Company Review: RBC Insurance

Company Overview

RBC Insurance is the brand name for the insurance operating entities of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). It is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario. It is one of the largest bank-owned insurance providers in Canada. To date, the company has around 2,900 employees and five million clients worldwide.

RBC Insurance provides a wide range of insurance products, including life, disability and critical illness insurance. Their home and Auto insurance products are provided by RBC Insurance Agency Ltd. and underwritten by Aviva General Insurance Company.

Ratings

RBC Life Insurance Company is rated A+ as of March 2018 by A.M. Ratings. Due to its affiliation with the Royal Bank of Canada, RBC Insurance has a solid financial backup to develop without fear of financial problems that may potentially affect underwriting. 

Products

Life Insurance

Term Life Insurance

RBC offers two main coverage plans: RBC Simplified Term Life Insurance and YourTerm Life Insurance. The former is no medical term life insurance, and the latter is traditional term life insurance. Overall, both have very flexible term periods for clients to choose from. The premiums and coverage are guaranteed throughout the entire period.

Features	RBC Simplified Term Life Insurance	YourTerm Life Insurance
Term period	10, 15, 20 or 40 years (and any period in between)	10, 15, 20 or 40 years (and any period in between)
Age Eligibility	Term 10 to 15: Ages 18-70 Term 16 to 40: Max issue age is age 85 minus the term	Term 10 to 15: Ages 18-70 Term 16 to 40: Max issue age is age 85 minus the term
Medical exam requirement	No	Yes
Coverage amount	$50,000 to $1,000,000**Age 56 and older: up to $500,000	$1,000,001 to $25,000,000**Age 56 and older: from $500,000
Renewable term	Yes	Yes
Online Application	Yes	No
Exchangeable	–	Policyholders can exchange YourTerm 10 policy for YourTerm 15, 20 or 30 policy without providing medical evidence
Optional Coverage	–	YourTerm Rider Children’s Term rider Accidental Death rider Total Disability Waiver of Premium Benefit Rider Payor Death and Disability Waiver of Premium Benefit Rider Joint First-to-Die Option
Guaranteed premiums during the policy term	Yes	Yes
Tax-free benefit	Yes	Yes
Convertible to whole life insurance	Yes	Yes
Cancelable Anytime	Yes	Yes
Money-back cancellation period	30 days	10 days

RBC Growth Insurance

This is a whole life insurance coverage offered by RBC. The coverage can vary from $25,000 to $25,000,000. Like normal whole life insurance, the beneficiary of this plan can receive a tax-free benefit, and the insurance is guaranteed for life. Canadians from 0-85 years old are eligible for this plan. After you have bought the policy, you’ll have ten days to review it and decide whether to cancel it or not. After this time, you can always cancel your policy at any time by written request (with fees involved).

One thing to note about RBC Growth Insurance is that it provides policyholders with four dividend options, including paid-up additions, cash (taxable), premium reduction and dividends on deposit.

RBC Universal Life Insurance Plan

One notable feature of the RBC Universal Life Insurance Plan is its death benefit options. Clients can choose from either level protection or increasing death benefit according to their needs. 

Level Protection	Increasing protection
the death benefit will be paid equal to either the face amount of the policy or the amount accumulated in the policy (policyholders can select from whichever is greater)	the death benefit will be paid equal to the coverage amount plus the accumulation value

RBC allows couples to share life insurance with each other through Joint Coverage. When choosing this policy, policyholders can choose between Join first-to-die coverage or Joint last-to-die coverage. 

In addition, you may be interested in RBC’s Compassionate Advance, which allows policyholders to request an advance of up to half of the value of the death benefit, with $250,000 at maximum should they become terminally ill. This allows policyholders with more support in unfortunate events.

The interest options of this plan are pretty flexible. To put it short, there are three main options, including daily interest options, guaranteed interest options and variable interest options.

Daily Interest Options	Guaranteed Interest Options	Variable Interest Options
The interest will be accumulated on a daily basis. The option gives those who want to hold their money for a short time more flexibility	Provides policyholders with a fixed rate of return. Clients can choose among Mid-Term Option, Long-Term Option, or Guaranteed Interest Term Option from 1,3, 5 or 10 years.	The interest rate will be based on a Canadian, U.S. or international equity index. The interest rate can also be based on 20 RBC mutual funds and portfolios

Apart from the above-mentioned features, Universal Life Insurance Plan shares other common features of universal life insurance, such as lifetime coverage, cash value, disability benefit, optional riders, etc.

Term 100 Life Insurance

Overall, RBC’s term 100 life insurance has all the features like other term-100 life insurance. In short, the owners of the policy will benefit from guaranteed premiums and lifetime coverage. At the age of 100, they will not have to pay any premiums. One thing to note is that they offer term 10 or 20 riders, which allows policyholders to provide additional coverage for themself or their families.

RBC sells this policy with a face value starting from $50,000. Canadians or permanent residents living in Canada for more than 12 months from 18 to 85 are eligible to apply for this plan. There is a medical examination required, though.

Guaranteed Life Insurance

This plan is no medical permanent life insurance. RBC offers this to Canadians or permanent residents from 40 to 75. By the age of 95, policyholders will no longer have to pay the premium. The face value of a policy ranges from $5000 to $40,000. Since no medical examinations are involved, interested clients can get a quote and register for this policy online.

