Irregularities in the life insurance contract of an 81-year-old man in Nghe An

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quang, born in 1942 in Vinh city, Nghe An province, said: For many years, he has been a regular customer of Vietnam Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank, Nghe An Branch, Le Nin Transaction Office. In February 2021, he was advised by a person working at the Transaction Office of this bank named Pham Thi Yen about the Lifetime Peace of Mind insurance package of an insurance company with a representative office in Nghe An province.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quang talks about signing his contract with the insurance company. Photo: Thanh Chung

She said "there is a package"insurance"The foreign insurance is very decent. I'm old, so I should do it for my grandchild, so that later on, my grandchild will have savings, as well as a risk prevention plan." Thinking that he was old and also wanted to save some money for his granddaughter to go to university, Mr. Quang agreed to participate in the insurance package for his second granddaughter, Nguyen Le Xuan Thuy (born in 2012).

On March 3, 2021, Mr. Quang and his niece signed the insurance contract. Also signing was consultant Pham Thi Yen, code 69013055. When signing the insurance, he did not let his children know.

Mr. Quang, believing the consultant's instructions, did not read the terms of the pre-drafted contract. After signing, Mr. Quang took the contract home and kept it carefully without reading it again. To date, Mr. Quang has paid for 3 years, equivalent to 60,046,800 VND (20,015,600 VND/year).

By April 2023, when hearing information surrounding the actor's insurance contract disputeNgoc LanWith the insurance company, Mr. Quang just took out the contract to read and discovered many unusual points.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quang and his relatives come to work at the insurance company's representative office. Photo: Thanh Chung

According to Mr. Quang: The first point is that this is an unenforceable contract when the contract stipulates the end date of the insurance period and the end date of the premium payment period as March 2, 2113. With this end date of the premium payment period and the end date of the insurance period, it means that Mr. Quang must live to be 171 years old; his granddaughter must live to be 101 years old to receive the insurance.

Second, this contract contains false information about him. Before signing this insurance contract, Mr. Quang discussed with the consultant that he would participate in this insurance package until his granddaughter turned 18 (in 2030), because he himself was old and could only pay until that time. However, this contract was established with a very long term of up to 92 years. This was not in accordance with his wishes.

Mr. Quang is a retired cadre, his pension is only over 6.5 million VND/month, no other income. However, this contract states his income is 15 million VND/month. “This is incorrect information!” – Mr. Quang clearly stated.

After discovering irregularities in his contract, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quang and his relatives visited the insurance company's representative office in Nghe An province twice.

During the first meeting, when discussing the irregularities in Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quang's insurance contract, the representative office said: This is a Lifetime Peace of Mind product designed to protect customers until the age of 99. The contract premium payment deadline is not March 2, 2113, but only 15 years from the date of signing the contract.

On page 3 of the Insurance Contract, in the Premium Payment End Date section, there is an asterisk (*). This asterisk (*) leads to page 4/21 – Illustration of Lifetime Peace of Mind insurance benefits.

Page 4/21 – The benefits illustration table is located near the end of the contract (approximately 100 pages). This page states the contract term is 92 years. The expected premium payment period is 15 years.

Not satisfied with the response from the insurance company's representative office, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quang requested to complete the procedure to terminate the contract before the deadline. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quang was informed by the representative office: According to the terms of the contract, Mr. Quang will only receive about 11 million VND out of the total 60 million VND he has deposited... The representative office asked him to come back next week to receive this amount.

While waiting for the insurance company's representative office in Nghe An province to complete the contract termination procedures, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quang and his relatives wrote an open letter to the General Director of that insurance company, talking about the irregularities of the contract and requesting a satisfactory resolution.

At the second meeting on May 26, 2023, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quang and his relatives went to the insurance company's representative office in Nghe An province to complete the contract termination procedures.

Not satisfied with the previous discussion, Mr. Quang continued to discuss his contract, asking the office for further explanation. This time, many surprising information was revealed.

Accordingly, the representative office of the insurance company said: The Lifetime Peace product is an investment-linked product. So all have this default time design (until March 2, 2113). On the system, the person in charge of Mr. Quang's contract is a person named Linh, not Pham Thi Yen. And the consultant should not have sold it to an elderly person like Mr. Quang. The occurrence of many problems that Mr. Quang and his family are still wondering about, such as who will continue to pay insurance when Mr. Quang "unfortunately dies suddenly due to old age"... is entirely the fault of the bank's consultant. If the bank signs, the bank must take primary responsibility, and the office only performs the support function. If the consultant has retired, there is still the consultant's management level - An employee of the insurance company's representative office clearly stated.

This second meeting did not reach any concrete results when the Representative Office learned that Mr. Quang and his family had sent a letter to the General Director of the above insurance company. The Representative Office asked Mr. Quang and his family to wait for a response before making a final decision.

Discussing the contract of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Quang, Dr., lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai - Director of Trong Hai & Associates Law Firm, stated: There are many issues that need attention in this contract: Firstly, if Mr. Quang terminates the contract before the payment deadline, he will lose a certain amount of money according to the terms of the contract. Secondly, even when the expected payment deadline expires, the contract must continue to be maintained until 2113; and if he wants to withdraw at this time, he can only withdraw a maximum amount equal to the principal deposited; if he wants to receive the full 990 million VND, he must wait until the end of the insurance period on March 2, 2113. Thirdly, it is necessary to pay attention to the unclear and general terms in insurance benefits, exclusion of insurance liability, etc.

Doctor, lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai recommends: Before signing a life insurance contract, each person needs to clearly understand what life insurance is? How does it work? Understand the terms and conditions that are inserted? Photo: Thanh Chung

The customer bought this contract through the bank. When he returned, the bank employee (consultant) had quit his job, of course the bank would not be responsible for anything, the insurance company would only base on the contract with the customer.