Barmenia death benefit insurance experiences & test (2023)

Barmenia is one of the largest and most well-known insurance groups in Germany. Barmenia, based in Wuppertal, counts itself among the "largest independent insurance groups in Germany". The product portfolio ranges from life and health insurance through vehicle, accident and liability insurance to property and supplementary insurance. In the offer ofBarmeriathere is also a death benefit insurance "SterbegeldPlus", which we have now examined in detail and evaluated in the following article.

What else can Barmenia death benefit insurance offer you? We have now tested Barmenia death benefit insurance and report on it in the following article.

• Pros and cons in the test report
• Interesting facts about Barmenia insurance
• Conditions of entry and payment of contributions
• Tariff options and sum insured
• amount of contributions
• services in the waiting period
• Additional services
• Surplus participation in death benefit insurance
• Payment requirements for insurance benefits
• Termination and Waiver of Contributions
• Website and contact options
• Barmenia death benefit insurance: all the facts at a glance
• Evaluation

Pros and cons in the test report

Pro

• No health issues
• Immediate death protection in case of accidents
• In the event of death during the set-up period, the contributions paid will be refunded
• Sums insured from €3,000 (maximum €15,000)
• Contributions can be calculated online
• No deductions from the surrender value if older contracts are terminated
• Relatives are supported by Roland Assistance GmbH
• Service booklet for important documents

Contra

• No tariff with immediate full protection
• No tariff options

Interesting facts about Barmenia insurance

Barmenia Versicherung was founded in Leipzig in 1904 under the name “Gewerbekrankenkasse zu Leipzig”. Thus, Barmenia can look back on a long company history. Today, Barmenia has its headquarters in Wuppertal and looks after over a million customers with more than 1.9 million insurance contracts.

There are three different companies behind Barmenia. Barmenia Krankenversicherung a.G., which operates health insurance including compulsory nursing care insurance, and Barmenia Lebensversicherung a.G., which forms a horizontal group together with Barmenia Krankenversicherung. Last but not least, there is Barmenia Allgemeine Versicherungs-AG, which operates all branches of insurance except life, health and credit insurance. This extends the range of insurance to include property, liability, accident and motor vehicle insurance. Barmenia Allgemeine Versicherungs-AG is 100 percent owned by Barmenia Krankenversicherung.

Barmenia has received several awards in recent years, especially for private health insurance and disability insurance. There are also awards, such as in the AMC study “The Insurance Industry on the Internet” for its top website or the “Service Champions 2016” award from ServiceValue GmbH, DIE WELT and the Goethe University Frankfurt.

Conditions of entry and payment of contributions

Anyone between the ages of 18 and 75 can take out the Barmenia death benefit insurance without submitting a health declaration. The insurance premium can be paid monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually. However, Barmenia Versicherung does not grant a discount for a specific payment interval.

Tariff options and sum insured

Barmenia Versicherung only offers the SterbegeldPlus tariff, which is very simple. As mentioned before, no health declaration needs to be submitted. The sum insured can be determined by yourself and must be at least 3,000 euros. The following sums insured can also be selected: 4,000 euros, 5,000 euros, 6,000 euros, 7,500 euros, 10,000 euros, 12,500 and 15,000 euros.

If you take out death benefit insurance, the waiting period is three years. Accidental death is also insured. If this insured event occurs, the beneficiary receives the full sum insured plus a bonus payment.

When taking out death benefit insurance, a beneficiary can be named, revocably or irrevocably, who is to receive the benefit in the event of death. If the subscription right is revocable, the beneficiary receives the right to the insurance benefit when the insured event occurs. Until then, the policyholder can revoke the provision at any time. On the other hand, the irrevocable subscription right can only be changed with the consent of the beneficiary.

amount of contributions

Barmenia Versicherung conveniently provides a premium calculator on its website. We used this to calculate different variants, one with an insured sum of 6,000 euros and one with an insured sum of 10,000 euros.

