How do I claim?

We're in the business of paying out valid claims. All claims should be sent to claims@sanlamindie.co.za.. 

If you’re claiming for Funeral Cover: 

1. Download and complete our claims form.

2. Gather all the documents listed on our Claims page:

• Certified proof of identity of the beneficiary 

• Certified proof of identity of the deceased 

• Proof of bank account into which the claim will be paid 

• Certified copy of death certificate of the deceased

• Police report if cause of death is unnatural, accidental or suicide

• Copy of BI-1663, DHA-1663 or BI-1680 documents

1. Email all the above documents and form to claims@sanlamindie.co.za.

If you’re claiming for life insurance:

1. Email claims@sanlamindie.co.za with some information about the claim and the details of the life insured. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can with a list of required documents and next steps.

2. Send us the documents we requested.

3. Our claims assessors will assess your claim and may ask for more documents. 

4. If your claim is approved, we pay out. 

What sorts of documents could Sanlam Indie ask me for?

These will be different for each type of claim, but usually, it'll be things like verified bank details, ID documents, medical records, specialist's reports, proof of income, and police investigation reports (in the case of accidents).

Visit Sanlam Indie Claims for more information.

When will I get the money from my claim?

We aim to pay out funeral insurance within 48 hours of receiving all your documents, but in some cases, we might pay out in as little as 4 hours if you catch us during business hours and there’s nothing suspicious about the documents you’ve provided.

Payouts for other benefits can take longer, usually 2 - 3 weeks or more, depending on whether we feel we need to investigate. So just keep that in mind: the cash won’t arrive instantly.

What happens to each stand-alone benefit when I die?

If you die:

Benefits that pay out if you become disabled (Income Protection and Disability Cover) and sick (Critical Illness Cover) will fall away and won’t pay out to anyone. The benefits that pay out if you die (Funeral Cover, Life Cover, or Death Income Protection) will pay out to your beneficiaries. So, if you have all 3 of these benefits, all 3 should pay out.

If you have Family Funeral Cover, we’ll waive premiums for this benefit for 6 months. So your family will continue to be protected, for free, for 6 months after you die. This is to give them time to take out another policy if they want to, so there’s no break in cover.

If you claim for Income Protection or Critical Illness Cover: 

We pay out to you and continue to collect a premium for all your benefits, including your Critical Illness benefit, unless you tell us you want to change your policy. So, if you got cancer and claimed a payout, you could still keep your Critical Illness Cover in case you get a different serious illness later.

It’s different for Income Protection. We won’t collect the portion of your premium that pays for Income Protection while we’re paying your Income Protection claim.

All payouts are tax free.

Remember, we really want to pay each and every valid claim we get. But we can only do this if our clients are honest with us and we are honest with them. This means that we may check if what you told us when you bought cover from us is actually true. If you have an accident while flying a microlight when you told us you’re not a recreational pilot, we’ll have grounds not to pay out. In order to keep premiums as low as possible for everyone, we need to validate all the claims we get.