TAL Life Insurance

TAL Life Insurance is one of Australia’s leading life insurance brands with over 150 years of experience in the insurance industry. They offer a wide range of products, including Life Insurance, TPD (total and permanent disability), Critical illness, and Income protection. The products they offer can be tailored to meet many different requirements and budgets you may have.

Published May 12, 2020

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Is TAL the right life insurance company for you?

Tal is a reputable company with a long history of providing excellent service. They started operating in Australia in 1990 and have since built up a reputation for paying out their customers in a fairly reasonable timeframe.

There are several factors to take into account before considering if they are the right company for you. You may want to compare TAL’s products and prices with other insurance brands to see if they best meet your requirements and budget.

About TAL

The company was founded in 1869 by the New Zealand Government and was known as the Government Life Insurance Office. They rebranded to Tower when they entered the Australian market in 1990 and have since continued to grow.

Over the years they acquired multiple companies including Adriatic Life Insurance, FAI Life in 1993 and PrefSure Life Limited, before becoming a subsidiary of the Dai-ichi Life Group in 2011. The Dai-ichi Life Group was founded in 1902 and is one of the largest Japanese life insurance companies. In 2019 they acquired Suncorp’s Australian life insurance business.

TAL Life Limited specialises in life insurance and services almost four million Australians.

Financial ratings

A company’s financial ratings are generally a great way to ascertain their stability. A stable company will have the financial ability to meet its clients’ requirements and honour their claims both now and in the future.

TAL is a financially stable company with the largest market share of any Australian life insurance company at 17.8%. According to the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), as of November 2019, TAL has the highest claims acceptance rate in Australia at 97.9%. They also had the lowest average time to decide on a claim status at one month.

TAL is bound by the Financial Services Council’s Code of Practice, which ensures high standards of service and promotes consistency and has a reinsurance treaty with Gen RE.

TAL Accelerated Protection policy options

TAL helps its customers safeguard themselves against risk through their Accelerated Protection policies. Accelerated Protection is a range of life insurance products available through a financial adviser including Life Insurance, TPD, Income Protection, Business Expenses and Critical Illness insurance. The policies can be customised to accommodate your specific budget, requirements and circumstances with optional benefits available at an additional cost.

They cater to a wide demographic of people with the entry age generally starting at 16 years old and ending at between 60 and 75 years old and the expiry dates ranging from between 60 and 100 years old, depending on the policy chosen.

Life Insurance

Life Insurance pays a lump sum payment to your beneficiary(s) in the event of a diagnosis of a terminal illness or death. The money may be used for a variety of things like supporting your family’s current lifestyle, meeting financial obligations like mortgage repayments and medical costs, or settling outstanding debts.

Entry Age: 16-60 (if level premiums are chosen), 16-75 years old (if a stepped premium is chosen)

Expiry Age: 75-100 years old depending on your chosen policy structure
Maximum Cover: Any financially justifiable amount

TPD Insurance

TPD (Total and Permanent Disability) cover typically makes a once-off payment to you if you suffer a total and permanent disability. This could be the result of an illness or severe injury that could prevent you from working in either your own or another occupation. The payout can be used to help you adjust to new lifestyle changes, pay medical bills or support your family. You can review the Tal life insurance PDS for more details.

Entry Age: 16-60 (if a level premium is chosen), 16-62 years old (if a stepped premium is chosen)
Expiry Age: -up to 65 years old
Maximum Cover: Up to $3 million

Trauma Insurance

Trauma insurance typically offers a lump sum payment if you suffer from a critical health condition. To meet the criteria, you generally have to have had a specified critical event, such as a stroke or heart attack, that’s as outlined in the TAL PDS document. The payment can be used to pay for many things, including medical expenses or settling outstanding debts.

Entry Age: 16- 60 (level premium), 16-62 years old (stepped premium)
Expiry Age: 70 years old
Maximum Cover: Up to $2 million if purchased as a stand-alone policy. When purchased along with a life insurance policy, the critical illness benefit amount chosen must be equal to, or less than the benefit chosen for life insurance.

Income Protection

Income Protection insurance pays out a monthly benefit if you are unable to work due to an injury or illness for longer than your specified waiting period.

Entry Age: 19-60 years old
Expiry Age: Up to age 70 (depending on chosen benefit period)
Maximum Cover: Up to $30,000 per month

Business Expenses

You can only purchase business expenses cover in conjunction with one of TAL’s income protection packages. Business expenses insurance generally pays out a monthly benefit to reimburse the operating loss as a result of the insured person getting sick or injured. You typically have to serve a waiting period of 14, 30, 60, or 90 days that you would have selected during your application before you can start accruing benefits.

Entry Age: 19-60 years old
Expiry Age: 65 years old
Maximum Cover: Up to $30,000 a month

Does the company provide value for money insurance?

Whether TAL delivers good value for money depends on several factors, including your requirements and budget. They are one of Australia’s leading life insurance brands offering competitively priced products that may suit your particular circumstance. You may want to compare their policies with other major life insurance brands to see which one can provide the best cover to meet your requirements.

We make it easy for you to compare policies online with our powerful comparison engine.

Buy with confidence today for peace of mind tomorrow.

TAL Life Insurance – Pros

  • Cooling off Period: There is a 30-day cooling-off period in which you can cancel your policy and receive a full refund if it does not meet your requirements. No refund will be paid if you make a claim within this timeframe.
  • 24/7 protection: You are covered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
  • Worldwide cover: The policy is valid no matter where you are in the world.
  • Guaranteed renewal cover: As long as your premiums are paid, and you’ve complied with your duty of disclosure, your policy will be valid until the plan end date.
  • Guarantee of upgrade: If there are future improvements to the benefits under your policy, they will be passed on to you as long as there’s no increase in the premium rates.
  • Optional Benefits: There are a variety of optional benefits such as the Critical Illness Reinstatement Option, Double TPD and the Premium Relief Option, available with certain packages that can further assist you in customising your policy to your specific requirements.

