Hi,
I'm looking for some decent income insurance. Can anyone suggest a reliable agency with non-extortionist premiums?
Must include cover if injury occurs kite boarding/surfing/cycling
I've been with the same numpties for nearly a decade, never claimed, and they have continually hiked up my premiums to the point they are completely abusing the 'loyalty' situation.
Also when changing jobs a while back, and notifying that I had a bit of increase in income, they made me fill out 40 x pages of forms (which they lost and I had to do it again!!) They have not activated the changes - again - and are wanting the 40 pages again!!
Hopeless numpties. 
In short their service is r@tsh!t, their premiums overpriced and I've had a gutful! 
Thanks Breezers 
http://cm.onebigswitch.com.au/t/ViewEmail/r/96ECF799E28230AE2540EF23F30FEDED/BEC5C29BEE8E4F3084E5AAD5A6C37FC6
Try signing up to the "Big Insurance Switch" - the above offer to members came to me via email this morning. If you're interested in the Switch I think you can join (free and you don't get too many emails) when you click the tab to see the offer.
I haven't used this group buying process yet for any of my insurances but I've read good reports about it.
Remember though that they all want you to sign up but they generally make it hard to claim.
Have you tried your Super provider. I'm in an industry fund and the costs are minimal and the cover the same as commercial. Probably because they are not for profit.
As for kitesurfing incl. ?? Might be worth checking.
Ta for the replies fellas. 
Original policy was IMG - then - Tower - now - OnePath (all under ANZ banner as each company has been 'reimagined' 
)
They have NOT processed any changes to my profession or income (yet have increased the premium multiple times in the last year alone) as they have not had their act together to process the 40 pages of forms I have returned.
I mean - seriously?? - Who needs 40 pages of docs (that I had to print out each time) to notify of change of employer and income??
No electronic option was available, what a waste of time, paper and energy.
NOTE: I get the distinct impression ANZ have taken FULL advantage of the fact that my home loan/savings are also them and are milking the 'loyalty' (read: too painful/lazy to look elsewhere) factor to the max.
Time for a change all round as in every respect ANZ service has been rubbish for years.
Yes, am looking into Super provider policy today but expect a fair bit of red tape to wade through.
Here is the rub for most peeps; it is that painful to sort this stuff most (like myself) stay far too long in a poor value policy and when it's time to pull stumps the provider must be thinking "Oh that is a shame, still, we milked that sucker real good while we had him" 
You think that's bad. I finally got around to consolidating my super. I found one fund was setup with income insurance when I worked for the company that used that fund, and when I left, they decided to continue the insurance, but the premiums went from around $250 pa to $700 pa. Not being that concerned with details, I never noticed, and the return from that super fund went backwards.
I am sure I never agreed to continue the insurance, so I need to find out how they were able to automatically roll me into another policy, but I think this is common. I really think a lot of funds prefer you not to take notice of their accounts. A few of my funds made my accounts 'lost' which is crazy given that I never changed address. I think there are super funds milking this for all its worth, but the good news is that the government now have a great system (excellent!) for checking on superfunds and finding what you have and allowing you to transfer it.
Be wary of fine print, its often not worth much, maybe another option just having death and disablement cover via your super fund. And maybe think about industry super funds.
Hey Funky, you aint seen nothing yet, wait till you make a claim, then you'll know what paperwork is
Average at best thinkin of getting a new one
Shoulder has finally come good though
Not a big fan of the Australian medical "industry" and the eff around they put you through (think I'll head os if I go for the knee)
As evil as insurance companies are, I'm very glad I had income protection though as I would have been truly stuffed without it
As little Jon said, be wary of the fine print, many insurers now won't cover claims resulting from aerial sport, this includes kitesurfing. Seems that anything that involves height is just too risky for a lot of insurance companies. I dropped my insurance through super and went through a broker to find one that would cover me, I still claim the premiums on my tax so same as having it paid from my super, just means the insurance suits my needs.
Be aware - if your income protection policy is part of your superannuation, it will be using stripping your super to pay for the insurance.
Also, as far as I know - premiums for an income protection insurance that is tied to your super, cannot be claimed as a tax deduction.
The payments for an income protection policy that is not attached to your super, are a tax deduction.
If I could find the lass from AMP that organised my income protection policy, I would be buying her a big box of chockies and a bunch of flowers....
stephen
Yup that's correct Stephen..
Can't claim a tax deduction for IP or LI paid by your super fund..
And yes fees & costs erode your super balance...
Select to expand quoteLambroast said...
Yup that's correct Stephen..
Can't claim a tax deduction for IP or LI paid by your super fund..
And yes fees & costs erode your super balance...
Yup that's correct also...
...but the payments come out of your super where you have only paid 15% via salary sacrifice into the super in the first place so you're never going to be able to claim them as a deduction. So as a general rule if you take out IP through your industry super fund then I'm not sure you can do any better. And the obvious way to stop the balance erosion you're talking about is to up the amount you put in that it costs for the insurance.
The industry super funds insurances are one of the few ways of accessing "reasonably" priced IP and LI products I think.
I am a finance broker and I refer my clients to Life broker for their insurance cover.
They have a large suite of the main insurer available and would provide a free no obligation quote for the most competitive insurer.
Send me a pm if you want me to refer you, simply give me your full name, smoker or non-smoker and a convenient date and time to be contacted as well as your preferred contact number.
They will give you a call at the agreed time and you can take it from there.
If you get a quote from them, let me know how it compared to your own research as I always like to make sure that they are competitive.
Cheers,
Thanks for the info guys.
Messy business this.. no wonder so few people shop around or swap cover and the insurers take full advantage of that. 
Helpful advice above and did not know that about super-related IP. Ta
Hey Funky - long time no hear?
Best to look at what your Super Fund can do for you before going stand alone. As part of the exercise you may find a better fund to put your Super into, other than the one that you are in now.
But never cancel your existing arrangements until you are sure that any new arrangements meet your needs. There may be a brief period where you have doubled up, better than where you have a period with no cover at all. Also make sure that this fits in with what your wife's cover has as well.
Hey Diver, yep have begun (slowly) working through it all and going to do the hamburger with the lot rather than just add cheese..
Can't work out what is going on in your measly image but will assume it extolls the glory of 3 premiership wins or something similar. 
Dunno about you but I needed to be hit with the defribillator after last years GF. Worst GF 'spectacle' in several years. 
I'd be weary of the fine print, esp. in the area of the aforementioned activities, heaven forbid you need to claim through an accident.
I looked into it many years ago, but found it was way too expensive compared to the loopholes hidden in the Ts & Cs.
They have 10s of ways of getting out of it, and you will have paid for nothing all these years.
This is no different than travel insurance, baggage insurance, home insurance and all that.
Get a lawyer
