Who is LV=?
LV= was established as Liverpool Victoria in 1843, a mutual society offering funeral insurance to the people of Liverpool. It quickly expanded across the UK, with door-to-door agents selling what became widely known as “penny policies.”
Over the years, Liverpool Victoria began offering a wider range of products, adding health insurance and home insurance alongside its core life insurance offering. It made a number of acquisitions and grew into a society providing pensions and investments together with life insurance as well as a broad range of general insurance products.
In 2007, Liverpool Victoria was rebranded as LV=. A decade later, it agreed a deal with German financial services group Allianz, with its commercial insurance business being acquired by Allianz and the general insurance business being rolled into a joint venture.
Two years later, Allianz purchased the remaining 51% of the general insurance business that it did not own, forming LV= General Insurance Group.
In early 2020, Liverpool Victoria, now focused on life insurance, pensions, investments and equity release, announced plans to move away from its mutual status and register as a limited company, Liverpool Victoria Financial Services, but still using the LV= brand.
Alongside life insurance, Liverpool Victoria Financial Services Limited also offers critical illness, income protection and business protection products. It has a total of 1.28 million customers and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
What types of insurance does LV= cover?
LV= offers two two types of life insurance policy:
- Level cover life insurance
- Decreasing cover
Level cover life insurance is available with LV=. The amount of cover and your payments are fixed for the entirety of the policy. You can also choose inflation-linked cover, which means your cover level will go up each year in line with inflation.
Decreasing cover is another type of life insurance sold by LV=. It means you can set your cover to reduce over time in line with the gradual reductions in the amount owed on your mortgage. This also means that decreasing cover is usually cheaper than level cover life insurance.
What benefits does LV= life insurance include?
LV= life insurance offers flexibility, enabling you to choose the level of cover and term you need. You can also choose from multiple types of life policy. LV= life cover also comes with additional benefits at no extra cost, including confidential expert medical advice through Doctor Services and discounts on the general insurance products offered by Allianz subsidiary LV= General Insurance Group.
- Doctor Services
- Square Health’s second opinion service
- Guaranteed prices
- Guaranteed increase
Doctor Services, provided by Square Health, means you and your partner get access to various medical services. It gives you remote access to GP consultations 24/7. A consulting doctor can give you prescriptions in the same way as a local doctor can.
Square Health’s second opinion service helps you investigate and confirm a diagnosis. The Doctor Services remote physiotherapy service can help you get back on your feet. You also get discounts on health MOTs – an overall assessment of your health that includes tests such as blood pressure checks and vital organ analysis.
Guaranteed prices mean you don’t have to worry about your monthly payments being amended due to emerging claims experience. This is available for all LV= life insurance. Your payments will only change if you decide to amend your cover.
Guaranteed increase means LV= lets you alter your amount of cover without having to answer further questions about your health when certain life changing events happen, such as having a child or getting married.
If you miss a premium payment, LV= will give you 60 days from when your payment was due to make up payment arrears before it’ll cancel your policy. Your LV= life policy may also include Waiver of Premium cover, which means LV= can pay your premiums if you’re off work due to illness or accident.
LV= life insurance will pay out a lump sum if you die or if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness and have a life expectancy of less than 12 months. You can also choose to add critical illness cover to your policy, so you’ll also be eligible for a lump sum payment if you’re diagnosed with one of the LV= covered critical illnesses.
LV offer a selection of life insurance policies and types, so the exact levels of cover and benefits may vary. Before buying life insurance, we recommend you check the cover and benefits included.
Can I cancel my LV= life insurance policy?
You can cancel your LV= life insurance policy at any time. You should always think carefully before deciding to cancel a life insurance policy as it means you and your family will lose the protection the cover offers.
Let LV= know you wish to cancel either over the phone or by writing to them. If you cancel within the first 30 days of taking out your policy, it will refund any payments you’ve already paid.
When you cancel after the first 30 days, you no longer have to pay your monthly premiums and your cover will end, but you won’t be entitled to any refund on the previous payments.
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