Policy loans. When money gets tight.

You can borrow against your existing Helvetia life insurance policy to bridge a temporary shortage of liquidity. This means that Helvetia advances you a loan, and you pledge your life insurance policy to Helvetia to secure it.

It's comparable to a credit. When money is lent, an annual interest rate is charged. Since a policy loan is secured by your existing Helvetia life insurance policy as collateral, the interest rate is relatively low compared to a consumer loan.

In principle you repay the policy loan at the end of your loan contract, which as a rule coincides with the expiry of your life insurance policy. If any of the loan is still outstanding, your policy benefits are reduced accordingly.

But you can also repay the loan – in full or in part – before the contract expires. Repayments can be flexibly adjusted to match your situation. Talk to us.

Loans must be between 60 and 90% of your policy's surrender value or current value. We check this and make you an appropriate offer.

Please note that in addition to repaying the policy loan, you will also have to pay the annual interest on the loan as well as your life insurance premiums.

To be eligible for a policy loan your Helvetia life insurance policy must have a certain surrender value. Depending on how you finance your policy, the following conditions apply:

• For regular premiums: you must have paid premiums for 3 years or for at least 1/10 of the premium payment period
• In the case of a single premium or a one-off deposit: at least 3 months after the payment

There is no minimum term. The maximum term depends on the remaining term of your Helvetia life insurance policy. As a rule your loan contract and your life insurance policy end at the same time. In the case of a retirement annuity this is when you start to draw it down.

You must have repaid the policy loan by this time. Any outstanding loan debt will then be offset against your policy benefits or your future pension.

No, the interest rate is variable: Helvetia can adjust it at any time in line with current conditions on the capital market.

Surrendering a policy has the effect of terminating it. You will only receive the policy's current value or current surrender value. Depending on the type of life insurance you have taken out, this surrender value can be very low.

In addition, your insurance cover, e.g. a co-insured death benefit or disability insurance, will lapse when your policy is terminated. Surrendering your policy would also jeopardize your retirement provision target.

With a policy loan, in contrast, your life insurance policy remains in force – so you continue to benefit from the cover it provides. As long as you repay your policy loan in full, your retirement provision target is not at risk either.

If you only have a short-term liquidity problem, a premium break is a conceivable alternative to a policy loan. It is already a feature of some products.

As a rule the savings premium is waived during a premium break, so you would not build up any capital. But you would still be covered for a co-insured death benefit or disability insurance. As soon as you resume paying full premiums, the savings process also restarts.
Together we can find a solution that suits you. Talk to us.