Dad’s term life insurance ending soon, he has cancer
My dad's term insurance (Transamerica Trendsetter Super 15) expires in a few months on his 70th birthday. He was diagnosed with cancer about 8 months ago and recently transitioned to hospice. The oncologist has given him a prognosis of "a few months". This is obviously not what I want to be thinking about, but I love my dad and I know it's important to him that he leave behind as much as he can to his family. I'm a bit confused on some of the language on the term life insurance. We called Transamerica to try and clear it up, but it just got more and more confusing. The lady acted like we were idiots to think we could "extend" the term, but I'm thinking maybe we just aren't speaking the right terms? They contradicted themselves several times. Today, he pays about $200 a month. The lady on the phone initially said he could pay the "balloon rate" after the term to keep the policy going, which is like "20 thousand dollars a year". But then she backtracked and said he wasn't eligible for the balloon payment option and if he was, he would have received a letter in the mail by now about it. She said that his policy expires on his 70th birthday and there's nothing we can do. I did not want to reveal his prognosis, as I'm not sure if this would flag something on their end to prevent him from having the option to renew. When I look at his printed policy document that he signed in 2008, it shows a "maturity" date of 2058 (age 105) and the premiums just go up significantly after his 70th birthday. There are tables with non-guaranteed premiums, and another page of tables with guaranteed premiums. To me it looks like he could just pay the 20 thousand dollars and get another 12 months of coverage. Am I missing something? Should I be careful about what details I reveal to Transamerica? This is a $500,000 life insurance policy and would be crucial to helping my mother when my dad passes away. Any help/guidance anyone can provide would be so helpful!
submitted by /u/OneOption1527
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