Taking A Closer Look At Brokers And Life Insurance
If obtaining insurance and life insurance South Africa is a mission for you, you are probably doing it wrong! There are so many tools available to assist individuals with getting cheaper, more comprehensive insurance quotes. You can log onto the internet and compare a number of quotes in a couple of minutes. You can pick up the phone and speak to a qualified insurance agent who will be able to assess your needs and requirements. Or you can simply follow the easiest route of all and make use of an insurance broker.
A life insurance South Africa broker can be seen as the man in the middle, the link between the life insurance company and the client, the mediator between the buyer and the seller. This person will basically represent the client and act on behalf of the client and for this reason brokers need to be experts in their field. The last thing you would want is being stuck with an unqualified broker – then you could possibly be off even worse than when trying to make sense of insurance on your own!
It is important to make sure that the life insurance South Africa broker that you decide on is in fact licensed as a financial service provider. The Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act of 2004 takes care of broker registration and you are therefore entitled to request to see a broker's license, before entrusting him/her with your insurance needs. This act also specifies that brokers are required to supply their clients with certain information.
Brokers usually receive commission directly from the life insurance company they sell policies for. This is generally known as brokerage. Brokers are also allowed to charge a consulting or policy fee for their services, but most brokers will purely work on the insurance commission.
Having a broker is like having a full-time insurance assistance – you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain!