Skip to main content

REPs - Buying Resale Endowment Plans

Many people might not know that they can actually buy resale endowment plans from various companies.  This is usually not sold directly from insurers but are instead sold by companies like REPs Holdings which buys endowment plans from people and sell it onward to other people who might wish to purchase these "used" endowment plans.  

What is clear is that these plans do not provide any form of insurance as the insured person remains as the original policy owner who bought the plan from the insurer.    After paying it for a few years, the original policy owner probably does not wish to pay the premiums anymore but instead of surrendering it to the insurer, they can sell it to another individual who is willing to take on the premium payments and of course benefit from the final guaranteed/non-guaranteed amounts that come at the maturity of the endowment plan.  

The original policy owner benefits since he/she is probably able to get a much higher cash value from selling the endowment plan mid-term instead of cashing it in directly with the insurance company.

As any policy owner will probably find some difficulty getting a buyer to take over their endowment plan, there are these companies such as REPs Holdings which will act as the middleman and take over the policies, selling it onwards to anyone else who wants to buy them.  These endowment plans usually offer no protection value but might offer a higher return as compared to a brand new endowment plan since their maturity date is much shorter as compared to buying an exact same plan directly from the insurer.

This is definitely not a common way of buying endowment plans amongst most people.  But it is an option that one might consider if they are looking for a pure returns product that offers a return slightly higher than fixed deposit.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Manulife's Life Protector Plus

Manulife has a participating whole life policy called Life Protector Plus that is designed to provide high coverage at affordable premiums. For a male non-smoker age 27, coverage of $240K can be obtained at a monthly premium of $194. How it provides such a high coverage is with something called the Minimum Death Benefit (MDB) factor that depends on the entry age of the policy holder. Each band of entry age has a different MDB factor. Age 0 to 30 = 2.4 Age 31 to 35 = 2.15 Age 36 to 40 = 1.90 Age 41 to 45 = 1.65 Age 46 to 50 = 1.40 Age 51 to 55 = 1.20 So the basic sum insured for a guy age 27 is actually 100K but due to the MDB factor of 2.4, his coverage is increased till $240K until he is age 65. Thereafter, the MDB factor drops to 1.0 Do note that with any surrender of reversionary bonus or coversion of policy to reduce paid up, the MDB factor will drop to 1.0 This MDB factor also applies to the Critical Care Enhancer Rider (for critcial illness) up to age 65 too.

AIA Signature - Protection for the priviliged few

I received a letter from AIA recently. It reads: In appreciation for your continued loyalty and support, we'd like to extend an exclusive invitation to you to apply for our first premier accident plan - AIA Signature. The AIA Signature plan offers you our highest level of accident protection, with coverage up to $500,000. The invitation is for a select group of priority AIA policyholders, of which you are one. Available for a limited time, this exclusive offer is valid from 15 Oct 09 to 28 Nov 09 and is strictly by invitation only. With AIA Signature, you can enjoy: A high coverage amount of up to $500,000 for Accidental Death, Dismemberment and Permanent and Total Disability Accidental Medical Reimbursement of up to $2000 Premiums do not increase with age And the above coverage is yours at only $400 until age 75. No health questions ask and no medical examination is required. I am not too sure what is so special about this accident plan because accident plans normally do not requi...

Great Eastern - Early Payout CriticalCare

Early Payout Critical Care from Great Eastern can be purchased as a standalone critical illness plan or as a rider to one of their plans. Some of the key features of the Early Payout Critical Care are as follows: 1. Standalone plan or rider with varying terms (6 years till age 75). Entry age is 1 to 65. 2. Able to opt from $50,000 to $1 million in coverage. 3. Early payout is based on differing severity levels for the 30 critical illnesses which are grouped into 3 groups of Severity 25, Severity 50 and Severity 100. 4. There are limits to what can be claimed under Severity 25 and Severity 50. 5. Possible for multiple claims across unrelated illnesses without any waiting period The advantages of the Early Payout Critical Care introduced by Great Eastern are as follows: 1. First plan in Singapore to offer payouts at earlier stages of cancer. 2. Multiple lump sum payouts at different stages of the same critical illness or across different critical illness. 3. No minimum waiting period bet...