What Is It with Life Insurance Here?

[EmptyHead]

Sorry, if i am ranting, but what is it with Thais and life insurance???

Or maybe its just my GF.

All i hear is her talking about her parents' life insurance. Her other siblings have many life insurance policies on her parents and she wants one or more...i dunno..i try not to listen to her when she's talking about it.

Her parents seem to want it too cos it also acts as health insurance?

7k per year, 12k per year...etc etc...but if they die we get 700k etc etc

It is driving me mental. She told me a brilliant one where the amount we have to pay depends on how many people have died that year in Thailand.

I said, "What if there's a bloody tsunami?"

Anyway, i am not just ranting, i would like to know what more experienced members think of all this?

The woman down the road got 3 million when her husband died (under mysterious circumstances at age 52) with all the policies she had on him.

I mean, according to her, its no scam, people actually get money back, but do they really make much profit on what they paid in?

What's it all about? I am i wasting money if i say yes just to keep my GF happy?

Apologies for the rant - its not my usual style.

[Rooo]

Wrong Forum, moved to Insurance Forum.

[EmptyHead]

Thank you Rooo.

[losworld]

Hmmm... are you moving to a condo with a balcony on a high floor in the immediate future? Perhaps you are already on one?

[NickJ]

Buy it and die.

[EmptyHead]

The insurance is for her parents.

Please read...you know that thing you do with your eyes.

[sdanielmcev]

Yes. My gf, and her family also do not understand insurance. For that matter I don't either. Pay someone many dollars over the years, so maybe one day you might need it. But if you never need it you don't get the money back. If you do file a claim they can cancel your insurance. Biggest scam ever invented. Except for, maybe religion.

[WhamBam]

Last time I helped out with insurance was when the g/f at that time paid monthly to someone from a nearby town. Not an insurance company, more like a co-operative. All the family paid in what they could when they could.

The funeral for her father was paid for lock stock and barrel, but no money to the family. Surely it depends on the type of insurance policies. some cover the cost of a funeral, others will pay out a lump sum on death.

Maybe you need to check exactly what type of policy it is. Doubtless it will be in Thai and maybe you - like me - would not be able to read it. That would make it more difficult to ascertain what type of policy(ies) they are taking out.

[Torrens54]

The insurance is for her parents.

Please read...you know that thing you do with your eyes.

In all fairness to the Op, I rather suspect he will very soon, have the "hard word" put on him to pay for Life Insurance on himself, with you know who being nominated as the one who collects LOTS'A LOOT if he croaks.

They poor guy is just asking for our wise counsel on the matter, not to be lambasted about using his eyes. How about you using a modicum of human kindness towards a fellow ferang who may not be quite as worldly as you?

[srchino]

There is some strange thing about life insurance in Thailand. Even banks bundle it with account features that seem totally unrelated, like sms notifications and such.

[pookiki]

The cost of life insurance in Thailand, even when bundled with AD&D provisions, seems extremely high to me. I imagine that this is attributable to such policies being issued in an unregulated environment. I would never buy insurance here.

[samsensam]

i've tried to have financial, investment, insurance discussions with thais in the past. even educated thais can be very naive about such matters and are happy to take financial advice from banks or other providers rather than financial advisers. agree about the lack or regulation here, transparency is an issue too. i'd stay well clear.

[xen]

My step son when he was going to school near Chaing Rai had to pay for life insurance but we were never the named beneficiary - i suspect it was either the school or somebody attached to the school and probably the same person who was collecting on the commission.

I have even had taxi drivers try to sell me life insurance and banks telling me that when i open a bank account i must pay into life insurance . Lost the business straight away . They will tell any crap to get a commission.

In Australia i have had life insurance to cover large loans such as a house loan so if i should trip over into a coffin then at least my dependents are not left with a substantial debt , but here in Thailand i think the best advice is never to make yourself worth more dead than what you are worth alive.

[scorecard]

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i've tried to have financial, investment, insurance discussions with thais in the past. even educated thais can be very naive about such matters and are happy to take financial advice from banks or other providers rather than financial advisers. agree about the lack or regulation here, transparency is an issue too. i'd stay well clear.

Agree, in many cases Thais see insurance in just one word - scam.

