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Your handy underwriting guide 2. AGE PROOF

WHAT IS AGE PROOF?
Age Proof is a document issued by a competent authority showing the age or date of birth of a person that can be used as an evidence of age of that person. For Example: Municipal Birth Certificate, School Certificate, Passport, etc.

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF AGE PROOF?

The importance of age proofs in insurance is due to the need to know the actual age of the proposed insured. Actual age is important due to the reasons stated below; First, age is required because it affects the Premium charged. Broadly speaking the insurance premium is composed of the risk premium or pure premium + premium allocation charges + fund management charges + administration charges + service tax charges + other charges if any depending upon the product & riders opted; The risk or pure premium forms the majority percentage of premium and is calculated on the basis of mortality factor computed by the actuaries. Mortality is an estimate of the future longevity of a person and is dependent upon the age. Therefore the risk premium and hence the total premium is dependent upon the age at entry of the proposed insured. Thus the underwriter needs to know the actual age of the proposed insured. Secondly, every product has limitations on entry age, maturity age, benefit terms etc and it also varies within a product from package to package. Therefore, the underwriter needs to know whether the proposed insured is eligible for the product or not. For example: if a 60 year old man is applying for Invest Gain Diamond cover, he can not be allowed the same as for Invest Gain Diamond, the maximum entry age is 50 years. Then his package has to be changed to Economy, as maximum entry age in Invest Gain Economy is 65 years. But if the same person is applying for a benefit term of 15 years, the underwriter will ask for reduction of term as maximum age at maturity for Invest Gain Economy is 70 years. For all such calculations of product eligibility, age of the proposed insured is basic requirement.

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Thirdly, exact age is required to know if the proposed insured has attained majority (18 years or above) and is eligible for making contract or contractual eligibility. This is important because contract with minors is void ab initio, i.e., illegal. In such cases the policy holder has to be different than proposed insured. Fourthly, age is important for calculation of the financial eligibility and human life value. For example, a person aged 55 years having annual income 1 lakh will be allowed a maximum cover of 10 lakhs while for the same annual income but age 56, the total cover allowed is 5 lakhs. Hence the underwriter must know the exact age of the person to calculate financial eligibility. Fifthly, exact age is necessary for categorizing the proposal as medical or non-medical and if medical eligibility is there then what reports are to be called. For example, for Sum Under Consideration of 10 lakhs, a 30 year old man is eligible for non-medical underwriting, whereas for a 40 year old man the underwriter will call for Medical Examination report & A1 Test; for a 50 year old man, he will call additionally for B1 test & ECG.

WHAT IS STANDARD AND NON STANDARD AGE PROOF?

The age proofs are classified as Standard and Non Standard Age Proofs. Standard proofs are those which are issued by the competent authority after thorough verification procedures and these procedures are standardized, i.e., do not vary widely. The verification is generally done on the basis of thorough verification of the records of the event or based on examination of another standard document. The Standard age proofs can be verified from the records later on if required. For example: Municipal Birth Certificate, issued by the Municipal Corporation is based on hospital records; PAN Card, Passport etc are issued after thorough verification process which is observed the same way for all applicants. On the other hand, Non Standard Age Proofs are those which draw negative attention due to the wide variations in the procedures used to issue them, the lack of proper verification or absence of records to justify the data provided in the proof. Hence these are not used as standard evidences. For Example: Voter Id Card, Ration Card, Affidavit on Stamp Paper etc;

LIST OF STANDARD AND NON STANDARD AGE PROOFS

The following are considered as Standard Age Proofs: i. Municipal Birth Certificate/Certified extract from municipal or other records made at the time of birth ii. School or college certificate or authenticated extract from the School or college records if the date of birth is stated therein. iii. Passport iv. Certified extract from Service register in the case of Government and quasi government employees. v. Identity Cards issued by the Defense department of Defense personnel showing the date of birth. vi. Domicile certificate in which the date of birth is mentioned vii. School Transfer certificate (TC) viii. Baptism certificate ix. Marriage Certificate of Christians issued by a Roman Catholic Church x. Certified extract from the birth register maintained by the Village Panchayat stating the date of birth. This extract to be on letter head of the Village Panchayat with signature of the Sarpanch along with the seal. xi. PAN card xii. Permanent Drivers License The following are considered Non Standard Age Proof: i. Life Insurance Policy from LIC or any other private Life insurance company ii. Voters ID iii. Ration Card along with date of registration iv. E.S.I.S Card. v. Affidavit on stamp paper(can be accepted only in cases of traditional plans; cannot be used in Unit Linked plans)

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RESTRICTIONS ON NON STANDARD AGE PROOFS

For Traditional plans: i. Maximum age at entry for non-standard age proof is 50 years ii. Maximum age at Maturity for non-standard age proof is 60 years iii. A loading of Re 1/- per thousand will be levied as non-standard age extra. iv. Maximum term 25 years v. The Minimum premium will be as per prevailing rules vi. Maximum SA will be restricted 2 lakhs.

