Applications and underwriting FAQs

Your full cover will start once your application is assessed and approved by NobleOak and we have communicated full details of your insurance to you in writing. Until then, we may ask for more information to fully assess your application. Your duty to disclose any relevant information continues right up to the point your application has been approved.

We recommend that you don’t cancel any existing cover with other companies until you have received our approval in writing.

If you can provide copies of any of your recent medical records or blood test results and tell us details of any prescription medicines you are taking, this will speed up the application and assessment process.

Many clients can answer all the questions in our application over the phone, with no additional requirements becoming necessary.

Generally, there are no mandatory medical requirements when applying for low to medium levels of NobleOak Life Insurance. However, if you are older and/or are applying for higher levels of cover, there may be medical and blood test requirements. Depending on your health disclosures, the underwriter may also require further medical information in order to complete their assessment.

If there are medical requirements, these are all organised and paid for by NobleOak.

NobleOak provides fully underwritten insurance cover. This means that we ask a number of health, occupation and lifestyle questions upfront and sometimes require medical tests and details of your medical records, to allow us to properly assess the risks we’re taking to insure you, and to make sure that your cover is tailored to your needs.

This process does take longer than obtaining cover that is not underwritten, but it means you have greater certainty when it comes time to make a claim. As long as your disclosures are accurate and complete when you apply, you can rest assured that any future claim will be paid in accordance with the relevant Product Disclosure Statement.

It generally takes around 15 to 30 minutes on average to complete the application. Simply ring NobleOak on 1300 041 494 and speak to one of our friendly team who will answer any of your questions about the product you have chosen, and take you through the application.

The assessment process for your application can vary depending on whether any medical or other information is required. We may ask for a report from your doctor, or, for high levels of cover, medical exams and blood tests. For even higher levels of cover, we may also need financials from your accountant. These medical requirements will be arranged at NobleOak’s cost, while any financials we require can usually be copies of existing statements.

Once we have your full application details, NobleOak will provide you with free Interim Accidental Cover while we complete our assessment.

The process to finalise your application may take only a couple of days if no medicals are required, or otherwise between 10 to 20 working days, depending on how quickly your doctors can provide their reports back to us. When we have approved your application, we will activate your cover and provide you with a welcome pack that outlines the details of your cover.

Exclusions are the conditions under which a benefit will not be payable to you, being either a general exclusion within the conditions of the insurance, or a specific exclusion agreed with you at the time of application.

A claim cannot be made on an excluded pre-existing medical condition, or for an injury sustained from participating in an excluded high risk activity. For example, Brian discloses in his application for Total and Permanent Disability Insurance that he participates in sky-diving on the weekends. As sky-diving is considered a high-risk pastime, it will either be excluded from Brian’s insurance cover, or included but incurring a higher premium.

Different insurance companies may have a variety of exclusions to lessen their risk. At NobleOak we try to keep exclusions to a minimum. For example, our Life Insurance has only one general exclusion, being that suicide is excluded in the first 13 months of cover.

No, all NobleOak applications are fully underwritten at the time you apply for cover, so nothing should ‘come out’ at claim time. Apart from the industry standard 13-month suicide exclusion, there are no other built in exclusions in a NobleOak Life Insurance plan. Any pre-existing condition exclusions specific to you would have been discussed and agreed with you before the insurance is issued. This gives you peace of mind that there won’t be any nasty surprises at claim time.

At NobleOak we believe this is the best way to provide Life Insurance cover. We like to do everything right from the start, so you can have greater confidence in your cover. As long as you have fully and correctly disclosed your medical history and other relevant details in the application, your future claim will be assessed and processed smoothly.

While your application is being assessed, you will be covered for accidents, as they relate to the cover you’ve applied for:

If you are applying for NobleOak Life Insurance, then Interim Accidental Death cover is provided at no extra cost while your application is being assessed. This means that if you suffer accidental death in this period, we will pay the cover amount you applied for, up to a maximum of $1 million.