TAL Life Insurance – Cons

You may want to do some research and check if there are any exclusions before applying for a life insurance policy with TAL. A typical exclusion generally added to most insurance policies is a suicide exclusion for the first 13 months after taking out the policy.

Compare TAL Insurance Australia to other major life insurance brands.

TAL Insurance generally offers similar products that are competitive with other major insurance brands. It’s difficult to determine whether they are better than rival companies because it as this will generally depend on your personal situation and requirements.

You may want to compare the policies and benefits offered by TAL with other companies to see which ones best suit your particular circumstance and requirements.

What are some of the features offered by Tal policies?

  • Terminal illness benefit: The policy will generally pay your benefit amount if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness.
  • Interim accidental death cover: The policy will make a payout in the event that death occurs as the result of an accident. This cover generally applies for up to 90 days while awaiting approval for your application.
  • Guaranteed future insurability: This generally allows for an increase in cover without having your circumstances re-assessed if life events such as marriage or the birth of a child were to occur.
  • Premium freeze: This typically involves the premiums staying the same, and the benefits amount being reduced at each policy anniversary to maintain affordability. Premium freeze is generally only available if the chosen premium type is stepped.
  • Funeral Advancement: Apon receiving a valid death certificate, TAL will pay an advance of 10% of your sum insured up to the value of $25,000 to cover your immediate funeral expenses and related costs.
  • Financial planning benefit: You can typically get compensation of up to $5000 for professional financial planning advice upon receiving a full claim. However, you must present the plan arranged by your financial adviser within the first 12 months from the date the claim was finalised.
  • Complimentary Child Cover – TAL will pay up to $10 000 for each child (between the ages of two and nineteen if they were to suffer as a result of one of the illnesses listed in the TAL PDS, e.g. cancer, deafness, multiple sclerosis etc.

How to apply for a TAL life insurance policy

You can apply for a TAL Life insurance policy using our comparison site.

Before applying, you will typically need to meet the eligibility criteria, including age, health, and occupational parameters.

You can then decide what type of cover suits your requirement and budget, and if you need any optional benefits. You can then apply by filling in an Application form. Additionally, you will have to fill out the Life Insured’s Statement which includes lifestyle and questions about your medical history

After applying, TAL will assess your statement and may ask for blood tests or other reports from your doctor. Depending on the outcome, they can generally approve the application or issue revised terms such as an increase in premiums or impose certain conditions on your policy.

The policy is then issued together with a policy schedule. The schedule contains all the details of the policy, including exclusions and any special conditions. It also details like the cover commencement, expiry age, and benefit amount.

How to lodge a TAL Claim

  • The first step is for you or your nominated beneficiary to contact TAL or your financial adviser to inform them about intent to make a claim. You will then be guided through the claims process.
  • The claims team will then provide you with a claims form and will advise you on what documents are required.
  • You can then submit your claim through the post, or by email with any additional documents requested by the insurer.
  • Upon receipt of all documents, the claims officer will then start to assess your claim. They may request a medical examination to confirm the diagnosis of a medical condition.

The overall customer experience

Finding out about customer service is generally a way to judge whether an insurance company will be able to service your requirements. According to the Roy Morgan Single Source (July 2018 to July 2019), TAL had a customer satisfaction rating of 64.4 %. In 2018 TAL paid out over $1.62 billion for over 26,000 claims. You may also want to check independent customer reviews to find out more about the experience.

Frequently asked questions and answers

  • Who are the owners of TAL life insurance company?

    The Japan-based Dai-ichi group owns TAL life insurance. They were founded in 1902 and are one of the world’s largest life insurance groups with offices based in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

  • Does Tal Accelerated Protection provide good value for money?

    Whilst this product provides many comprehensive benefits and policy options; it is important that you compare it to other products available on the market to see if it best meets your budget and requirements.

  • How long does it take to apply for a life policy with TAL?

    There generally isn’t a specific time frame before an application gets approved as this will usually vary from application to application. If you fit into the automatic acceptance order, your policy can be issued within 1-7 days. In some cases, the insurer may request further information from you or may ask for a doctors report or medical examination.

  • How do I pay for my TAL life insurance policy?

    You can personally pay for your policy through direct debit or credit card. Certain eligible policies can be paid for by your superannuation fund.

  • How long does it take to for TAL to pay out for a life insurance policy

    According to the Financial Services Council Life Insurance Code of Practice, there are set timeframes in which claims must be processed. TAL insurance typically takes around one month to process claims.

  • What does TAL insurance stand for?

    TAL was previously the ASX ticker code for Tower Australia Group. As part of the demerger from Tower New Zealand, Tower Australia had to rebrand after a certain number of years. It was decided by the management at the time to go with their existing ticker code of the ASX at the time, and as such was rebranded as TAL.

  • Does Tal have any Health rewards programs included with its cover?

    Yes, Tal has a product called Health Sense that generally rewards good health with discounts on premiums. You can generally get up to a 15% discount off certain policies if your BMI is between 19.0 and 28.0.

  • Do you need a medical check-up to apply for TAL life insurance?

    To apply for TAL life insurance, in keeping with your duty of disclosure, you will need to disclose your full medical history. You may be required during the application process to get a medical check-up at TAL’s expense if requested by the underwriter in order to qualify.

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