For ULIPs: i. NSAPs can be accepted for proposals under certain unit-linked plans with the restrictions and an appropriate age related non-standard age proof extra. ii. The minimum age at entry for non-standard age proof is 18 years. iii. The maximum age at entry for non-standard age proof is 55 years.

Non Standard Age Proof Extra

AGE GROUP 18-40 41-50 51-55

EXTRA MORTALITY CHARGES (Rs.) 1 2 3

GENERAL POINTS TO BE NOTED WHILE PROVIDING AGE PROOFS

The Age Proof copy provided by the proposed Insured/ Proposer must contain the self attestation of the same in order to
establish ownership of responsibility of the document submitted.

The age proof copy should be duly verified by the STM. The age proofs like School Certificates, Village Panchayat letters must be in the valid format with issuing date. For age proofs like Ration card, Voter ID card etc, the registration number or Identification number must be clearly visible
in the copy provided. Under exceptional circumstances when it is not possible to obtain the signature of the Life Assured/Proposer for some genuine reason, the same should be verified by the Branch Manager with the remarks Verified with the Original after due verification. The age mentioned on the proposal form must match with age on age proof. If there is a mismatch in the Date of Birth in two age proofs then a clarification must be given providing the reason for the mismatch and confirmation of correct Date of Birth. If policy has been applied for using the old proposal form and non standard age proof has been submitted then please provide consent for non-standard age proof extra. Please do not provide the same if application has been made using New Proposal Form as the new form already contains the non-standard age proof extra consent letter. Do not provide age proof copies with incomplete documents. For age proofs like Driving License, Passport, Voter Id, Ration Card etc, a copy of all the documents must be provided instead of only the page containing the Date of Birth.

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COMMON FACTS ABOUT CERTAIN AGE PROOFS

School Certificates
The documents issued by School or College are: Bonafide School Certificate, School Certificate, School Mark Sheet, School Leaving Certificate, & School Transfer certificate; The correct identification of such documents is essential for smooth issuance process. Therefore it is very essential for the users to understand the format and information contained in each type of document issued by a school/ college.

BONAFIDE SCHOOL CERTIFICATE

Sample Format It is not necessary that the heading should be Bonafide certificate. It may or may not be explicitly written as Bonafide Certificate. Some formats are shown below:

Purpose of Issuing It is issued to basically certify that the candidate was a student of that school/ college and provide information about the duration of study, the Date of birth, the conduct of the candidate etc. How to Identify? The user has to go through the content, which is generally a short paragraph. The user has to identify correctly that it does not belong to any other format. User needs to be careful because generally many times it is written as School Certificate but it is a Bonafide certificate.

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SCHOOL CERTIFICATE
Sample Format

Purpose of Issuing The School certificate is issued when the results of an important examination is declared like, passing matriculation etc. The school certifies what examination the candidate appeared, what grade the candidate secured, and also provide details like parents name & date of birth. How to Identify? Generally it is issued by the Education Board like CBSE, State Education Boards etc. It may or may not contain details about marks obtained in each subject It gives the result of an examination.

SCHOOL/ COLLEGE MARKSHEET

Sample Format

Purpose of Issuing The School or College Mark Sheet contains the details of the marks obtained in an examination from the total marks, and also contains details like the candidates Parents name and Date of Birth; Generally all these details come in mark sheets of major examinations like Matriculation etc; How to identify? The School or College mark sheet is easy to identify as it contains subject name, marks obtained, total marks and grading etc;

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SCHOOL/ COLLEGE TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OR SCHOOL/ COLLEGE LEAVING CERTIFICATE

Sample Format

Purpose of issuing The School/College Leaving Certificate or School/ College Transfer Certificate is issued when a candidate leaves the school after qualifying the highest degree offered by the institution or is leaving the institution without completing study from there. It contains the Name of the candidate, name of the parents, Date of Birth, the admission date, leaving date, leaving from which grade/class, reason for leaving etc. How to identify? The School leaving certificate or Transfer certificate can be identified by its heading which is generally by the same name and also by the contents.

Letter from Village Panchayat

The letter from the village Panchayat stating the age or date of birth will be considered standard age proof only
if, It has been extracted from the Birth Registrar maintained by the Village Panchayat, It has been given on the letterhead of the Village Panchayat, It contains the Signature of the Sarpanch along with date and seal.

If the village Panchayat does not maintain any certified birth registrar then the letter will be considered as a
Non Standard Age Proof.

The End