Birla Sun Life Insurance-Vision Star Plan
Birla Sun Life Insurance-Vision Star Plan Review
BSLI Vision Star Plan is a traditional, participating Money-Back Child insurance plan which creates a saving corpus for the child’s future and also provides insurance coverage. The coverage under the plan aims to provide a secured corpus for the child’s future even when the parent is not around.
Key Features
This is a traditional participating plan which earns bonuses.
Premiums are required to be paid only for a limited tenure.
There are two options of receiving the money-back benefits under the plan.
There is an inbuilt Waiver of Premium Rider where future premiums are waived off in the event of death but the plan continues.
Premium discounts are given for higher Sum Assured levels and premium paying frequencies.
A cooling off period or a free look period of 15 days (30 days for distance marketing channels) is granted to the policyholder after the policy issuance to review the policy terms and conditions. If found unsatisfactory, the plan can be cancelled within this period and the premium paid would be refunded after deducting the relevant mortality charge, service tax, cess and stamp duty paid.
Benefits
When the plan matures and the premiums have been duly paid, the accrued bonuses and any Terminal Bonus is paid as the maturity benefit.
- If the insured dies during plan term and the policy is in force, the death benefit payable would be the Sum Assured on Death. Future premiums payable under the plan would be waived off and the plan would continue. The Assured Payouts, as per the option selected, would be paid as and when they fall due. When the plan term ends, the accrued bonuses and any Terminal Bonus would be paid and the plan would be terminated.
The Sum Assured on Death would be higher of the following:- 10 times the annual premium
- 100% of the Sum Assured chosen on plan commencement
- Maturity Sum Assured
- Since this a money-back plan, the money back benefits which are paid under the plan are called Assured Payouts. There are two options of availing these payouts which are as follows:
Option A – Four payouts are paid bi-annually and start 5 years after the premium paying term is completed. The payouts are then made every two years thereafter. These payouts are expressed as a percentage of the Sum Assured chosen under the plan. 20% of the Sum Assured is paid in the first two payouts and 30% of the Sum Assured is paid in the last two payouts.
Option B – Five annual payouts are made under this option starting 5 years after the completion of the premium paying term. The payouts made are 15%, 15%, 20%, 20% and 30% in each of the five years respectively.
The payouts under both the options can be deferred till the next payout period and on such deferment, the payouts would increase. The rate of such increase in the deferred payouts is given in the following tables:
Option A
| Year of Payouts | Assured Payout as a % of the Sum Assured | Year till which the Assured Payouts are deferred | |||
| PPT + 5 | PPT + 7 | PPT + 9 | PPT + 11 | ||
| PPT + 5 | 20% | 20% | 22% | 25% | 28% |
| PPT + 7 | 20% | NA | 20% | 22% | 25% |
| PPT + 9 | 30% | NA | NA | 30% | 33% |
| PPT + 11 | 30% | NA | NA | NA | 30% |
Option B
| Year of Payouts | Assured Payout as a % of the Sum Assured | Year till which the Assured Payouts are deferred | ||||
| PPT + 5 | PPT + 6 | PPT + 7 | PPT + 8 | PPT + 9 | ||
| PPT + 5 | 15% | 15% | 16% | 17% | 18% | 19% |
| PPT + 6 | 15% | NA | 15% | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| PPT + 7 | 20% | NA | NA | 20% | 21% | 22% |
| PPT + 8 | 20% | NA | NA | NA | 20% | 21% |
| PPT + 9 | 30% | NA | NA | NA | NA | 30% |
PPT is the Premium Paying Term in the above table. If the insured dies or surrenders the plan, the discounted value of the enhanced payout would be paid along with the death or surrender benefit. However, this discounted value should not be lower than the original rate of the payout.
Simple reversionary bonuses are declared under the plan and are paid every year for which the policy is in-force. An interim bonus may be added during the plan tenure and a terminal bonus may also be paid on death, surrender or maturity of the plan.
Loan can be taken on the policy after the policy has acquired a Surrender Value. The maximum amount of loan available is 85% of the acquired Surrender Value while the minimum amount is Rs.5000.
Premiums paid under the plan would be exempt from tax under Section 80C up to a limit of Rs.1.5 lakhs. The death benefit or the maturity benefit received and the Survival benefit received would also be tax exempt under Section 10(10D) of the Income Tax Act.
Riders are not available under the plan.
Discount in premiums are allowed if the premiums are paid in the annual or half-yearly mode. The discount would be 3% for the annual mode and 1.50% for half-yearly mode of premium payment.
Discounts are also given in premiums for choosing Sum Assured levels of Rs.2 lakhs and above. The Sum Assured levels are categorized in 4 bands and bands 2, 3 and 4 qualify for the rebate. The applicable rebates are as follows:
| Sum Assured Bands | Rebate per 1000 Sum Assured |
| Band 1 – Rs.100,000 to Rs.199,999 | NA |
| Band 2 – Rs.200,000 to Rs.399,999 | Rs.1 |
| Band 3 – Rs.400,000 to Rs.799,999 | Rs.5 |
| Band 4 – Rs.800,000 and above | Rs.7 |
A grace period of 30 days is allowed for payment of premium after the due date. The life cover under the policy would continue during the grace period.
