Westpac Life vs Asteron Life

Westpac Life offers life and related cover under a bank brand, with the risk typically carried by a third-party licensed insurer. Asteron Life is a licensed New Zealand life insurer writing life, trauma, TPD and income protection through Registered Financial Service Providers.

The difference that costs people most is not price. It is what happens to the cover when the mortgage changes. A policy you own continues regardless of who holds your lending. Cover arranged around a specific loan can reduce as the balance falls, be assigned to the lender, or terminate on refinance — and refinancing is exactly the moment when nobody is thinking about their life insurance.

The second difference is scope. A bank channel shows you one insurer, and often a narrower version of that insurer’s range, particularly on income protection and own-occupation TPD.

Six questions. The first two are the ones that get skipped.

These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.

• That personal insurance is not a condition of lending in New Zealand.
• Whether a banking package discount is conditional on keeping the policy.
• Whether the same underwriter offers a broader wording through advisers.
• Whether the occupation class assumed matches what you actually do.
• Whether you were given time to read the wording before signing.

Every New Zealand insurer writes life and living cover to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.

• An adviser quotes both insurers on matched terms — same sum insured, same structure, same waiting and benefit periods — which is the only way the numbers mean anything.
• Where a health history is not straightforward, an adviser can pre-assess it anonymously with both insurers before any formal application exists, so an unfavourable answer never lands on your record.
• Policy fees and multi-benefit discounts mean the cheaper per-benefit rate is often not the cheaper household total. An adviser models the total.
• An adviser arranges cover you own, which survives a change of lender and can be reviewed when the mortgage changes.
• An adviser is not on the other side of your lending decision, which removes an obvious conflict.

There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.

The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.

• An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
• An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
• An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
• An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.

We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.

1. 1

   You tell us what you are looking at

   The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.

2. 2

   An adviser calls you

   A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.

3. 3

   They compare the market

   The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.

4. 4

   You decide, in your own time

   There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.