WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS FOR THE INSURANCE COMPANY TO PAY?
Although credit life insurance is not compulsory for the person when obtaining a loan, banks prefer to have it taken out. Life insurance can be made without housing, personal loan or car loan. This is the right choice for those who will take out a loan. Because in case the borrower dies, all debts are paid by the insurance.
First of all, the borrower must approve the life insurance.
The cause of death of the borrower should not be suicide.
The borrower should not have a suspicious death.
If the person who will take out a loan has a chronic disease; this disease must be specified in the insurance policy.
The terms of the insurance policy should be examined.
SUSPICIOUS DEATH OR SUICIDE
If the borrower has taken out life insurance; in case of death, the insurance company pays the loan debt. In case of the death of the borrower, the insurance company requests a certificate of the cause of death in order to pay the loan debt. If the cause of death is not explained, suicide is suspected or death is suspicious; the insurance company requests an autopsy. The insurance company will refuse to make a payment if the death is due to suicide, or if the death was caused by someone else, or if the exact cause of death cannot be determined as a suspicious death. In order to be paid by the insurance company, the cause of death must be determined.
THE EXISTING DISEASE IS SPECIFIED IN THE INSURANCE POLICY
First of all, the person is obliged to declare if he/she has a disease while signing the insurance policy. The consequence of making a false statement about the disease will be that the insurance company will not make any payment. However, if the deceased person died due to a chronic disease and this is not included in the policy, an investigation is initiated. Firstly, it is determined since which date this disease has been detected.
If this disease existed before the insurance policy was made and the deceased person deliberately did not notify the insurance company, no payment will be made by the insurance company. If the existence of such a disease was not diagnosed before taking out the loan, the insurance company must make a payment if this disease has progressed and caused death without the knowledge of the deceased person. What is important at this point is that the insured person has deliberately concealed this disease from the insurance company, that is, made a false statement.
CONDITIONS OF THE INSURANCE POLICY
The clauses specified by insurance companies for life insurance are not the same. The insurance company usually determines the life insurance clauses within a certain framework. The articles of the signed policy should be examined. The period of application to the insurance company, the scope and conditions of life insurance and other issues are included in this contract. If an insurance policy is issued and signed due to a consumer loan, it is possible to cancel some articles written by the insurance company as general conditions contrary to the purpose of the insurance. It would be in your favour to consult a lawyer to examine the policy.
IF A PERSON WITH CREDIT LIFE INSURANCE DIES, CAN THE LOAN DEBT PAID BE RECOVERED?
Having Credit Life Insurance means that the entire loan debt of the person will be paid. In such a case, the loan amount paid by the person who has paid a part of the loan debt and then died is returned to his heirs.
However, insurance companies may refuse to pay some or all of the loan amount paid to the heirs due to additional clauses in their contracts.
When you encounter such a situation, you can get help from a lawyer to analyse and guide the contract.
In order to receive the payment, the deceased borrower must apply to the bank and the insurance company with the death certificate of the deceased borrower and the certificate of inheritance. If the insurance does not pay in this case, you can legally seek your rights.
WHAT DOES THE COURT OF APPEAL SAY ON THIS ISSUE?
The Court of Cassation, with a precedent decision on consumer loans, decided that if the person who took a loan from the bank dies, the remaining loan debt will be paid by the insurance company. In the precedent decision of the 13th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation;
“The deceased of the defendants has taken out life insurance at the request of the bank in order to create collateral for the loan he used from the bank. In fact, the life insurance taken out by the consumer at the request of the lending bank is not an insurance taken out by the consumer voluntarily, but an insurance taken out at the request of the bank to create collateral for its own receivables. In the insurance policy, the consumer is the insured, the bank is the beneficiary and the insurance company is the issuer of the insurance policy. The dain (creditor) and murtehini (pledgee) of the policy is the bank.
In the event of the occurrence of the risk, the bank must first collect the remaining balance of the loan receivable within the scope of the policy guarantee from the insurance company. Since the insurance company is in the position of beneficiary, it cannot claim against the bank that the consumer has health problems, such as heart disease or cancer. Because the issuer of the insurance policy is the insurance company itself or its authorised agent. While the bank has the opportunity to easily collect its receivables such as the life insurance policy, initiating enforcement proceedings or filing a lawsuit for its receivables within the scope of the policy limit on the grounds that the insurer has refused the payment request is contrary to the rule of honesty regulated in Article 2 of the TCC.
For this reason, in the event that a life insurance has been made due to bank loans, which are consumer transactions, the bank is obliged to collect the remaining loan receivable within the policy limits from the insurance company. This is a prerequisite for the bank to file a lawsuit against the heirs of the consumer.
The bank may only claim from the consumer’s heirs for the balance receivable for which the policy limit is not sufficient.
While there is a life insurance policy made on behalf of the consumer who uses the loan, the bank’s filing a lawsuit or initiating enforcement proceedings for the collection of the unpaid balance loan receivable from the consumer’s heirs due to the death of the consumer would be contrary to the basic principles of insurance law and the purpose of insurance, as well as damaging the trust and confidence in insurance. Therefore, the bank must first collect its receivables from the insurance policy.
In Article 2 of the Civil Code, ‘Everyone is obliged to abide by the rules of honesty when exercising his rights and fulfilling his obligations. The legal order does not protect the flagrant abuse of a right’. Accordingly, the initiation of proceedings against the heir without exhausting all legal remedies by the plaintiff bank is not in accordance with the rule of good faith. While the court should dismiss the lawsuit, which is understood to have been filed prematurely, considering this issue, it is contrary to the procedure and the law to establish a written judgement by going into the merits of the matter, and requires the judgement to be reversed.” He sided with the consumer by saying.
You can access our other article examples and petition examples by clicking