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FAQs

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FAQs

Application

In general, “cooling-off period” refers to a 21-day period immediately after the policy or Welcome Letter is issued to the applicant, or the representative of the applicant (whichever is earlier). During the cooling-off period, the applicant should read the policy provisions in detail and make sure the insurance plan is suitable to his/her needs. He/she may also exercise his/her right to cancel the insurance policy and be refunded with all premiums paid. The amount of the refund may be adjusted in accordance with market rate as stipulated in specific policy provisions.

Thank you for supporting BOC Life. You may call BOC Life Application Hotline at +852 2862 9862 , or click here to leave your contact information, and our professional Wealth Management Team will contact you to introduce suitable solutions.

Help and Support

You may submit your valuable comments by clicking here or you may contact us by email or by calling our Customer Service Hotline

You may login to eService to view policy information. You may also submit applications for designated policy change via eService.

You may login to eService to view policy information, or call our Customer Services Hotline at +852 2860 0688. We also offer toll-free long distance enquiry hotlines for Mainland China and Macau.

Click here to learn more.
 

eService Platform

eService Platform is a one-stop online self-service policy portal for you to view your policy coverage details and financial status, make changes of policy instruction and submit Claims application, etc at your convenience. 

You may enter eService Platform and click "New User Registration". Follow the instruction to enter the default Login ID and password and then click "Register" to activate your account.
After successful activation of your account, the website will show the latest record of email address and mobile phone number registered by you. You may choose either one channel to receive verification code to complete the  identity validation and reset your password. To complete the identity validation , please note that it is necessary for you to provide us a valid email address and mobile phone number at the time of application or before activating your account.

Should you have any inquiries, please call our Customer Services Hotline at +852 2860 0688 during office hours. 
Click here to know more.

When you complete the registration of eService Platform account, the system will automatically list out all inforce policies under your registration.
You can click "Detail" on the website to check basic information, payment information, benefits information and policy value information, etc for each policy respectively. You can also view and download e-Policy at the eService Platform.  

We provide services for various types of e-Statement / e-Correspondence including but not limited to Anniversary Statement / Maturity Notice, Premium Holiday Notice, Direct Debit Related Letter, Premium Notice / Premium Reminder Notice, Policy Lapse / Grace Period Expiry Notice, Notice of Automatic Premium Loan, Policy Serving Letter, Investment Linked Related Letter, Policy Value Projection and Qualifying Deferred Annuity Policy (QDAP) / Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) Tax Related Record, etc. 
You only need to login eService Platform to complete simple registration procedure. Then you can login eService Platform to view and download e-Statement / e-Correspondence at any time. Please note that you shall not receive statement / correspondence in paper format after opting for e-Statement / e-Correspondence service. We shall issue a SMS notification to inform you when your e-Statement(s) / e-Correspondence(s) are available.
You can change the collection method of statement / correspondence via eService Platform at any time. A confirmation SMS will be issued to you after updating the relevant instruction in the system.

Please login to eService Platform and click "Enquiry of e-Statement/e-Correspondence" under main menu or click "e-Statement" under "Download and View Policy Document" of the designated policy to enter enquiry page.

You can login eService Platform and click "Policy Change" under "More Options" of the designated policy to select the policy change request.
At eService Platform, you can give online policy change instructions including but not limited to:
1) Change contact details
2) Change premium payment method
3) Withdraw policy value
4) Change dividend option / guaranteed cash payment option / maturity instruction
5) Change the collection method of Policy Statement / Correspondence
6) Apply for policy loan 
Click here or refer to "FAQs - Policy Management" to know more about policy management information. 

You can login eService Platform to select the designated policy. Click "More Options" and select "E-Claims" to input required information and upload supporting documents for the claims application. After submitting the online claims application, you can click "Claims Service" to check the claim status and claim history. 
The following types of benefit could be submitted via eService Platform now:
1) Accident Benefit
2) Critical Illness
3) Hospital & Surgical Reimbursement
4) Hospital Income / Surgical Income
5) New Born Baby Benefit
6) Waiver of Premiums / Disability of Dismemberment Benefit
Click here or refer to "FAQs - Claim" to know more about claims related information. 

