What happens after you apply

The part of buying insurance that is usually invisible. Here is the whole process from the first question to the policy document, including the bits that are slower or less flattering than a sales page would put them.

The process, step by step

  1. You answer a set of questions

    Somewhere between six and fourteen, depending on the kind of cover. Retirement and micro plans ask no health questions at all; term cover asks the most. Every question either changes what an underwriter can offer or is legally required — nothing is asked to build a marketing profile.

    You can stop at any point. What you have answered is saved, and you get a link to come back to.

  2. Nothing is quoted to you

    You will not see a premium at the end, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. The number belongs to the insurer, after underwriting. Anything shown before then would be a guess that could be contradicted later.

    What you do see is a summary of everything about to be sent, with every answer editable.

  3. It goes to a human underwriter

    Every completed application is reviewed by a person. Not a subset, not the complicated ones — all of them. Your answers are packaged into a structured summary and sent, along with a record of the consent you gave and when.

    Some sites route the straightforward cases through automatically. This one does not, because the machinery to price a case without a human does not exist here — and we would rather say so than imply a speed we cannot deliver.

  4. The underwriter assesses the risk

    They are working out how likely a claim is, and how soon. That means your age, health history, family history, build, tobacco use, income and occupation. Most applications are accepted as applied for. Some are accepted on altered terms. A few are declined.

    Being accepted on altered terms is not a rejection — it is the insurer pricing a risk it has understood, which is a better outcome than a policy issued on a misunderstanding.

  5. Sometimes a medical test is arranged

    Above a certain amount of cover, the insurer wants a medical examination before issuing rather than relying on your declaration alone. Where that applies, the insurer arranges the test and pays for it.

    This does not reduce the cover you asked for, and it is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a routing decision based on the amount of cover relative to your age and income.

  6. You get a decision, and then a policy document

    The insurer issues the terms. If you accept, a policy document follows — and that document, not anything on this website, is the contract.

    Read it when it arrives. It is the first time you see the actual terms, exclusions and conditions rather than a description of them.

  7. You can still change your mind

    There is a window after you receive the policy document in which you can return it and have it cancelled — thirty days, under the current regulations, though your own document governs.

    We will help you send that request. It goes to the insurer, which issued the contract.

The thing worth knowing before you start

Every question in the application is one an underwriter will rely on. That makes accuracy worth more than speed, and it makes an uncomfortable answer worth more than a flattering one.

An insurer may question a policy for misstatement or non-disclosure within three years of it starting. After three years it cannot, on those grounds. So the cost of an inaccurate answer is not paid now — it is paid by whoever makes the claim, at the worst possible moment, potentially years later.

Declaring something that raises the price is almost always the better trade. A policy that costs more and pays out beats a cheaper one that is contested.

What happens if you change your mind after the policy is issued →

Questions people ask before starting

Why do you need my health details?

They decide the price and whether standard terms apply at all. Insurers verify health information at claim time, and non-disclosure is the most common reason a claim is contested — which is why answering accurately protects the people you are buying the policy for.

Why do you need my income?

Cover is capped as a multiple of income, so it sets the most you can be offered. It also decides whether a medical test is needed. A rough figure is not enough for this — it has to be the actual number, and it gets verified against documents later.

What if I get something wrong?

Tell us and we will correct it. An error found before submission costs nothing. The same error found at claim time, three years later, is what turns into a contested claim — so there is no version of this where guessing is the safer option.

How long does underwriting take?

We will not invent a number here. It depends on the insurer's workload, whether a medical test is needed, and how quickly documents come back. What we will do is tell you where your application actually is when you ask.

Who sees what I tell you?

The insurer's underwriting team, and the reinsurers and service providers involved in assessing and servicing the policy. Not advertisers. Your submission is stored on servers in India.

If something goes wrong

There is a defined route for complaining, it has four steps, it does not end with us, and nobody here can stop you moving to the next one. That includes complaining about this practice.

How to complain, and who can decide what →
Who holds the licence, and how we are paid →

Last reviewed: 31 August 2026