Who is Absa Life?
Absa life is the life insurance division of Absa Bank, which in turn is a subsidiary of Barclays Africa Group. Absa Bank has been trading since 1991, and Absa Life offers both long and short term life insurance solutions as well as possession insurance for your valuables, credit insurance, travel and health care insurance, and home loan insurance. According to their website, Absa operates fairly, ethically and openly and puts their customers at the centre of everything they do. The underwriters of Absa life insurance (the company that backs them) are Absa Bank itself.
Where is Absa Insurance Located?
Absa Insurance is located at the same headquarters as Absa Bank, on the 7th floor of Barclays Towers West, 15 Troye Street, Johannesburg, 2001. Their postal address is PO Box 7735, Johannesburg, 2000.
What Services Does Absa Life Offer?
Absa Life focuses mainly on life insurance although they also offer health care, travel, home loan, credit and possession insurance. In this article we will focus on Absa’s life insurance plan – “Absa Life Cover”.
Absa Life Insurance Policy Options
Absa offers a wide variety of life insurance policies. There are seven main policies available from the company, which are listed in detail below.
Absa Life @ Ease
Absa “Life @ Ease” is a flexible life insurance policy that allows you to choose different coverage options to suit your unique situation. Cost, monthly premiums and pay outs will depend on which options you choose to include in your policy. The available options are:
- A lump sum paid to your family/beneficiaries in the event of your death;
- Payment paid out to your family/beneficiaries in the event of death by accident;
- Functional impairment benefits, paid out in case of an accident that leaves you unable to perform functions and activities necessary for your daily life;
- Physical impairment benefits, paid out in case of an accident that leaves you physically injured, can be used to pay for home modifications such as wheelchair ramps, for example;
- Critical illness benefits, paid out in a lump sum upon diagnosis of a serious illness, can be used to cover additional medical expenses after traditional health insurance has been used up;
- Own occupation disability benefits, paid out if you fall ill or have an accident and cannot work in your chosen occupation;
- Own occupation or similar occupation disability benefits, paid out if you fall ill or have an accident and cannot work in your chosen occupation or any similar occupation;
- “Catch All” disability benefits, paid out to protect you against inability or partial inability to perform your normal daily activities;
- Final expenses benefits, similar to funeral insurance, this will be a lump sum paid out within forty eight hours of your death that family members can use to pay funeral expenses;
- Income protection benefits, which will give you a regular income (temporarily or permanently depending on which level of coverage you choose) if you are unable to work;
- Business overheads expenses, paid out to cover overhead expenses of a self-run business (building rent, electricity etc.) should you be ill or injured and unable to pay these expenses yourself.
Absa Xtreme
Absa Xtreme is an accidental death and injury insurance policy that includes coverage for people who participate in extreme sports. The important conditions of this policy are:
- You must be a South African citizen between the ages of 18 and 45;
- The policy insures against accidental death and injury, including coverage for extreme sports including bungee jumping, scuba diving and mountain biking;
- Coverage is in bands of R100 000, up to a maximum of R1 000 000, your premium will depend on how much coverage you choose;
- In case of accidental death the amount of money you choose will be paid to your chosen beneficiary;
- In case of serious injury a percentage of the amount of coverage you choose will be paid out, i.e. a certain percent for loss of a limb, the percentage depending on your contract.
Absa Plus
Absa Plus is a comprehensive insurance policy that combines life, home and property insurance into one package. Again, premiums will depend on which options you decide to add to your policy, and the specifics are as follows:
- A premium that is calculated by each individual risk factor, meaning, for example, that if you are over 50 but otherwise in good health your age will not affect your premium costs as much as with other plans;
- Personal accident coverage up to a limit of R3 000 000 in the case of accidental death or disability;
- All assault coverage, covering you in case of attack, coverage depending on how much you choose;
- If an accident means that you cannot pay your premium, Absa will waive your premium while still giving you coverage.
In addition to life and accident coverage, an Absa Plus plan will also provide you with various levels of house insurance, property insurance, vehicle insurance, data insurance for your PC and insurance covering towing, accident assistance, locksmiths and other helpful services.
“Absalutely” Women
“Absalutely” Women is an insurance policy designed especially for the needs of female customers. It offers all the same conditions as the above listed Absa Plus policy, but in addition will give these benefits:
- Coverage in the case of diagnosis with a female specific cancer such as breast cancer;
- Coverage of plastic surgery and reconstructive surgery costs if an accident leaves you with disfigurement;
- A onetime only lump sum payment when you confirm pregnancy to cover the charges associated with having a baby;
- Coverage of child care costs in case an accident or illness leaves you unable to take care of your children;
- Coverage for rehabilitation and modifications made to your house such as wheelchair ramps in case an accident leaves you disabled;
- Payment made to your family in case of your death;
- The policy also has an option to include an Event Manager plan which will arrange hospital admission and hospital transport for you, as well as coverage of up to R40,000 if you need to be admitted to hospital.