Our Thai 'aunty' refuses to allow her own kids to take insurance on their cars in terms of coverage for damage to own or other persons car (can't refuse the third party compulsory). Why - 'it's a scam.

(Aunty goes one step further - she claims that there are no actual laws about seat belts it's just a scam created by the police. She also claims that signs on certain roads saying you can't park on this road between 15:00 to 20:00 or similar is just a police scam, there's no law.)

Insurance agents - well there's another angle:

1. When my Thai son got married he discovered his wife was paying monthly on two policies for her mother 1). Life insurance - an expensive policy which provided for one item, accidental death but under 90 (from memory) and no return ever of the very high premiums, around 2,000Baht a month. . Health insurance for her mother, about 48 years old in excellent health, no med. history. From memory over 3,000Baht per month. Why? Her best girl friend from high school had become an insurance agent and had convinced her to take there policies.

Wife had no documents at all, son asked the 'best girl friend' to come to his condo and explain the policies. Best friend gave a 'blur', son asked for copies of the documents. Agents' response 'Customers are not allowed to hold insurance documents, it's illegal in Thailand'. More to this story, a bit nasty, but enough for now.

2. Just recently my son was looking to take one family health insurance policy for his family (himself, wife, 2 young kids) and he mentioned it casually at his work. Next day an agent cold called him, son said OK please send me some documents to look at. A week later he found what he wanted from a different company and signed up. Weeks later he still gets unpleasant calls from the first agent saying things like 'your unfair, I gave you the details, why you don't use my company' and more. In one call the agent asked son to transfer 500Baht to him, claiming that it's Thai law he's entitled to a fee for giving the initial information. Son mentioned all of this again at his workplace and quickly found who had passed the information to the actual agent. His work colleague was in line for a 500Baht spotter fee.

Having said all of that both my son and his wife (separately) have a strange policy from the Government Savings bank which give some form of life insurance and a limited health cover which they pay every 3 months, and if no claims they get part of the premium refunded (at least that's what I understand).

[whiteman]

Over here in Thailand the policies are so outdated approx 25 years behind the rest of the world. If one could buy term cover in thailand from a Thai company then that is the way to go. But one can not. You will be offered a overseas company and have to pay much more than you should because of the expence of running a offshore company in Thailand. Ask any of the so called big Thai Life companies for a term policy and watch there eyes fade away then they say no can do.

Not much commision in term for them so they do not push the powers to be to market it as I said b4 there 25 years behind the times here

[Rimbuman]

I have AIA health insurance, they payed.

[Bob12345]

As someone else already mentioned; life insurance is extremely expensive in Thailand. Profit margins are around 20-40% which is very high. This explains why they try to get you to buy life insurance at every moment. And the more they push it, the more people will buy it as they do not really understand probabilities of death and normal investment returns.

For Thais buying life insurance often makes sense. You might have noticed that Thais are not very good at saving up money. If they want something big they buy it with borrowed money instead of first saving up for it. In case the breadwinner of a family dies the rest of the family is left without savings or something to fall back on, hence life insurance makes sense. It is much easier for Thais to pay their insurance premium every month, or buy a new life insurance regularly, than to just put the money in an investment account and earn much more.

[ToddinChonburi]

Bangkok bank has a policy that gives you almost 2% interest over the 15 year time. I think most thai's never read the fine print, seem to fall pray to the easy money skeem.

Yes I have read here several times, NEVER MAKE YOURSELF WORTH MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE !!!!!!

[dotpoom]

Yes. My gf, and her family also do not understand insurance. For that matter I don't either. Pay someone many dollars over the years, so maybe one day you might need it. But if you never need it you don't get the money back. If you do file a claim they can cancel your insurance. Biggest scam ever invented. Except for, maybe religion.

Have to agree with you on the first point....but not about the religion. I agree that religions (as different from spiritualism) seem to me to be a lot of mumbo jumbo, but most of them have one good thing in common......occasionally they produce an "Enlightened Man"

[slipperylobster]

Hmmm... are you moving to a condo with a balcony on a high floor in the immediate future? Perhaps you are already on one?

The higher up your condo is, the more you pay for insurance?