If you are applying for NobleOak Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Insurance, then Interim Accidental Disablement Cover is provided at no extra cost while your application is being assessed. This means that if you have an accident in this period, and as a result you are left permanently disabled – for example if you are in a road accident and become quadriplegic – we will pay the cover amount you applied for, up to a maximum of $500,000.

If you are applying for NobleOak Trauma Insurance, then Interim Accidental Trauma Cover is provided at no extra cost while your application is being assessed. This means that if you suffer an accidental trauma in this period, for example a workplace accident that leaves you blind, we will cover the amount you applied for, up to a maximum of $500,000.

If you are applying for NobleOak Income Protection Insurance, then Interim Accidental Disability Cover is provided at no extra cost while your application is being assessed. This means that if you have an accident resulting in total disability, we will pay the monthly amount that you applied for, up to a period of 24 months, to an overall maximum of $200,000.

Yes, if you have pre-existing conditions you can still apply for cover. You may have to undergo medical examinations and you will need to fully disclose any pre-existing conditions as part of your application, but these don’t rule out your eligibility.

Depending on the specific condition and the information we have, NobleOak may offer to:

• cover the pre-existing condition,
• exclude your pre-existing condition from your cover, or
• cover the condition for a higher premium.

For example, in her application, Marjory disclosed that she suffers migraines and moderate back pain.

As the migraines were deemed by her medical practitioner to be infrequent and only resulted in two days off work at most, and her back pain was managed with yoga and exercise, her cover was not affected. However, Marjory’s husband Harold had suffered from asthma and respiratory illnesses since he was a child.

NobleOak offered to fully include them in return for higher premiums.

Yes, if you have any questions about your eligibility for insurance, we are happy to give you an indication of the likely terms we can offer you.

For example, Lucy is a 29-year-old single parent and calls NobleOak interested in purchasing Life Insurance. She has concerns that she might have difficulty getting the insurance because she suffered leukaemia as a child.

A quick conversation with one of our team establishes that Lucy recovered from the illness with no recurrences and suffers no side effects from the treatment she received all those years ago.

Lucy is assured she is eligible for insurance, although she’s advised that her history may put her at a higher risk for future illness, and her premiums may have to be adjusted accordingly.

Reassured by this informal pre-assessment, Lucy feels confident to go ahead with her application for NobleOak Life Insurance.

Before cover is started, increased or reinstated, you have a legal duty to disclose everything you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, that is relevant to NobleOak’s decision to insure you.

You are not required to disclose information:

• that reduces the risk to us
• that is of common knowledge
• that we know or ought to know in the ordinary course of our business
• where we have waived your duty.

Your duty of disclosure requires you to answer all our questions completely and correctly on your application.

If you apply for NobleOak Total and Permanent Disability Insurance, we will give you interim cover at no extra cost for accidental disablement while your application is being assessed.

This means that if you have an accident in the period after applying for insurance and before NobleOak approves your application, and as a result you are left permanently disabled – for example if you are in a road accident and become quadriplegic – we will pay the cover amount you applied for, up to a maximum of $500,000.

If you apply for NobleOak Life Insurance, we will give you interim cover for accidental death at no extra cost while your application is being assessed.

This means that if you suffer accidental death in the period after applying for insurance and before NobleOak approves your application, we will pay the cover amount you applied for, up to a maximum of $1 million.

Most of us are not used to receiving large lump-sum payments. Such payments require careful management to provide for you and your family’s immediate and future needs. Financial planning can be even harder to come to grips with during a distressing time of shock or bereavement.

At NobleOak we understand that you or your estate may need some professional assistance to ensure that the proceeds of a Life Cover, TPD Insurance, or Trauma (Recovery) Insurance claim payment are managed appropriately.

If NobleOak pays a benefit of more than $200,000 for one of these claims, we will reimburse the cost, up to $2,000, of engaging a qualified financial advisor to help you prepare a financial plan for managing the payment.

Financial Advice Benefit is only payable once in respect of the life insured. Evidence that the advice has been received and paid for must be provided to NobleOak within 6 months of the Life, Trauma or TPD benefit payment.