How many premiums can I skip?

We do allow you to skip a limited number of payments, giving you a little breathing room if you’re having a tight month. If you don’t make up the payment we’ll automatically lower your cover amount until you’ve made up your premium. 

You can skip a total of 6 consecutive premiums. If you fail to make up your 6th missed payment before your next billing date, your policy will automatically lapse. 

How do I skip a payment?

You don’t need to contact us to skip a premium. We will automatically try to collect your payment on your specified payment date. We’ll let you know if the payment fails. Remember, your bank might charge you additional fees if you have insufficient funds in your account on that day.

What happens if I miss my first premium?

If for some reason your first premium payment doesn’t reach us on the day you chose, you won’t have active cover (which means you can’t claim), but we won’t cancel your policy. You can make up the missed premium or request a double deduction before your next billing date. If your payment fails a second time, you can make up the missed payment before your next billing date. If this payment is successful, we'll reactivate your cover so your policy will only start on this date.

If you don’t make up the missed premium before your 3rd billing date, your policy will cancel and you’ll need to take out a new policy. 

What if I want to make up a missed payment?

You can make up a payment on or before your next billing date. Please contact us at least 5 business days before your billing date to let us know. If your next billing date has already rolled around, it’s too late to make up the missed payment. 

If you’d like us to double bill you on your next payment date (to make up for the last missed premium), you’ll need to let us know 5 business days before your next payment date. 

To make up missed payments, you can contact our team via:

1. Email at hello@sanlamindie.co.za 

2. Completing the form on our contact page

3. The chat button on our website

When your skipped premium is made up, it no longer counts as a skip on your policy. Please note that you can only make up your last missed premium. For example, if you’ve missed 4 premiums, you can only make up payment for your last skip, you cannot pay back the previous 3 skips. Those 3 skips will remain on your policy.

What happens to my cover when I skip a premium?

The amount of cover you have depends on how many premiums you’ve paid in the last 6 months.

• If you skip your very first premium, your policy will go into an inactive state. If you also skip your second premium (and don’t make up payment), your policy will lapse and automatically be cancelled.

You can skip a total of 6 premiums in a row after your first 6 months. Each time you skip a premium, we will adjust your cover. For example, you take out R600,000 Life Insurance Cover and pay your premium for the first 2 months. You skip your third premium, so you only have 5/6 of your cover (R500,000). If you miss the next month too, you’ll only have 4/6 of your cover (R400,000). As soon as you pay 6/6 premiums, we’ll adjust your cover back to its full amount. 

Remember that even though we allow you to skip up to 6 premiums while keeping your policy active, you’ll have zero cover on your 6th skip. This means you’ll have no cover should anything happen and you need to claim. You’ll also miss out on that sweet Sanlam Indie Wealth Bonus.

How many premiums can I skip?

You can skip up to 6 premiums in a row in the first 3 years of taking out your policy. And what’s even cooler is, after the first 3 years for every extra year you’re with Sanlam Indie, we’ll reward your loyalty with another 2 possible premium skips, which will look something like this…

0-3 years with Sanlam Indie = 6 premium skips

4 years with Sanlam Indie = 8 premium skips

5 years with Sanlam Indie = 10 premium skips

Let’s look at these scenarios…

🧔🏻Kyle is in his first year at Sanlam Indie. He skips 6 premiums in a row, pays one premium, and then skips a 6th. He fails to make up the payment on the 7th attempted collection, so his policy lapses.

👩🏾Over the course of her first 3 years with Sanlam Indie, Thandi skips 2 premiums, then pays a few, then skips 2, then pays a few, then skips 2 again. She has now skipped 6 premiums in total and cannot skip more. In her 4th year, she earns an additional 2 premium skips, but skips 3 premiums. Her policy lapses.

👨🏽Rumi doesn't skip any premiums for 5 years so has earned a total of 16 possible premium skips. He then doesn't pay his premium for 6 months in a row and so his policy lapses.

Premium skips are simply there for those rainy days, and do not affect your credit rating in any way.