# Life insurance with Acorn Life



## Brookner (15 Jan 2008)

Does anybody have any information in relation to Acorn Life Insurance that can be used as life assurance for your mortgage and also as a life policy?


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## CCOVICH (15 Jan 2008)

I don't know if any of the posts on Askaboutmoney deals with life assurance, but Acorn Life are mentioned in a few places.  Use the search function and see if that is of any help.


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## ninsaga (15 Jan 2008)

Acorn Life is mentioned here in the past - particularly in relation to their high/hidden charges. I would avoid them.


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## ClubMan (15 Jan 2008)

anita finneg said:


> Does anybody have any information in relation to Acorn Life Insurance that can be used as life assurance for your mortgage and also as a life policy?


Can you clarify please? Do you have a general life assurance policy already and want to know if you can assign it to a lender for the purposes of mortgage protection life assurance cover? If so please post details of the policy. If not then why focus on _Acorn Life _rather than just shopping around for the best deal on mortgage protection life assurance?

Mortgage Protection and Mortgage Repayment Protection Policies


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## Brookner (15 Jan 2008)

i have life insurance as i required it when takign out my mortgage but when my mortgage is paid in full i get no money from my current policy whereas with this lfe plan i get a lump sum when i die and it covers other medical procedures but i have salary protection and am slightly confused as to what is best


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## ClubMan (15 Jan 2008)

Oh - a combined life assurance and savings policy? My initial reaction would be "don't touch it with a bargepole", stick to a cheapo/basic decreasing term mortgage protection life assurance policy for the mortgage, keep general life assurance separate and save/invest through more straightforward products (e.g. anything from cash deposits to unit linked funds to direct share investments to property etc.).


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## PM1234 (15 Jan 2008)

Perhaps you currently have basic mortgage protection - the sum assured decreases usually in line with your mortgage? 

The new policy could be a whole of life policy etc with additional benefits such as serious/critical illness as opposed to a combined life and savings policy? 

Life cover depends entirely on personal circumstances. E.g. A person with dependent children usually requires different life cover to that of somebody without dependent children.

It might be no harm to go to an independent broker and assess your needs and wants  to find the product most suitable for your own personal circumstances.


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## Brendan Burgess (15 Jan 2008)

For mortgage protection, get a simple mortgage protection policy from whoever is cheapest.

If you want a savings policy, get it separately. 

Don't mix the two.

Do not buy a savings plan from Acorn, as they have the old style, very high charges.

If they are cheap for pure mortgage protection, that is fine, but I doubt that they would be.

Brendan


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## nicole (1 Jul 2009)

I have much experience with this company and i would like to warn everyone *not to do business with them*. They did my parents out of *18 GRAND*. True story. We are suffering badly now and there is *no way for us to get our money back* that has been *wrongfully* taken from us. I dont know what to do...This is a terrible situation.
*Take my advice and don't end up like my family- we have no money now.*


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## Ned_ie (30 Jul 2009)

Nicole - Please expalin how they "did you family out of 18k"??? Had your parents invested in a bond with Acorn? Did they withdraw early?


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## Next Time (12 Mar 2011)

*Acorn*

As far as I know you can get both covered but it depends on your morgage providor allowing you to take it from someone other than themselves.  The thing to watch out for is the term cover by banks. Arcon do whole of life rather than a term and a term while good for the banks isn't really good for you.  In relation to hidden charges - if someone feels that they have not been made aware of all the charges then it's best to contact Acorn's head office in Galway as a sales associate by law should make all this clear.


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## Baracuda (26 Mar 2011)

Banks cannot stipulate the company that you take out life/mortgage cover with, obiously the bank will try and sell you the life cover directly (which may or may not be the cheepest in the market) but they cannot make it a condition of the mortgage. Acorn's policies usually have a premium review after 10 years and every 5 years thereafter and I have seen the premium increase by up to 350%. 

Whole of life cover is very expencive in comparison to term cover likewise term cover is v-expencive compared to mortgage reducing life cover. My believe is to set up a reducing term policy that can be assigned directly to the bank so that covers the mortgage and set up a non premium reviewable whole of life cover for funeral expencies and then a term cover for replacing income for your family untill the youngest is 22 years of age.


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## last in (5 Nov 2011)

I know this is an old thread but I just got back a quote back for a whole of life policy from Acorn Life for myself and OH. Worked out to be around €95 a month and insured amount of around €700k combined. 

Now the Acorn life sales man was  an old school buddy that's why I gave him the time of day in the first place. Now I questioned him and he said that your premiums go up by 5% if you want but your befits also go up by 5% a year. Now Im not stupid and I had my Lap top with me at the time and used excel to calculate how much premiums I would pay over my life and how much they wold have to pay out after 40 years and I would pay around €140k and the benefits Acorn would have to pay out would be approx *€5 millon*. I said there some thing wrong here how in the hell do Acorn make money out of this. He didn't give me a straight answer, but mentioned that people pull out and they invest etc etc. BUT he was adamant that my premiums would not increase other than the 5% and we wouldn't be asked any other medical questions in the future. I even sent an email to confirm this. 

Anyway I said that day I wasn't signing up to anything but he wanted our bank details so he wouldn't need to come back if we decided to go ahead with the policy. Now I had no intention to sign up because I had another bad dealing with them with a savings policy(long Story) but I said I wold play along anyway to see what he said. 

The next thing I got was a letter from Acorn life last Friday with my policy Doc....... also saying first payment coming on the 24th of this month. Further to this reading through the docs I saw that if I wanted to keep the original benefits in 12 years my premiums would have to increase by *150%*  I presume that this increase will also happen every 10 years until you pull out.

I Dont have to say anymore, gave them a piece of my mind and wrote them a letter to go and F*** themselves. 

Just a warning to anybody out there who are approached


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## jonq74 (7 Nov 2011)

well I  know with Caledonian life the policy i have is called a convertable policy where premiums and benifits go up 5% each year..which is fair enough. there should be something in the original policy documents to state the terms of the Acorn policy?


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## NorfBank (7 Nov 2011)

last in said:


> I said there some thing wrong here how in the hell do Acorn make money out of this. He didn't give me a straight answer, but mentioned that people pull out and they invest etc etc.



That's how reviewable whole of life policies are designed - cheap when you are a young low risk life but then become prohibitively expensive as you get older until the premiums become so expensive that the policy in cancelled by the insured. 

The provider pockets years of paid premiums without having to pay out a cent.

If you want whole of life cover opt for the guaranteed premium type with no reviews. Do not purchase a hybrid policy consisting of a life insurance policy with some savings element. Keep your protection and savings needs separate.


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## Jimbobp (8 Nov 2011)

norfbank said:


> that's how reviewable whole of life policies are designed - cheap when you are a young low risk life but then become prohibitively expensive as you get older until the premiums become so expensive that the policy in cancelled by the insured.
> 
> The provider pockets years of paid premiums without having to pay out a cent.
> 
> If you want whole of life cover opt for the guaranteed premium type with no reviews. Do not purchase a hybrid policy consisting of a life insurance policy with some savings element. Keep your protection and savings needs separate.


 
+1


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## Tired Paul (8 Nov 2011)

Was approched at a Ideal Homes fair about 8 / 9 years ago by an Acron Rep. At the time i was looking at houses etc so knew I would need a life policy to suit. Explained this to the rep, he done some figures, asked few questions etc and I signed up. 12 months later when dealing with a bank they looked at my policy (which I had assumed and been tolf]d that it would suit ). The policy wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. STAY AWAY FROM THEM. THEY ARE LOWER THAN LOW.


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