[Linzz]

As someone else already mentioned; life insurance is extremely expensive in Thailand. Profit margins are around 20-40% which is very high. This explains why they try to get you to buy life insurance at every moment. And the more they push it, the more people will buy it as they do not really understand probabilities of death and normal investment returns.

For Thais buying life insurance often makes sense. You might have noticed that Thais are not very good at saving up money. If they want something big they buy it with borrowed money instead of first saving up for it. In case the breadwinner of a family dies the rest of the family is left without savings or something to fall back on, hence life insurance makes sense. It is much easier for Thais to pay their insurance premium every month, or buy a new life insurance regularly, than to just put the money in an investment account and earn much more.

"You might have noticed that Thais are not very good at saving up money. If they want something big they buy it with borrowed money instead of first saving up for it. "

Yes I heard today that Thai household debt has increased to 80% in Thailand compared to 40% in western countries. Not a pleasant statistic. Not sure if it can be fixed.

[sfokevin]

I wouldn't stress too much about this until your girlfriend ask that you take out a big fat life insurance policy...

[wolfmanjack]

Most of the life insurance policies I have seen are combined with a savings plan. If you pay for 20 years and don't die you get some of the money back.

[Johnny S]

Hmmm... are you moving to a condo with a balcony on a high floor in the immediate future? Perhaps you are already on one?

The higher up your condo is, the more you pay for insurance?

Probably right about that - We live at 2 floor but I dont feel safe anyway since our kitchenknifes are very sharpe and wife has hot temper ...

[jimmiejackson]

I've heard and often wondered about the same thing. Never got a response from anyone (Thai or foreign) that makes an logical sense.

The in-laws all have some form of insurance policy on Grandpa (that nobody likes) because by doing so they believe when he dies they'll be in for some huge windfall so at least they get something from him whether he gives it or not.

The other story I hear often is that you pay for a fixed term (10-20 years) and during that time it acts as a type of Health Insurance that pays all your hospital bills then at the end of the term (whether you've claimed or not) you get all the money back.

I have heard both many times from many different people and never had a decent explanation of how it works. There is a fact that whether Thai owned or not insurance companies are like a Casino - overall the house never loses.

No insurance company is ever going to insure an old man against the one thing that is certain to eventually happen to him - death, at a payout amount above the cost of the premiums.

No insurance company is ever going to offer health insurance essentially for free over a long term.

I hope one day to get clarification on these things because if betting an old person will eventually die can net a huge windfall in Thailand then I guess I could take out a few policies and retire.

[billphillips]

From my experience the person that pays for the insurance is also the beneficiary in the event of a payout. Normally the g/f wants her partner to pay and herself to benefit. Of course she does, it's a win win for her. Forget about the advantages of the insurance, you won't see any of them, just ask yourself if you want to pay out an additional regular amount into the family coffers.

[arunsakda]

Bangkok bank has a policy that gives you almost 2% interest over the 15 year time. I think most thai's never read the fine print, seem to fall pray to the easy money skeem.

Yes I have read here several times, NEVER MAKE YOURSELF WORTH MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE !!!!!!

I knew a guy who did this, made himself worth more to a woman dead than alive, in Manila. Guess where he is now?

[nithisa78]

Dead for profit.....................

mental isn't some place you get driven. It is where you are and get reminded. Buy the stinking insurance.

Its not Thiland its you.

[Morakot]

What type of life insurance is popular in Thailand?

Are endowment life insurance policies offered here?

[Orac]

They appear to be a marketeers dream targeted at gullible people who believe whatever they are told. I have had to stop my wife from buying these policies a couple of times because she had been talked into them by 'a friend of a friend' - part of the problem being the obligation my wife felt not to let her friend down by not buying the policy.

A lot of people seem to buy these policies in place of health insurance when a proper policy from someone like BUPA would be both cheaper and have better coverage, particularly for critical conditions.

The sales 'friend' made a particular point of stressing to my wife how much money she would get if she got cancer which, apart from being highly unlikely for someone under 40, was actually far less than a BUPA policy and nowhere near enough for proper treatment.

The next hook employed was how much money I would get if my wife died which ended up getting me in the doghouse when I pointed out that I would save a fortune if that happenned as I would no longer be employing a professional shopper and lottery number selector.