Policy Management

You may receive a maturity notice issued by us within one month before the policy maturity date. The policy maturity date, default maturity payment instruction and projected maturity value will be displayed on the notice. 

In general, we will arrange to release the maturity payment on the first working day after policy maturity. You may receive maturity payment via your solely owned account at Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, Nanyang Commercial Bank Ltd or Chiyu Banking Corporation Ltd, or receive the payment by cheque. 

If you would like to change the way in which you will receive the maturity value, please (i) login eService Platform to update the instruction or (ii) complete and return the attached Reply Slip or below application form with your ID copy to us (BOC Group Life Assurance Co Ltd. 13/F, 1111 King’s Road, Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong) within two weeks of the date of the notice. 

Please note that the availability of the maturity payment may be varied by banks or the maturity payment options. 

Download Application for Policy Change - General 

Life insurance differs from general insurance as life insurance involves a substantially longer coverage period. If the insured surrenders their life insurance policy in the first few years after the commencement of the policy, the surrender value received is usually less than the total premium paid.

When considering policy replacement, the insured should pay attention that the new insurance company may re-assess underwriting criteria such as the applicant's health condition, occupation, leisure activities, etc. Moreover, the provisions of the new policy may be different from those of the existing policy, which could affect results of future claims. The insured should compare the provisions of the existing policy with those of the new one thoroughly, and evaluate if policy replacement is in their best interest.

You can log in to eService for updating personal information, premium payment method, amending protection coverage, and applying policy value withdrawal. You can also download relevant forms for these applications. 

You can login eService to update the premium payment method. You can also download relevant form for application. 

If you want to settle the payment by autopay, please fill out "Application For Autopay" form. Please settle suffient premium payment in advance to avoid any delay during direct debit authorisation process. Please refer to the table below: 

Bank accountBOC Credit Card^
premium of 3 monthspremium of 1 month

^ we accept BOC credit card only
 

Under normal situation, we will process the transaction requests for ILAS policies on the same working day (except Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays, any gale warning day and/or  black rainstorm warning day) if the duly completed form is received at or before the cut-off time on a working day and the time of receipt of all the duly completed form and supporting documents by our Policy Administration Department shall prevail. Otherwise, we will process such transaction request on the next working day.

The current cut-off time is 12:00 noon. We reserve the right to adjust the cut-off time from time to time and announce the latest cut-off time here.

Claim

You may submit Claim application to BOC Life via below means:  

1.    Via BOC Life eService platform:
You can visit BOC Life website Help and Support > Claims Submission for claims submission preparation and login our eService Platform to submit your e-Claims application. You can download and view Easy Guide of e-Claims submission to know more about e-Claims application.

2.    Via your Insurance Intermediary:
Send the completed claim form and relevant documents to your Insurance Intermediary and they will manage the claims for you.

3.    By post:
Our mailing address
13/F, 1111 King's Road, Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong

Application for death claim or document certification services:
Visit our Customer Services Centre or the nearby Bank of China (Hong Kong) Branch for assistant.

We shall begin the claim assessment upon receipt of your claim application. In general, the processing time takes 3 - 5 working days. BOC Life eService Platform allows you to check the claim status and result at any time, or you will receive a SMS notification after the claim is completed.

To facilitate the Claim application process, we sincerely invite you to check the relevant Terms and Conditions of your insurance policy. Since the involved payable benefits of a claim case may vary from different products, we also suggest you to contact your Insurance Intermediary or our Customer Services Hotline at (852) 2860 0688 to know more.

Hospital Claim

Within 30 days from the date of discharge/hospital confinement surgical procedure (if day case/clinical procedure)

Accident Claim

Within 30 days from the date of accident

Critical Illness Claim

Within 30 days after the date of diagnosed

Disability Claim

Within 180 days after the start date of the disability

Subject to particular form’s requirement, you may need to invite the attending doctor to complete Claim Form Part II with signature and chop. All required medical report fee will be at your own expenses.

If you apply for “Hospital/Surgical Cash” or “Hospital Cash” under the public hospital care, you can submit the "Discharge Summary" or “Discharge Slip” which specifies the admission date, discharge date and final diagnosis as a reference for our initial claim assessment. We reserve our right to request Claim Form Part II or additional information on case-by-case basis.

