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Holiday seasons are great for relaxing, but they come with financial pressure. It’s critically important to plan ahead and budget for all your essential expenses, including your insurance premiums, so that your debit orders don’t bounce. If you miss a premium payment and don’t catch up, you and your family might lose your cover.
What happens if you miss a payment?
1Life Insurance will advise you via SMS when a debit order has been returned by your bank. There is a grace period of 31 days if you miss a payment, so you have 31 days from when the premium was due to make up the missed payment. If you don’t catch up and pay your premium, you and your family might lose their cover and claims might not be paid.
If you've got a question our client services consultants are here to help. Leave your details and we will call you back.
Making up missed payments
To keep your cover you need to make up a missed payment in the 31 day grace period. 1Life Insurance offers a number of alternate channels to make up missed payments, which are detailed in the SMS we send when a debit order is rejected. You can also request that a debit order be resubmitted via SMS or contact us to make payment arrangements.
If you don’t contact us or make payment through an alternative channel, we will resubmit the debit order 15 to 30 days after your debit order was due.
Alternative payment channels
Alternative payment channels include the online policyholder portal, select retailers and certain apps.
Online
Login to our online policyholder portal and:
- Update your bank details if these have changed
- Change your debit order online, including your debit order date
- Request a special deduction to make up the missed payment
Retailers
You can visit these stores in person to make a payment:
- PEP, Ackermans, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Builders Warehouse, Makro, Bradlows, Shoprite and Spar
Important: You must use the reference number given in the SMS, email or letter you received from 1Life Insurance in order to make payment at retailers.
Apps
Make use of apps like SnapScan and Zapper or your Shoprite app. You can also pay using your ABSA, Capitec, Nedbank, RMB or FNB banking app using your unique easy pay reference
Contact us
You can also contact one of our skilled 1Life consultants to:
- Request a debit order be resubmitted
- Make a payment arrangement
- Find a way to make your premium more affordable, such as reducing your cover
Top tip: Missing an insurance premium payment won’t affect your credit score, but a bounced debit order can! Your bank may notify credit bureaus that a debit order has bounced, which could affect your credit score and reflect on your credit record.
How to reinstate a policy
If a missed premium is not paid your policy will be lapsed and you and your family cannot claim. This doesn’t have to mean the end of your policy as there are cases where recently lapsed policies can be reinstated, ensuring you and your family have cover. We assess each reinstatement request individually, so you will need to speak to a consultant to find out if your policy can be reinstated and if there are any requirements. We usually follow the below guidelines when reinstating policies:
- Some or all of the premiums may have to be paid and/or the cover may change. We will discuss these details when you contact us with a reinstatement request.
- New waiting periods may apply. Funeral policies have a six-month waiting period for death from natural causes. A reinstated funeral policy may have this waiting period, or a shorter waiting period, applied effective from the date of reinstatement. Life cover policies have a two-year suicide exclusion clause that will apply from the date of reinstatement.
- You may be asked medical underwriting questions and an HIV test may be required.
- Claims between the lapse date and reinstatement effective date may not be paid.
Our reinstatement team will assist you with any questions or concerns you might have. You should always speak to our team about reinstating your policy as it is, in most cases, cheaper, easier and faster to reinstate a policy than it is to take out a new one. You can contact our reinstatement team on 011 468 9485 or if you are a life cover policyholder you can use the 1Life WhatsApp service centre to request your life policy be reinstated. Remember that if you reinstate your policy you will have to authorise your debit order using DebiCheck.
Keep us and your policy updated!
It is always better to make a plan to keep your policy up to date. Let us know as soon as possible if you are struggling to pay premiums or if you miss a payment. We will try to assist you and find ways to make your premium more affordable and how to make up a missed payment!
