How quickly will I receive my money if I need to make a claim?

That will depend on several things, such as what kind of insurance you are claiming, and which documents you need to provide.

For some clear-cut claims, where you are able to provide all the necessary documents with your application and no investigations are needed, payments can be made within as little as 48 hours of submitting the paperwork. In some circumstances an insurance company may even be willing to make an advance payment to cover specific expenses – for example, they may release funds to cover funeral expenses before the main payment under a life insurance policy.

However, collecting all the medical evidence to support your claim may be a complex and time-consuming process, especially if you have to wait for appointments with specialists or for Medicare to issue certificates. It's vital that we help you provide everything they need, or your claim could be held up for weeks.

If you claim on income protection insurance you will not receive any payments until the end of the waiting period you choose when you buy the policy, typically 30, 60 or 90 days. If someone needs to make an income protection, TPD or trauma claim on your behalf, in the case of serious illness, the claims process could also be held up until they can prove they have the right authority.

Our claims team will guide you through the process and help you keep track of exactly what you need to do when. We will advise you on how to go about collecting the information you need and make sure that nothing gets missed. We realise that claims are usually made during stressful, emotional times so we do everything we can to make it easier for you, and having us to advocate for you can really help to get things moving.