What Is an Informal Inquiry for Life Insurance?

Quick Article Guide

Here’s what we'll cover in this post:

• Why Not Just Apply?
• How Does an Informal Inquiry Work?
• What Information Will You Need?
• How Much Detail Do You Need to Give?
• What Makes an Informal Inquiry Accurate?
• Is the Tentative Offer Guaranteed?
• What Happens After an Insurer Makes its Decision?
• When is an Informal Inquiry Most Worth Doing?
• How JRC Can Help

Why Not Just Apply?

Because with a health history, the first company you apply to may not be the right one, and a formal application is hard to take back.

Life insurance companies set their own underwriting guidelines, and for many conditions those guidelines differ widely. The same person can be declined by one insurer and approved by another. Within the approvals, one company’s rating can cost far more than another’s.

A formal application also leaves a trail. Insurers share coded information about applicants through an industry database, and most applications ask whether you have ever been declined, postponed or rated. A decline at one company can make the next one more cautious. Applying to company after company on your own adds to that trail with every attempt.

An informal inquiry reverses the order: find out first, then apply. And at JRC, informal inquiries are anonymous. Underwriters see your health history, not your name, so asking creates no record against you.

How Does an Informal Inquiry Work?

1. You answer a short questionnaire. It covers the basics an underwriter needs (listed below), plus details on any health conditions: when they were diagnosed, how they were treated, and how they are today.
2. We gather the details that matter for your condition. For a heart condition, that means recent echocardiogram or stress test results. For cancer, the type, stage, treatment and follow-up results. The more current the information, the more reliable the answer.
3. We send an anonymous summary to underwriters at several insurers. Your name is not included. We choose companies whose guidelines are known to fit your situation, not just the ones with the lowest healthy-person rates.
4. The underwriters reply. Each gives a tentative opinion: the rate class they would likely offer, or that they would decline or postpone. Most replies come back within a few days; some insurers take up to a week.
5. You compare and apply once. We compare the actual premiums, not just the rate classes, and you file one formal application with the company that offers the best combination of likely approval and price.

What Information Will You Need?

These are the questions we ask everyone who requests a quote. Each one matters to an underwriter:

• Coverage amount and length. How much coverage, and for how long: 10, 15, 20 or 30 years, or lifetime.
• Date of birth, height and weight. Age and build are part of every rate.
• Nicotine and tobacco. Any use in the past five years, what type, and when you last used it.
• Medications. What you take, and for how long. Prescriptions often tell an underwriter more than a diagnosis does.
• Major medical conditions. Anything beyond the occasional cold or flu, such as heart problems, cancer, stroke, diabetes, sleep apnea or depression, and whether you are still being treated.
• Family history. Heart disease, cancer or stroke in a parent or sibling before age 61, and their age at diagnosis or death.
• Driving record. Moving violations in the past three years, and any DUI or reckless driving in the past five.
• Foreign travel. Any trips planned outside North America in the next two years.
• Legal and financial history. Felony convictions, bankruptcies, or treatment for drug or alcohol use, and when you were discharged or cleared.
• Risky activities. Skydiving, rock climbing, private flying and similar.

How Much Detail Do You Need to Give?

More than most people expect, and it makes the biggest difference to the answer you get.

A reply such as “I have diabetes” or “I had a heart attack” is a starting point, not an answer an underwriter can use. We have to go back and ask more questions, which costs days, and a vague inquiry gets a vague, usually cautious, reply. The more specific you are up front, the faster and more accurate the result.

For every condition, give the date it was diagnosed or happened: the month and year, or at least the year if it was long ago. Then add the details underwriters ask about for that condition. Two common examples:

• Diabetes. When you were diagnosed, your most recent A1C, how it is treated (diet, pills or insulin), and whether you have had any complications, such as eye, kidney or nerve problems.
• Heart attack. The month and year, whether there was any heart damage, how many stents you received and in how many arteries, and the date and results of your most recent echocardiogram or stress test.

Many people won’t take the time to gather this. The ones who do get better answers.

What Makes an Informal Inquiry Accurate?

Recent test results. A recent echocardiogram, stress test, A1C or PSA result answers the underwriter’s main question before it is asked. Old records leave room for doubt, and underwriters rarely resolve doubt in your favor.

Finished tests. If you have a test or follow-up visit scheduled, such as a stress test, echocardiogram, CT angiogram or biopsy, have it done first. An underwriter who knows a result is pending will postpone the case until it comes in.

Complete answers. Insurers check prescription histories and medical records during a formal application. Anything left out of the inquiry will surface then and can change the offer. A complete inquiry gives you an answer you can rely on.

Is the Tentative Offer Guaranteed?

No. An informal inquiry tells you what an underwriter would likely offer based on the information provided. The final decision comes after the formal application, when the insurer reviews your medical records, prescription history and, if required, an exam.

When the inquiry is complete and current, the final offer usually matches it. Surprises come mostly from information that was missing or out of date.

What Happens After an Insurer Makes its Decision?

We keep shopping. Once an insurer has reviewed your full medical records and made a decision, we have a far more complete picture than any inquiry could provide. With your permission, we take that picture back to other insurers to see whether one of them will offer a better rate.

This happens all the time. An underwriter who was cautious based on a summary may be comfortable once the records show a stable history. The first offer is not necessarily the best one, and you are under no obligation to accept it.

Our advice: accept the offer you have while we keep shopping. Take whatever coverage you are comfortable with and pay monthly, so little money is tied up. If another insurer offers a better rate, you switch and stop the first policy. If no one does, you have lost nothing, because you kept the offer you already had. Offers don’t wait forever, and a change in your health while you shop could cost you the one you have.

One rule matters: don’t cancel the first policy until the new one is in force, meaning approved, accepted and the first premium paid. Until then, the first policy is your coverage.

When is an Informal Inquiry Most Worth Doing?

• You have more than one health condition, such as heart disease with diabetes, or sleep apnea with a weight issue. Combinations are where insurers differ most.
• You have been declined or postponed before, by any company, including an online insurer.
• You have a condition where guidelines vary widely, such as a heart attack, cancer, atrial fibrillation or diabetes with complications.
• You are applying for a large policy, or for coverage on two people, such as a survivorship policy for estate planning.

If you are in good health with no major history, an informal inquiry adds time without much benefit. We can usually quote and apply directly.

How JRC Can Help

JRC Insurance Group is an independent life insurance agency representing over 60 highly rated insurers, and we specialize in high-risk underwriting. An informal inquiry is how we start almost every case involving a health history. There is no charge for an informal inquiry or for our help. To begin, email Louis@JRCInsuranceGroup.com or call 855-247-9555, and we’ll send the questionnaire.

Louis Lopes, CLU, ChFC, is a licensed life insurance professional with JRC Insurance Group, an independent life insurance agency representing over 60 highly rated carriers. JRC specializes in complex coverage design and high-risk underwriting.