For the sum insured of 6,000 euros, we have calculated the following insurance premiums:

All statements without guarantee.

Of course, as the sum insured increases, so do the premiums. With an insured sum of 10,000 euros, the following contributions would result:

All statements without guarantee.

In the insurance conditions, Barmenia states that the sum insured is calculated regardless of gender on the basis of the DAV 1994 T mortality table and an actuarial interest rate of 0.90 percent. Insurers who offer death benefit insurance without a medical examination usually include the increased risk in the insurance premium. This does not seem to be the case with Barmenia Versicherung, since the insurance premiums are at a normal market level and can definitely be rated as cheap.

The closing and sales costs are included in the insurance premium. These costs primarily include acquisition commissions for the insurance intermediary and the costs of examining the application and preparing the contract documents. This approach is quite common. The first insurance premiums are used to pay off the acquisition and sales costs. The remaining costs are then distributed over the entire contribution payment period.

You can immediately calculate the amount of the contribution on the Barmenia website. Below is a screenshot of the webpage.You can now go directly to the website here.

services in the waiting period

If the insured event occurs within the three-year waiting period, there is no entitlement to the insurance benefit. However, the insurance premiums paid will be refunded without any deductions. The insurance conditions of Barmenia also stipulate that the reimbursement cannot exceed the contractually agreed sum insured.

If the insured person dies within the waiting period as a result of an accident, Barmenia Versicherung will still pay the entire sum insured. A positive aspect here is that Barmenia does not limit the time of death after the accident according to the insurance conditions. The wording in the insurance conditions is customary in the industry and describes that an accident occurs when the policyholder involuntarily suffers damage to his health due to an event that suddenly affects his body from the outside.

The insurance conditions also contain the addition that intentional suicide is only insured after the waiting period has expired. Insurance cover for intentional suicide within the waiting period only exists if it can be proven that the "act was committed in a state of pathological mental disorder that precludes free determination of will". Otherwise, Barmenia Versicherung calculates the surrender value for the day of death if this is lower than the death benefit.

Additional services

With regard to additional services, Barmenia Versicherung is not very flexible or such additional services are not offered. Other insurance companies offer children’s co-insurance, for example. But that is not the case with the Barmenia either.

Fortunately, however, policyholders receive a service brochure that deals with the subject of burial. You can also add personal notes, such as:

• The insurance contracts, important papers and documents as well as the bank details are located at location XYZ.
• The powers of attorney are XYZ.
• I want XYZ for the funeral.

These notes can be very helpful for the bereaved.

In addition, Barmenia Versicherung supports the relatives in cooperation with Roland Assistance GmbH, which is a member of the Federal Association of German Undertakers, in the search for an undertaker. This service is available 24 hours a day, every day.

Surplus participation in death benefit insurance

Barmenia Versicherung explains on the website that it carefully calculates the policyholder's contributions in order to be able to meet the benefit obligation at all times. This creates surpluses in which the policyholders can participate as part of the surplus participation. The amount of the surplus depends, among other things, on the return on the capital investments. A distinction is made between the current surplus participation, the valuation reserves and the final bonus share.

Funeral insurance policies are normal life insurance policies with lifetime coverage and a lower sum insured. The remaining amount that does not flow into the administration costs goes to the contract account. This credit then earns interest from the insurance company. The total interest is made up of the current surplus participation, the final bonus and the guaranteed interest. While the guaranteed interest rate was 1.25 percent in 2015, it was only 0.9 percent for 2017. The profit participation is decisive for the total return. This is not guaranteed and depends on the earnings situation of the insurance company.

Barmenia declared a surplus participation level of 3.25 percent in 2014, 3 percent in 2015 and 2.75 percent in 2016. All insurance companies have seen a decline in profit participation in recent years, which is due to the situation on the financial markets. The largest part of the cover pool of insurance companies is invested in various fixed-income securities (e.g. federal bonds) and yields have continued to fall in recent years. At times, ten-year government bonds even yielded 0 percent. In the years to come, profit sharing can be expected to continue to fall for all insurance companies.

