for some time to iron out creases and improve the questions asked, while also preparing for the electronic signature stage.

However, Penman revealed an unexpected reason for some delays to policies being issued.

"One reason some cases don't go through is because a lot of IFAs seem very keen to over disclose and tell us about lots of things we don't need to know," he said.

"But the software is designed to ask about only the things we need to know about.

"Asking the right questions is our responsibility so just answering the questions honestly will be good enough," he added.

Penman said he had sympathy with advisers as most didn't realise they were doing anything wrong when doing this and that they have often been told and trained to do just that.

"We have had quite a lot of situations where brokers ring up where the client had something wrong but the system has not asked about it," he continued.

"That's because it was too long ago or didn't need time off work or another question has already addressed that.

"Overall though, if we have someone with a fairly straightforward medical history the whole thing's really quick."