Premium flexibility aims to improve customer retention – and satisfaction
Growing numbers of insurance policyholders are struggling to meet their monthly premiums as they feel the pinch of the receding economy, according to Andrew Warren of Liberty Life. In a show of support, Liberty Life is providing assistance to valued customers by offering flexibility on retirement annuity (RAs) premiums.
The offer demonstrates Liberty’s empathy with clients who are battling through the recession and struggling to meet their monthly payments, and shows its continued commitment to them.
The premium flexibility benefits are twofold. As well as benefitting the client, the offer helps protect financial advisers whose futures could otherwise hang in the balance during precarious economic times.
Liberty Life is urging clients not to panic and cancel or surrender their hard-earned investments. Such impulsive action would likely result in suffering losses; the company is instead taking measures to help customers through this period.
With the economy starting to show the green shoots of recovery, together with the aid of Liberty Life, clients can be assured that their investments should be healthy at the other end of the recession. With the lowering interest rates and declining inflation, the pressure on consumers’ discretionary spend has eased. Recessions never last indefinitely and the South African economy is expected to show improvement towards the end of this year, and into 2010.
Liberty’s premium flexibility will go a long way towards easing consumer pressure. It will help to alleviate the risk of losing out on investments in the event of policy lapses. It also saves the hassle of having to start the process once again, especially since the signs of economic recovery are already evident.
It is expected that Liberty Life may soon be expanding this facility to other products.
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