A valid medical receipt should include the full name of patient, date of consultation/diagnosis, the detail breakdown of charges, and official stamp of medical service provider or full name, signature, address and phone number of the attending physician/specialist doctor.

Subject to various situations, you may need to prepare “Certified True Copy” (CTC) by inviting the regional charted professionals or organizations to sign on the respective copies with CTC chop to certify them for the original documents.

For Hospital Surgery reimbursement claims, we accept CTC receipts issued by other insurers.

For Death Claims, we accept death document (e.g. death certification, letters of administration, ID card of the deceased / beneficiary) verified by representatives of Bank of China (Hong Kong) or BOC Life Customer Service Centre, or legally accepted professionals (e.g. solicitors, notary public, etc.). You can contact your Insurance Intermediary or our Customer Services Hotline at (852) 2860 0688 to know more.

You may check claim progress and result at eService Platform.
For cases requiring any additional information, we will notify you or your Insurance Intermediary (if applicable) and you may reply by uploading the additional information via eService Platform. Once the claim is approved, you will receive a SMS notification.

For claim progress and result enquiries, e.g. death claims, etc. Please contact your Insurance Intermediary or our Customer Services Hotline at (852) 2860 0688.

Certain hospital & surgical benefit plans include "Emergency Outpatient Treatment (Accident)" coverage, which mainly covers injuries caused by accidents where the insured receives treatment at a hospital outpatient unit within 24 hours after the accident happened. However, it does not cover outpatient treatment due to illness.

"Emergency Outpatient Treatment (Accident)" coverage may vary in different products, you may refer to the Terms and Benefits coverage of your policies.

“Surgical Cash” provided by Tele-Marketing policies does not cover surgery taken place at “Hospital Outpatient Clinics”, “Medical Centre” and “Clinics”.

For example, “Health Assure Refundable Surgical Cash Plan” is eligible to claims application if you have surgery at hospital operating room and admit to hospital for more than 18 hours.

For Hospital & Surgical expenses reimbursement, if you need to claim the balance of medical expenses from us, you have to provide the CTC of documents and / or the breakdown of payment settlement after claiming from other insurers, forward them with your “Claim Application” form to us for handling. Therefore, you cannot file the same claim case to BOC Life and other insurers concurrently.

For indemnity claims such as surgical cash or hospital cash, you can file a claim with the receipts’ copy to different insurers at the same time.

In general, the payment shall be paid to the beneficiary assigned. However, if no beneficiary is assigned, the handling for own estate cases is different.

For Tele-Marketing policies, we will pay the benefit payment to the policyowner if he / she is different from insured according to contract provision. If the policyowner is the insured, the benefit payment will be payable to administrator / executrix as per stated in Letters of Administration / Grant of Probate.

For non-Tele-Marketing policies, the proceeds will be payable to administrator / executrix as per stated in Letters of Administration / Grant of Probate.

The respective claimant has to provide additional document* as follows:

Beneficiary assigned

No beneficiary assigned

  • Original Identity proof of the Beneficiary
  • Copy of Relationship proof between the Insured and Beneficiary
  • Original Grant of Probate or Original Letter of Administration
  • Original Identity proof of the administrator / executrix

* We may request the claimant to provide additional information in certain circumstances to handle the claim process.

You may choose to receive the payment by Faster Payment System “FPS” (FPS account must be solely owned by the Policy Owner) (Not applicable to Death claims) or by Autopay (The account must be a Bank of China / NCB / CYB account solely owned by the policy owner). In addition, you may choose to collect the claims payment by cheque.

Products

The actual amount of dividend paid out is determined by our dividend policy which is based on our past experience and long-term expectation of our participating business.

Click here to learn more.

Universal life insurance is a type of whole life insurance. Its primary features are flexibilities (such as flexible premium) and clear separate listing of pricing factors (such as interest and operating expenses), while term life insurance and whole life insurance only show the gross premium. On the other hand, universal life insurance allows policy owner the option to pay a preferred level of premium within a specified range, thereby enhancing flexibility. In general, the cash value of a universal life insurance policy grows with the premium level.

Annuity is different from ordinary life insurance. The applicant of an annuity plan is required to make a one-off premium payment or pay the premium by installment. The insurance company then guarantees that after the deferred period, it will pay a fixed amount to the annuitant regularly until the annuitant dies.

