Understanding Insurance Policy Status

Updated: 01-10-2019 12:59:09 PM

Purchasing an insurance policy, be it life insurance, health insurance or general insurance, is an important step towards having a financially sound future. However, after buying a suitable plan, you need to keep the policy in active mode and also be aware about other details to reap the benefits. Thus, you should keep a track of the policy status of your plan.

What is Policy Status?

Policy status is the current overall report of how an insurance policy is working. It tells you about the due date for premium payment. In case of a Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP), the policyholder gets to know the performance of various funds. By tracking the policy status, you also get to know the maturity date of the insurance plan and the bonus you would be earning from your plan. Policy details can be checked both online and offline.

How to Check Policy Status

Insurance companies provide different methods to check policy status because one method might not suit all the customers. Let us look at the ways to check the status of the insurance policy:

Online: Customers can make use of the online services by logging in to the website or the mobile app of the insurance company and check their policy status in their profiles. For logging in, customers require the correct combination of username or user ID and password. These details are either auto-created by the insurance provider at the time of purchase or customers may need to register first at the respective website and then go ahead with the login process.

SMS: Customers can send an SMS on the provided number to know their respective policy status. For this, they need to check with their insurance provider if the SMS facility is provided or not. If it is provided, customers need to send an SMS with the correct code. After this, they would receive a detailed information related to their policy.

Over-the-Call: Existing customers of a particular insurance provider can simply call on the numbers provided by their insurance provider and get details about the policy over phone. Either there will be a customer care executive to help the policyholder with the details or one may simply need to fill details and follow IVR instructions.

Offline: If none of the above options seems to be working, customers may simply visit the nearby branch office of their insurance provider. They must remember to carry along with the required documents like the policy document and ID proof and ask for their policy status right away.

When is Policy Status Required?

Customers may need their policy status anytime. There can be multiple occasions where one must know the current status of their policy, like:

• To check the premium due date
• To check grace period
• To check fund performance in case of ULIPs
• To check premium payment period
• To compare performance of different policies (in case one has more than one insurance policy)
• To check for bonuses accrued, if any
• If check whether the changes made, if any, are updated or not

Important Aspects

Following points must be kept in mind regarding policy status of an insurance plan:

• Policy status must be checked timely so as to avoid missing out on premium due dates
• To check it online, one must use the correct login credentials, otherwise they may get locked out of their account if failed login attempts are made over and again
• When accessing their online accounts to check the status of their policy, customers must make sure to use a safe network connection and avoid logging in using an open network

FAQs

Q1. Are there any charges levied for checking the policy status online?

No. This service is provided by the insurance companies free of charge.

Q2. For which policies can one check the policy status?

Policy status is simply the information about the policy one has bought. Therefore, it can be checked for any type of policy, be it a life insurance policy or a general insurance policy like a health plan, home plan, etc.

Q3. Can I check my policy status if I do not have an online account with the insurance company?

If you want to check the policy status online, you must have online account. Once you have logged in to this account, you can easily check the status of your policy. For other modes like SMS or call, registration is not needed.