Payment requirements for insurance benefits

Barmenia Versicherung must be informed immediately of the death of the policyholder. In addition, an official death certificate, a detailed medical or official certificate on the cause of death and the original insurance certificate must be submitted. After the documents have been checked, the benefit becomes due and paid out.

Termination and Waiver of Contributions

The insurance contract with Barmenia Versicherung can be terminated at any time at the end of the current insurance period. Of course, the termination must be in writing. In this case, the surrender value of the insurance is determined. One percent of the difference between the available cover capital and the previous sum insured (min. 75 euros) is then deducted from this. Furthermore, four percent of the surrender value, multiplied by the number of months reduced by 120, is deducted until the end of the insurance year in which the policyholder has reached the age of 85 (max. 15 percent of the surrender value). This deduction does not apply if at least three quarters of the period from the beginning of the insurance to the end of the insurance year (age 85) has elapsed.

The waiver of premiums for death benefit insurance is only possible if the sum insured has reached the minimum amount of 3,000 euros. A partial exemption from premiums can be applied for if the sum insured is at least EUR 3,000 and the remaining premium is at least EUR 120 per year.

The General Conditions of Insurance also contain the passage “Suspension of premium payments”. If the policyholder is no longer able to pay the premiums for the death benefit insurance, a suspension of premium payments for 12 months can be agreed with Barmenia Versicherung. The prerequisite for this is that the death benefit insurance has existed for at least 24 months and that there are no arrears of contributions. For a period of one year, the insurance is then converted into a non-contributory death benefit insurance. The request to suspend the payment of contributions must be made in writing.

Website and contact options

Barmenia Versicherung offers private and business people a large insurance portfolio in the areas of old-age and risk provision, health insurance, accident insurance and property insurance as well as construction financing. The website of Barmenia Versicherung is designed to be correspondingly extensive. Nevertheless, the menu navigation is more than successful and very clear. A tariff calculator is available for almost all insurance companies. The application can also be made online.

We particularly like the fact that the insurance conditions for each individual insurance policy can be called up immediately on the relevant page. The general insurance conditions can also be called up immediately on the information page about the death benefit insurance.

The website of Barmenia Versicherung is more than convincing and can be rated as very customer-friendly. The insurance company can also score points because customers can log into their accounts online and manage their insurance contracts online. For example, if the bank details change, this can be communicated directly to Barmenia via the online account. There are also numerous online forms available for download in the service area.

Barmenia customer service can be contacted by phone. The “Contact” menu item contains the telephone numbers for the service hotline, for questions about the contract and for reporting benefits and claims. You can also contact us via email and live chat. If you prefer personal contact, you can use the search function to look for a Barmenia branch near you.

Barmenia death benefit insurance: all the facts at a glance

• Well-known insurance group in Germany
• Funeral insurance without health issues
• Entry age: from 18 years to 75 years
• Sum insured freely selectable (3,000 to 15,000 euros)
• 3 year waiting period
• No contribution reduction for quarterly, half-yearly and annual payments
• Insured event during the waiting period: reimbursement of the premiums paid
• Contribution calculation and application can be done online
  
• Profit Sharing
• Sum insured in the event of accidental death
• No co-insurance of children
• Deductions upon termination of the insurance contract
• Customer service available by phone, email and live chat

Evaluation

Barmenia Insurance offers robust and competitive death benefit insurance without applicants having to submit a health declaration. A three-year waiting period is quite common and if the insured event occurs during this time, the insurance premiums paid will be refunded. In the event of an accidental death, the beneficiary even receives the full sum insured plus a bonus. The insurance premiums are also on a normal level and can definitely be rated as cheap. We can therefore definitely recommend Barmenia Versicherung.