Click here to learn more

We have invited a professional certification body to conduct pre-issuance assurance and post-issuance assurance for BOC Life’s green insurance product series according to the "Green Insurance Framework" and issued these attestation reports.
 (For details, please refer to Pre-issuance Attestation Report of Green Insurance Series & Post-issuance Attestation Report of Green Insurance Series)
 

Payment Methods

We recommend our customer to pay premium by Autopay to avoid premium overdue which may affect the protection. A number of other payment methods are also available.

Click here to learn more.

The direct debit date is determined by the policy date

Policy DateDate of premium debit
1st -15th at 00:00 of the 2nd  day of the month when premium due
16th -31stat 00:00 of the 16th  day of the month when premium due

If the date of debit is a non-working day, the premium will be debited on the following day

Common Report Standard

The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is a new internationl requirement to tackle tax evasion and protect the integrity of tax systems, through information gathering and reporting by financial insitituions in participating countries. The requirements have gone through legislative procedures and have formed par of the Inland Revenue Ordinance of Hong Kong. All financial institutions (e.g. designated insurance companies, including BOC Life) in participating countries/ territories (including Hong Kong) are required to comply with CRS.
 

Exchanging financial account information on an automatic basis is a new international standard, designed to enhance tax transparency and combat cross-border tax evasion. AEOI involves the transmission of financial account information from Hong Kong to an overseas tax jurisdiction with which Hong Kong has entered into an AEOI agreement (or known as an "AEOI partner"). The information relates only to the tax residents of the jurisdiction of the AEOI partner.

BOC Life is obliged to report on reportable insurance accounts held by insurance customers to Inland Revenue Department of Hong Kong. Generally speaking, information will not be reported to Inland Revenue Department if the customer of BOC Life is a Hong Kong permanent resident, who does not hold any foreign passport, is a taxpayer in Hong Kong only and is not a tax resident of any territory outside Hong Kong. The Inland Revenue Ordinance requires BOC Life to apply due diligence procedures to collect all required information and documentation from account holders (i.e. the policy owner, claimant or beneficiary, similarly hereinafter). According to the relevant ordinance, BOC Life may ask account holders to complete self-certification forms for verification of their tax residency status. The self-certifications will be kept by BOC Life for a period of six years upon completion of customer due diligence procedures or termination of policy .

This is a formal declaration that the account holder makes in connection with his/her tax residency. According to the due diligence procedures (which are based on the international standard required), self-certifications would be required from account holders for all new insurance policies (i.e. policies issued on or after 1st January 2017) to identify the tax residency. As for pre-existing accounts (i.e. policies issued before 1st January 2017), BOC Life will verify account holder's tax residency according to policy records and will seek self-certification from the account holder to confirm its tax residence.

Please note : An account holder, who knowingly or recklessly provides a statement that is misleading, false or incorrect when making a self-certification to a reporting financial institutions, is liable on conviction to a fine at level 3 (HK$10,000). The Inland Revenue Department may check the details of the self-certification, if necessary.

Account holders should advise BOC Life of any change in circumstances which affects their tax residency status or causes the information contained in a self-certification to become incorrect. Generally, account holders should provide BOC Life with a suitably updated self-certification form within 30 days of such change in circumstances.

As far as personal data is concerned, the information to be exchanged includes name, address, jurisdiction of residence, taxpayer identification number ("TIN"), and the date and place of birth. As for financial account data, it includes the policy number, policy year-end balance or value, as appropriate for the year concerned.

The Inland Revenue Ordinance imposes legal obligation on financial institutions (including BOC Life) to establish and apply due diligence procedures to identify tax residents of territories outside Hong Kong for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (AEOI) purpose and collect specified information for submission to IRD.
 
BOC Life is expected to observe requirements under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. For instance, we would inform the account holders of the purpose of use of the personal data for AEOI. We would take all practicable steps to ensure the accuracy and security of the personal data. Account holders are entitled to request access to and correction of their personal data. In case an individual refuses to allow the financial institution to release his personal data for AEOI purpose, BOC Life may have to consider whether or not to accept the policy application or to report to IRD.

