Seth’s Blog on Finance

No Trouble Until Claim? Smear Tactics Employed by Unethical Agents

In my line, I have always heard horror stories and unbelievable anecdotes of how some agents go all out to make a sale. Some of these are rather complex and difficult to describe to people outside of the industry, but the following is something that is easily shared.

NTUC Income has some pretty good insurance policies that are also cost-effective. Tied agents of other companies usually feel hard pressed to compete with these policies. I have faced this previously, and while I eventually decided to offer my clients better value by crossing to an IFA, other agents have come up with “creative” smear tactics to discredit their competitors, like branding NTUC as – “No Trouble Until Claim”, a play on the abbreviation.

Some also talk about the “quality of assurance” to justify their higher premiums without actually showing proof of this so-called assurance. Here are some statistics from the MOH website:

The following claims return rate table shows how long it takes each insurer to process claims with positive payouts.

The phrase, cumulative claims return rate, refers to the percentage of claims processed by the insurer within one week, two weeks and one month. Note that the fifth column shows the median number of days it takes each insurer to process claims.

From the table, it can be seen that for integrated Medishield policies, NTUC Income not only has the fastest claims turnaround time, but also boasts the highest percentage of positive claims within the respective time periods. This is an empirical fact that these smears are unsubstantial.

Just last week, my colleague and I heard from a person we met that a certain insurer’s agent said that the client will receive no agent service at all for purchasing a more cost-effective policy from another insurer which is completely ridiculous and untrue.

As I was from an insurance company before, I can understand what they feel when a competitor has a better solution for the client. I have chosen to seek a much conducive environment for both my clients’ and my interests. Many resort to half-truths and even outright lies to make a sale at their clients’ expense. It’s a sad situation.

This does not mean that NTUC Income has all of the best products. Always do a proper comparison instead on relying on a tied agent whose vested interest lies in selling one company’s products before committing to a financial decision,