Platinum Insure
Platinum Insure is the same as the Absa Plus plan but is designed for wealthier customers. On their web site Absa recommends Platinum Insure for customers who earn between R300,000 and R750,000 a month.
Accidental Death and Permanent Disability Insurance
Absa's accidental death and permanent disability insurance has four levels of coverage, with each providing a different payout in the case of death or disability caused by an accident. Your monthly premium and level of coverage will depend on which of the four options you choose. Important information about this plan is:
- Coverage is up to R200,000, with an additional R5,000 paid out in case of accidental death;
- Available to customers aged between 18 and 69, however coverage will continue until the age of 80;
- No medical exam or health questions necessary;
- Worldwide coverage, no matter where you are;
- You can name up to three beneficiaries;
- Discounted rates if both spouses sign up for the policy.
Lifelong Provider
Lifelong Provider is a simple life insurance policy that can be used as a sole life insurance plan, or can be used to give you additional coverage alongside another life insurance policy. Important considerations are as follows:
- Available to customers between the ages of 24 and 49;
- Coverage ranges from R50,000 to R200,000 in increments of R10,000;
- Payout in a lump sum in the event of accidental or natural death;
- Absa's website cites “affordable premiums” as a benefit of this plan.
How are the Customer Reviews for Absa Life?
The review site “Hellopeter” shows nearly 7000 reviews for Absa in the last year – of these 6011 were negative and only 778 were positive. Nearly all of the negative reviews refer to 'poor customer service' or having to wait long periods for problems to be resolved. That said, it is important to note that most of the negative reviews refer to Absa's banking services rather than to their insurance services and that only a handful of negative reviews talk specifically about Absa's insurance services – and in each case a response was given by a representative from Absa's insurance department providing the reviewer with advice on how to get the assistance they need. Based on the above, it is hard to reach any objective conclusion. Based on the feww reports about the Absa's insurance services, and based on the informative responses by the Absa representatives, we would conclude, carefully, that Absa's services – so far as they are in regards to life insurance – seem of a higher level than some of the other services offered by them. Again, this cannot be said for a fact, due to the lack of data.
How User Friendly is the Absa Life Website?
The Absa Life Insurance website is a fairly good website. The website is easy to navigate due to its clear color scheme, button layout and additional options such as the option to enlarge the text size for the elderly users or people with seeing difficulties. The website also provides a fair amount of information about Absa’s various insurance policies without getting too technical with boring insurance terms. Nevertheless, a bit more information on each of the various policies and a link to the actual terms and conditions of the policy would definitely be helpful, especially for potential customers who like to further look in to these aspects. On the downside, and although the overall layout is good, the website lists all the various insurance policies on one page and in order to see the details of each policy, you have to either open a new tab or move to the next page. It would have been much more convenient if all the information was on one central page thus allowing the potential customer to compare between the policies. Alternatively, the Absa website could provide a table comparing the various policies or a drop down menu through which one could add their details (such as age, health and so on) and the website would then show the most suitable policies based on the answers selected by the user.
Our Conclusions
Absa Life offers a wide range of different life insurance options, making it easier to get a policy that suits your needs. The information about these policies is presented on their website although not all the information is available and you might not find it very convenient if you with to compare between the various policies – so have a pen and paper nearby. Also, it seems that the Absa life insurance policies have a certain “flexibility” to them. As for Absa's level of customer service, Absa received an overal negative review rating on Hellopeter – but again, these reviews refer to all of Absa's services (including the banking services) so it is hard to reach any conclusions. As always, we suggest reading about a few life insurance companies before deciding and to compare insurance quotes before making your final decision. You can get up to 2 Free life insurance quotes by completing the form on the top right.
* Disclaimer: We do not represent any of the companies, products and/or services reviewed, published or advertised on this website. Nor are we financial, health or insurance professionals or services provider. If you request a quote or purchase a product/service, it will not necessarily be given by the company reviewed on any specific page. Any decisions you make based on the information presented is at your own discretion and we advise that before doing so, you consult with the relevant professional.
Article subject: Absa Life
Interesting article. I never knew that Absa was part of the Barclys Group along with many other new useful facts I learnt. Thanks