Financial Hardship

If you have Asteron Life Insurance, we may be able to help with:

• accessing features of your cover that may assist with affordability,
• assisting you to make changes to your policy and/or change to a different type of policy, and
• discussing your payment options to reduce your premium.

Assistance when making a claim

We understand making a claim can be stressful. Our claims managers are here to support and work with you to find a solution in:

• understanding what is required of you,
• completing claim forms,
• providing requested claim information.

This may include offering to collect the information on your behalf, with your permission.

If you hold a Life Insurance policy and urgently need the benefits due to a condition that your policy covers, we will assess your request for urgent access to your benefits. We may ask you for evidence of this urgent need.

We will aim to prioritise your claim for an illness or injury your policy covers. We will let you know what help we can offer you as soon as possible or within 5 business days of receiving all the evidence we need.

If we accept your request, we will confirm any help we offer in writing which might include:

• prioritising your claim assessment and our decision, and/or
• advancing part of your claim payment.

If you disagree with the outcome or are dissatisfied with how your claim was assessed, you can lodge a complaint.

Support for Existing Customers

All Asteron policies come with a grace period or period of extended cover when customers miss a premium payment. Generally, your insurance cover continues for at least 30 days if you miss a premium payment. So don’t worry if you have missed a premium payment recently, you are still covered for at least 30 days depending on your individual policy.

If you are an existing customer and having difficulty in making premium payments, please contact Asteron Customer Service on 1800 221 727, or contact your financial adviser to discuss your individual situation.

Please note that in some circumstances, some of these options may not be available to all customers, particularly if your individual insurance policy is funded through your superannuation fund.

Support for Small Business and SMEs

A strong and resilient small business is sector is critical for the Australian community and economy.  As a principle, Asteron will actively seek out opportunities to work with, and engage, small and medium sized (SME) enterprises.  In addition, Asteron will reduce our payment times for SME suppliers and businesses from 30 days to 14 days to support their cashflow requirements.

We recognise that each customer has their own individual circumstances and we encourage you to call Asteron Customer Service on 1800 221 727, or contact your financial adviser to discuss your individual situation.

Other ways to get help

If you're dealing with financial hardship it’s important that you get the help and support you need. In addition to speaking with us, these organisations may be able to provide you with further assistance. 

Life Insurance Code of Practice

We have signed up to the Life Insurance Code of Practice. This Code sets out our obligations to you, covering the standards we must meet, rules around disclosure and how we should act when it comes to assisting with financial hardship. You can read the Code of Practice or find out more about it on the FSC website.

This standard does not apply to policies owned by a superannuation fund trustee as access to superannuation benefits is limited by law. However, you should contact the trustee directly as they may have other means of assisting you with financial hardship.