Life insurance for smokers
The negative health implications of smoking are now well-documented and therefore this can often have implications on your insurance and critical illness premiums.
Occasional smoker or smoke 20 a day
An occasional cigar? One cigarette every Saturday night? The way in which insurance premiums are calculated at Beagle Street is consistent with other insurers in regards to smokers. If you have used any form of tobacco or nicotine products in the last 12 months and declare so on application, the premium offered to you will differ from non-smokers. This is on the basis of the health implications which smoking can lead to.
Regardless of the amount or how often you may have used tobacco or nicotine products in the last 12 months, honesty is vital in validating your application. If you take out a policy with us and were to become critically ill or die within your insurance policy term and it was discovered you were a smoker – the policy could be invalid or the amount paid to your dependants could be reduced.
Can smoking E-Cigarettes affect life insurance premiums?
At Beagle Street, as with other insurers, if you have smoked e-cigarettes or used any nicotine replacement products in the last year we will make no distinction from using tobacco products; and you will therefore be classed as a smoker.If you have not used e-cigarettes for 12 months or more, and already have a Life Insurance policy set-up, you could be paying too much.
You need to be honest when filling out your application with us, or your policy could be invalidated.
The benefits of quitting smoking
If you’re looking to reduce your premiums, stopping smoking and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is a good place to start – see below for an example of cost-saving for a quitting smoker.
For example, a smoker aged 32 who buys with Beagle Street a 22 year decreasing term policy of £200,000 cover and £80,000 of critical illness cover pays £40.57 per month* compared to a non-smoker who would pay £27.46* per month with the exact same policy terms. Over 22 years that’s a saving of £3,461 for a non-smoker!
That’s not even counting of course the savings on not buying any cigarettes for 22 years!
* Prices at September 2019