RBC offers a Compassionate Advance option for policy owners. The insured can access a percentage of their death benefit while they are still alive when:

• their policy has been in effect for two years or more;
• they are diagnosed with a terminal illness;
• they only have 12 months or less to live

Since this is no medical life insurance, plus the plan is permanent, the price is much higher than standard policies. You can have a look at the table below to see how the price varies according to different ages:

Age	Male	Male	Female	Female
Non-smoker	Smoker	Non-smoker	Smoker
40	$88.38	$134.10	$63.43	$102
50	$123.46	$207.72	$101.25	$142.89
60	$211.94	$360.72	$173.43	$ 236.04
70	$453.56	$736.12	$365.68	$476.56

Table. Guaranteed Acceptance Life Insurance. Monthly Premium.

Personal Accident Insurance

RBC also provides their customers with personal insurance, which can help cover daily expenses in the event of a fatal accident. This insurance requires no medical examination. As long as you are a Canadian resident from 18 to 69 and you’re a customer of any RBC company, you qualify for coverage. Spouses or partners who satisfy these conditions can also enrol for coverage.

The coverage amount ranges from $50,000 to $250,000 and the premium starts from $4.75 per month. There’s an inflation adjustment element, allowing customers to benefit from an increase of 5% every two years.

Below is a table that describes what a policy covers

Accidental death	Air Travel Accident	Child Care Benefit	Education benefit
tax-free death benefit will be paid to the beneficiary or estate if the insured die of an accident (except for air travel accident)	RBC pays Accidental Death benefit if the insured is a fare-paying passenger50% of Accidental Death benefit if the insured is a pilot or non-fare paying passenger	reimbursement for child care expenses for each dependent child under 16; or2% payout of Accidental Death benefit or $2000 per year up to 5 years, or when the child is 16 years old.	tuition fee reimbursement for each dependent child under 23, who is: a full-time student has enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution within a year of the insured’s accident

RBC provides an online application for interested customers on their official website.

Health Insurance

Disability Insurance

RBC has a wide range of disability insurance options, including: RBC Simplified Disability Insurance, The Professional Series Policy, The Foundation Series Policy, Bridge Series Policy, The Fundamental Series Policy and Quantum. These options cater for clients from different professional backgrounds, from farmers, tradespeople to doctors, lawyers or accountants.

Except for RBC Simplified Disability Insurance, other plans require medical examination. The age eligibility ranges from 18-55.

Critical Illness Insurance

RBC offers two major critical illness insurance plans, namely Critical Illness Recovery Plan and Critical Illness Plan. The former covers more than 30 illnesses and conditions*, while the latter covers only cancer, heart attack and stroke. The table below will help you see the differences between these plans:

Details	Critical Illness Recovery Plan	Critical Illness Insurance Plan
Eligible Age	18-65	18-50
Medical exam requirement	Yes	Yes
Number of covered illnesses and conditions	more than 30	cancer, heart attack and stroke
Coverage amount	$25,000 to $2,000,000	$10,000, $25,000, $50,000 or $75,000
Long-term care conversion benefit	Yes	No
Coverage period	depend on options	renewable up to age 65
Early Assistance Benefit	Yes	Yes
Assistance Benefit	Yes	Yes
Optional Coverage	Return of premium on death rider Disability waiver of premium rider Scheduled increase benefit rider	Return of premium on death rider
Guaranteed premiums	depend on options	premium increases every 10 years until age 65

*30 illnesses and conditions include: 

• Aortic Surgery
• Aplastic Anemia
• Bacterial Meningitis
• Benign Brain Tumor
• Blindness
• Cancer (Life Threatening)
• Coma
• Coronary Angioplasty
• Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery
• Deafness
• Dementia including Alzheimer’s Disease
• Early Breast Cancer
• Early Prostate Cancer
• Early Skin Cancer
• Early-Stage Blood Cancer
• Early-Stage Intestinal Cancer
• Early Thyroid Cancer
• Heart Attack
• Heart Valve Replacement or Repair
• Kidney Failure
• Loss of Independent Existence
• Loss of Limbs
• Loss of Speech
• Major Organ Failure on Waiting List
• Major Organ Transplant
• Motor Neuron Disease
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Occupational HIV Infection
• Paralysis
• Parkinson’s Disease and Specified Atypical Parkinsonian Disorders
• Severe Burns
• Stroke

(Stipulations will be included in the policy contract)

It’s noteworthy that RBC provides clients with Assistance Benefit, including Best Doctor Service, Medica Confidence Service and The Healing Journey Program. These are created to help client access to top-notch physician specialists as well as one-on-one support. Specially, customers can benefit from 10% of their death benefit ($50,000 maximum) if they are diagnosed and survive the survival period for some types of cancer.

Hospital Insurance

This is extra coverage for Canadians who want to buy further insurance in addition to their government or employer-sponsored health plans. The name for this by RBC is Royal RecoverAssist, with basic and enhanced coverage. 

The differences between these two plans are that the enhanced coverage covers both sickness and accident, with $73,000 of maximum coverage; while the basic one covers accident only, with $146,000 of maximum coverage.

Pros and Cons

RBC’s strengths

Overall, like Manulife, SSQ or other big power houses in the Canadian insurance industry, RBC has a very solid financial background. They also provide a myriad of products that cater to different needs of customers. For example, their term life insurance allows clients to choose between a different number of terms from 10 to 40 or anything in between. Their disability insurance provides protection for clients from all walks of life, from farmers to high-income professionals.

RBC’s weaknesses

In general, the premium offered by RBC is quite expensive for smokers. Although they enable customers to get insurance quotes and applications online, they still use paper policies instead of digital one.

The bottom line

In general, we’d recommend RBC for anyone who is interested in buying insurance coverage with flexibility. If you still have any questions about a specific product of RBC, their insurance quotes, don’t hesitate to contact Insurance Direct Canada – one of the most trusted insurance brokers in Canada at the moment.

We have reviews of other good insurance companies in Canada available if you’re interested: Manulife, Canada Protection Plan, BMO Insurance, and more here.