How it works
- The policyholder chooses the Sum Assured, the payout option, plan tenure, premium paying term and frequency. Based on the policyholder’s age and the above criteria, the premium would be determined.
- The Sum Assured is divided into four bands which are as follows:
| Sum Assured Bands | Sum Assured range |
| Band 1 | Rs.1 lakh to Rs.199,999 |
| Band 2 | Rs.2 lakhs to Rs.399,999 |
| Band 3 | Rs.4 lakhs to Rs.799,999 |
| Band 4 | Rs.8 lakhs and above |
- Bonuses are added every year if the policy is in-force.
- Assured payouts accrue as per the option selected by the policyholder.
- On death during the period, the death benefit is paid.
- On maturity, the maturity benefit is paid.
Plan Details
Let's Understand The Plan With An Example:
If at the age of 32, when your child is just born, you start investing a fraction of your income – Rs. 5,000 monthly, for a period of 12 years with a sum assured of Rs. 8,89,683. It will strengthen your child's wings when he is ready to take flight towards a better tomorrow. He will receive payouts for his significant milestones:
* At the age of 17 years & 19 years, when your child's dreams are finally taking shape. You can get an amount of approx Rs. 1.78 Lakhs
* At the age of 21 years, you get an amount of approx Rs. 2.67 Lakhs to support him as he goes after his dreams.
* And finally on your child turning 23, you get an amount of approx Rs. 12 Lakhs @ 8% interest rate and Rs. 4.3 lakhs @ 4% to give him the right platform as he takes off in his career.
All this while, you have the flexibility to get the benefits of your payouts as per your child's need, and deferring the payouts if required. During this time, if something happens to you, the policy continues in your absence and your child receives the amount he is eligible for, at the time of payouts as decided by you.
Thus, you can relax with the surety that your child will never have to compromise on his dreams.
Note: Illustration is assuming 8% and 4% return and in Option A as mentioned above. These assumed rates of return shown in the illustration above are not guaranteed and they are not the upper or lower limits of what you might get back, as the value of your policy is dependent on a number of factors including future investment performance
Steps To Buy
Give your loved ones the power to dream in just 3 simple steps.
Step 1 Choose your Sum Assured
Step 2 Choose your Assured Payout Option – Assured payout section as below.
Step 3 Choose your Premium Paying Term
Non-Payment of premium in Birla Sun Life Insurance-Vision Star Plan
Premiums have to be paid for at least 2 years for a premium paying term less than 10 years or 3 years for other terms. After this compulsory period, the policyholder can surrender the policy or make it paid-up.
Making the policy Paid-up
If at least2 or 3 full years’ premium has been paid, the policy would become a paid-up policy if future premiums are not paid. The Sum Assured and the Sum Assured on Death under the plan would be reduced is proportion to the number of premiums paid against the total number of premiums payable under the plan. Bonuses would not be declared under the policy but the vested bonuses would not be reduced. However, bonuses accruing in the year in which premiums are discontinued would be reduced and the following benefits would be paid as and when they occur:
- Death Benefit –Reduced Sum Assured on death is paid. The Assured payouts and the maturity benefit would accrue as and when they fall due.
- Maturity benefit – The accrued bonuses are paid on maturity of the plan.
- Assured Payouts – The assured payouts would be calculated on the Reduced Sum Assured and paid according to the benefit option selected. The deferment of such payouts for receiving enhanced values would not be allowed under paid-up policies.
Surrendering the policy
Surrender is allowed only after the policy becomes paid-up, i.e. after2 or 3 full years’ premiums have been paid. On surrendering the policy, higher of the Guaranteed Surrender Value (GSV) or the Special Surrender Value (SSV) would be paid.
- GSV = {(Basic Premium paid excluding taxes * GSV Factor)+ (Vested bonuses * GSV factor of bonus)} – the assured payout benefits already paid or deferred.
- The SSV factors would be declared by the company based on its performance
Revival
Revival is allowed within 2 years from the date of the first unpaid premium. The policyholder would be required to pay the outstanding premium and any interest charged by the insurer to revive his policy.
Eligibility
The plan can be bought only by Resident Indians. The other eligibility criteria of the plan includes:
| Minimum | Maximum | |
| Entry age (Last Birthday) | 18 years | 55 years |
| Maturity age (Last Birthday) | NA | 75 years |
| Plan tenure | Option A – 16 years Option B – 14 years |
Option A – 23 years Option B – 21 years |
| Premium payable | Depends on age, Sum Assured, term and PPT | |
| Premium Paying Term (PPT) | 5 years | 12 years |
| Sum Assured | Rs.1 lakh | No limit |
| Premium payment mode | Monthly, half-yearly, quarterly and annually | |
Exclusions
- If suicide is committed within a year of policy issuance or revival, higher of the premiums paid till death or the Surrender Value acquired would be paid provided the policy is in force.