This will depend on where you live and your circumstances. Please contact a professional tax adviser or refer to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) website. For more information on how to determine your tax residency.The full list of participating countries and commencement date of tax information exchange has been posted on OECD website. There are more than 100 jurisdictions over the world committed to the implementation of Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (AEOI).

If our policy owner who are Hong Kong taxpayers but not tax residents of any territory outside Hong Kong, BOC Life will not report the financial information of their policy.

You can find more information regarding "the tax residency from tax residency related regulations stipulated by different countries/jurisdictions". You may also visit the website of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (AEOI) portal  and the website of Inland Revenue Department. For more details, please contact your tax advisor for enquiries. Please note that BOC Life cannot give any tax advice.
 

Premium Levy

With effect from 1st January 2018, premium levy will be collected from policy owners by insurance companies on behalf the Insurance Authority ("IA") according to Insurance (Levy) Regulation and Insurance (Levy) Order in order to support the operation of IA. Policy owners shall pay the levy at applicable levy rate and levy cap along with their premium payment.

According to the law, except for certain policies exempted from the levy by law#, the policy owners of all new or in-force life insurance policies and general insurance policies (including travel, motor, property and household insurance) shall pay premium levy along with their premium payment.

Reinsurance business, policies underwritten by authorised captive insurers, and marine, aviation and goods-in-transit business are exempted from the levy.

Premium levy is gradually implemented by phases. For life insurance, the levy rate for phase 1 will be 0.04% with levy cap at HKD$40*, and increase gradually until it reaches 0.1% with levy cap at HKD$100*.

*Premium levy of group insurance, such as medical protection provided by employers, will be the same as that of general insurance.

 Phase1Phase2Phase3Phase4
 1 Jan 2018 to 31 Mar 2019 1 Apr 2019 to 31 Mar 2020 1 Apr 2020 to 31 Mar 2021 From 1 Apr 2021 onwards
Levy rate0.04%0.06%0.09%0.10%
Levy cap
Life insurance$40$60$85$100
General insurance$2,000$3,000$4,250$5,000

According to the requirement provided by Insurance Authority, policy "inception date" (new policies) and inception anniversary date (in-force policies) will be used to determine the premium levy rate and levy cap. "Inception date" means the date on which the first premium under contract becomes payable. We will use policy date as policy "inception date" to determine levy rate and levy cap.

Except prepaid premium, policy owners are not required to pay levy for the premium paid before 1st January 2018. For the amount prepaid before 1st January 2018, as it will only become premium payable on policy "inception date" or future inception anniversary date, therefore, policy owners shall pay levy for those premium. A notice will be sent separately to policy owners to pay the relevant levy.

For existing clients with policies issued before the commencement of premium levy collection and have to pay levy after 1st January 2018, we will notify them of the default arrangement on levy collection via SMS, letter or phone before the effective date of levy collection. The amount of levy to be paid will be reflected in relevant documents such as premium notice.  For all new clients who make insurance application after the commencement of levy collection, they may refer to relevant proposal for the amount of levy.

Premium levy will be collected together with the premium via the same manner whenever we collect premium from policy owners (Default Arrangement). 

  1.  If Policy owners choose to pay premium via autopay from bank account or credit card, we will collect levy together with premium. Policy owners should pay attention whether the account balance or credit limit is sufficient for the full payment.
  2.  If premium is paid by Automatic Premium Loan ("APL"), levy with be collected together with premium via APL and interest will be charged according to policy provision.
  3.  If there is unpaid premium of policies at the time of claim application, unpaid premium and corresponding levy will be deducted from the policy proceeds payable to policy owners or beneficiaries by default settings.

According to the law, the implementation of premium levy will not affect the validity of policy coverage. If policy owners only pay the premium but not the levy, we will report the corresponding outstanding levy records to Insurance Authority (“IA”) according to the requirements, and a pecuniary penalty may be charged by IA against policy owners. The IA may recover outstanding levy as a civil debit due to the IA.

Refund of premium levy is allowed if the corresponding premium becomes partially or fully refundable (unless the amount of levy payable on premium after refund still reaches the cap). The levy will be fully refunded if the policy is cancelled during cooling-off period.

If Policy Owners or beneficiaries object to the above Default Arrangement and elect to pay levy separately after receiving the notice, they may contact our Customer Service for arrangement.