SBI Life Smart Women Advantage Plan
The SBI Life Smart Women Advantage Plan is a traditional, participating Endowment Assurance plan which is designed especially to cater to the insurance needs of women. The plan provides women with dual benefits of savings and insurance protection.
Highlights of the SBI Life Smart Women Advantage Plan
- This is a traditional Endowment plan in which bonuses are declared depending on the insurer’s performance.
- The plan provides maturity benefit, death benefit and an added Critical Illness benefit.
- The plan comes in two variants of Gold and Platinum.
- The plan promises an inbuilt waiver of premium rider which waives premium in the event of any Critical Illness.
- The policyholder can choose the level of Death cover and the Critical Illness cover which would be a multiple of the basic Sum Assured.
Benefits
When the plan matures, the benefit payable would be:
Basic Sum Assured + vested simple reversionary bonuses + Terminal Bonus (if any)
If the insured dies during plan term, higher of the following would be payable:
- Sum Assured on Death + vested simple reversionary bonuses + Terminal Bonus (if any)
- 105% of the total premiums paid till death
The Sum Assured on death would be higher of the following: - Basic Sum Assured as chosen at policy commencement
- 10 times the annual premium
- The absolute amount assured to be paid on death which is SAMF*Basic Sum Assured where the Sum Assured Multiplicative Factor (SAMF)can be chosen to be 1, 2 or 3
If the insured suffers from any Critical illness covered under the scope of the policy, the Critical Illness benefit would be payable depending on the severity of the illness. While the minor stage qualifies for a payment of 25% of the CI Sum Assured, the advanced stage qualifies for 150%. In the major stage of the illness, 100% of the benefit would be paid. For calculating the CI Sum Assured, the company uses the following formula:
SMAF* Basic Sum Assured.
If the option of APC & CA is chosen by the policyholder by paying an extra premium, any pregnancy related complications covered under the scope of this benefit would be paid. The benefit would be fixed at 20% of the Basic Sum Assured and would terminate if the benefit is paid out during the term or if the insured reaches 45 years of age, whichever is later.
Simple reversionary bonuses are declared under the plan which depends on the performance of the company. Terminal Bonus may be paid on death, maturity or surrender.
Loan can be taken on the policy after the policy has acquired a Surrender Value. The maximum amount of loan available is 90% of the acquired Surrender Value.
Premiums paid under the plan would be exempt from tax under Section 80C up to a limit of Rs.1.5 lakhs. Premiums paid for the APC & CA option would be exempt under Section 80D. The death benefit or the maturity benefit received and the CI benefit if received would also be tax exempt under Section 10(10D) of the Income Tax Act.
There is an inbuilt premium waiver rider which waives all future premiums payable in the policy if the policyholder suffers from any Critical Illness and the critical illness benefit is paid under the plan.
The APC & CA benefit can be added on to the policy for covering specified pregnancy related complications.
- Premium Discounts – Rebates are allowed in premiums for choosing higher coverage levels. This rebate is allowed per thousand Sum Assured for Sum Assured levels above Rs.5 lakhs. For Sum Assured Rs.5 lakhs to Rs.7 lakhs, the applicable rebate is Rs.2.50andfor Sum Assured of Rs.7 lakhs to Rs.10 lakhs, the rebate is Rs.3.
- Grace Period – A grace period of 30 days is allowed for payment of premium after the due date for annual, half-yearly or quarterly modes of premium payment. For monthly modes, the grace period allowed is 15 days. The life cover under the policy would continue during the grace period.
- Free Look Period – A cooling off period or a free look period of 15 days 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.
How it works
- Premiums are to be paid for the entire term of the plan and the policyholder can choose any plan variant of Gold and Platinum.
- While the maturity and death benefit in the Gold and Platinum Plan are similar, the difference is in the Critical Illness Cover offered. Gold plan covers 5 types of illnesses while Platinum plan covers a total of 9 illnesses.
- An additional benefit called the Additional Pregnancy Complication and Congenital Anomalies (APC & CA) option can be chosen by the policyholder for which an additional premium has to be paid. This added benefit provides for benefits in case of complications in pregnancy.
- On death during the policy period, the death benefit and bonuses are paid.
- On maturity, the maturity benefit and the bonuses are paid.
- If the insured suffers from a Critical illness during the tenure of the plan which is covered, the Critical illness benefit would be paid.
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 | Base Plan – 50 years APC & CA Option – 35 years |
| Maturity Age (Last Birthday) | NA | Base Plan – 60 years APC & CA Option – 45 years |
| Plan tenure | 10 years and 15 years | |
| Premium payable | Yearly – Rs.15, 000 Half-yearly – Rs.7500 Quarterly – Rs.4000 Monthly – Rs.1500 |
Depends on the Sum Assured chosen |
| Premium Paying Term | Equal to plan tenure | |
| Absolute amount assured payable on death or critical illness Sum Assured | SAMF * Basic Sum Assured | Rs.20 lakhs |
| Premium Frequency Loading | Half-yearly – 51% of annual premium Quarterly – 26% of annual premium Monthly – 8.5% of annual premium |
|
| Premium payment mode | Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annually or Single Premium | |
Surrender Value
Surrender is allowed only after the policy becomes paid-up, i.e. after 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 Bonus* SV factors of bonuses)
⦁ The SSV would be declared by the company based on its performance and calculated as
SSV = Paid-up value at maturity* SSV Factors
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.
Exclusions
- If the policyholder commits suicide within a year of policy issuance 80% of the premiums paid would be returned and no death benefit would be payable.
- If suicide is committed within a year of policy revival, higher of 80% of the premiums paid till death or the Surrender Value acquired would be paid provided the policy is in force.
- The APC & CA benefit would not be payable in case of suicide committed anytime during the plan tenure.
- There is a waiting period of 90 days from policy commencement or revival before which the CI benefit is inadmissible. Moreover, the insured should survive for a period of 30 days post the diagnosis of the illness to qualify for the benefit.
- The APC & CA benefit has a waiting period of 1 year from policy commencement or revival.
Claim Process
Premiums have to be paid for at least 3 years after which the policyholder can surrender the policy or make it paid-up.
Making the policy Paid-up
If at least 3 full years’ premium has been paid, the policy would become a paid-up policy if future premiums are not paid. The Sum Assured would be reduced and would be called the Paid-up Sum Assured. Moreover, the critical illness benefit and the APC & CA benefit would have no paid-up value.
Future bonuses would not be declared under the policy and the following benefits would be paid as and when they occur:
- Death Benefit – On death, the Paid-up Sum Assured on death including the vested bonuses and any Terminal Bonus would be paid. The Paid-up Sum Assured on death can be calculated as:
Sum Assured on death* (number of Premiums Paid / total number of premiums payable) - Maturity benefit – On maturity the Paid-up Sum value on maturity, accumulated bonuses and Terminal Bonus if any would be paid. The Paid-up value on maturity can be calculated as:
Sum Assured * (number of Premiums Paid / total number of premiums payable)
