1. The benefits of interactive quote and apply
- You can come direct to the Bright Grey interactive quote and apply service from leading portals and most of the data you've already keyed for your client will be automatically transferred.
- You can combine up to 10 covers in one interactive quote and plan, getting the most out of the flexibility our product menu offers.
- The online application service is quick and easy to use. We've developed the screens to work with our paper data capture form, so keying information direct from the form couldn't be simpler.
- The data capture form avoids unnecessary questions for 'clean' lives, which simplifies the sale and saves you time.
- The system allows you to ask your clients further health questions that are specific to their situation, which means fewer requests to their GP and more immediate decisions.
- Underwriting rules, limits and combination risks are built into the system, so the processing time is reduced, and underwriting decisions are more consistent.
- There is flexibility for you to amend quotes before you submit them so you can add, change or delete cover or lives, which helps gets clients on risk quicker and is useful when it comes to budget-driven sales.
- Additional health questions are asked at the end of the application process, so there's just one further call to the client, not several.
- There's a dictionary with over 18,000 medical conditions, occupation, lifestyle and leisure pursuits, which will improve the quality of discloure and will reduce the need for medical information.
- You can add life of another and third party payers.
- Our 'copy from person 1 to person 2 facility' saves you time when joint life clients share the same information, e.g. address or doctor's details.
- We've included bank account validation and address look-ups to help you find this information quickly and accurately.
2. Registration, login and upgrading
I am a new adviser to the site and would like to register.
Q. How do I register and login?
A. You can register from the home page. Click on 'Register' under 'Password login'. After submitting your details online, we'll send you an email within 48 hours confirming that we've processed your registration. Any quotes you do before you receive this confirmation will be on our standard commission terms (140% of Lautro with a full earnings period). Once we send you confirmation of your registration, any future quotes will show your correct commission terms.
What should I do if I forget my login name or password?
If you forget your login details, please use the link on the adviser login screen to let us know. We will phone you within 48 hours to confirm the answer to your security question and clarify your login and password.
I am a current extranet user and would like to upgrade.
What do I need to know before I upgrade?
Q: How can I check if my PC is compatible with interactive quote and apply?
A: When you log in, we will check your browser and security
settings are compatible with our interactive quote and apply service. If there
are any problems, we will let you know once you have logged in. The technology
we use needs you to have ‘Run ActiveX controls and
plug-ins’ and ‘Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting’
enabled on your security settings. We will tell you how to amend these settings
if we find any problems.
We only support Internet Explorer (IE), and you will need IE version 5.5 or above to work correctly in the ‘additional questions’ section of the application. This will be checked when you log in and we will let you know of any problems. If you have a previous version of Internet Explorer, you will need to download a later one from their website to use interactive quote and apply - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx. As with the current system, the new interactive quote and apply system does not support any form of Internet software e.g. Firefox, Netscape etc.
Q: Can I use the existing application form with interactive quote and apply?
A: No, you must use a data capture form with interactive quote and apply as the questions are designed to work with the new screens. If the previous application form has been filled in this will have to be entered into the existing quote and apply service before upgrading to interactive quote and apply.
Q: I have several quotes that were run before I upgraded to interactive quote and apply. Can I still use these and apply online?
A: You will still be able to view your quotes and apply on the previous quote and apply system. If you want to apply using interactive quote and apply, you will need to run a new quote then apply using your new quote. Remember, the questions are different on interactive quote and apply so you will have to complete a data capture form with your client(s).
Q: Do I need a new login and password?
A: Your login and password will not need to change. However, if you forget your login name or password please use the link on the adviser login screen to let us know. We will phone you within 48 hours to confirm the answer to your security question and clarify your login and password.
Q: Have you made any changes to the terms and conditions?
A: There are no changes to the terms and conditions. These can be viewed on the launch page after you log in.
3. About the application process and screens
Q. Are there any restrictions to what type of application I can submit over the Internet?
A. You can submit personal protection applications for any of our covers online and you can apply for up to 10 covers in any combination, but not business protection applications.
We can accept online applications where a third party will be paying the payments, and life of another online applications.
We can accept both clean and non-clean online applications.
Q: Can I apply on interactive quote and apply with a third party payer?
A: Yes, you can apply online with a third party payer. If the plan is accepted and the payer is marked as business partner, company, employer or other, the decision will change to refer so that financial underwriting can be done.
Q: Can I apply on interactive quote and apply for life of another?
A: Yes, you can apply online for life of another. Simply choose ‘no’
when asked on the quote screen if the person covered will also be the plan owner.
Q. Have you made any changes to your quote screens?
A. We have made some changes to our quote screens to complement the quote and apply service. These involve:
- Changing the name fields so that you are now prompted to give us the
first name of the applicant, followed by the last name. This was previously
the other way around.
- Adding new statuses in the employment status field. You now have the
option of selecting student, retired or not-employed as well as the current
options of salaried employee, self-employed, house person and unknown.
- Changing the occupation field so that this will automatically select the correct occupation if you choose houseperson, student, retired or not-employed.
You will also notice on the quote summary screen that there is an 'apply' button. You can use this to move on to the apply screens and convert the quote you have just finished into an online application.
Q. What changes have you made to make completing online applications quicker and easier?
A. You can use the 'copy from person 1' button to save you completing address and contact details twice on joint life cases where the information is the same. We've also added a 'look up' facility to help you complete full addresses of the client and the GP. Our online application system also uses Bank Wizard to validate your client's bank details, which means that you won't be able to submit invalid information.
Q. Can I move on to future pages of the online application without completing the current page?
A. As with the old quote and apply system, you can part-complete pages all the way through. So if you start filling in the screens and then find that you don't have all the information you need, you can save the application and return to it later. Please see the 'save and retrieve' section below for more information on this.
Q. Can I go back and change any of the information I have already completed on previous pages?
A. Yes, you can change any of the client information you have already completed, including the details that have been transferred from the quote. To move to a previous page, click on 'back'.
Q. How long are online quotes and applications valid for?
A. Your quotes and part-completed applications are valid for 30 days after the initial quote date. So if you complete an online application 10 days after you do a quote, the application will be valid for 20 days. After you submit the application, if we don't accept it straight away, our standard 6-month validity period will apply. This means that if the plan doesn't start within 6 months, we will ask you to submit a new application.
4. Submitting application
Q. Can I submit applications 24 hours a day?
A. Yes, you can submit online applications 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, you should be aware that:
- if you submit an application after 9pm, we will start to deal with it at 8am the following day (apart from Saturday and Sunday), and you will not be able to download the client pack or ‘Access to Medical Reports Act’ declaration between 9pm and 8am.
We might also have some 'down time' at weekends when we will close the service to upgrade or improve it. You will not be able to access the screens at these times. There may also be times when we will have 'down time' on Thursdays. If this is likely to happen, there will be a message on the site to let you know when the service will not be available.
Q. How long does it take to complete an online application?
A. This will change depending on whether you are taking the information from a paper application or if you are completing the screens with your client, but it should take between 15 and 25 minutes to complete an online application.
Q. How do I access the apply screens?
A. Once you have completed a quote you can select the 'apply' option from the quotation summary screen. This will take you to the apply screens.
Q: Can I change the cover details before I submit the plan to you?
A: Yes, one of the functions we’ve built in is quotation flexibility post decision. This allows you to easily quote for budget-driven sales, avoid submitting declined lives, gets clean lives on risk quicker and view rated commission before submission.
Q: What happens if I can’t contact my client at the time to get an answer?
A: Interactive quote and apply allows you to save and go back to the application once you‘ve contacted your client.
Q. How quickly will I get a decision on the application?
A. If we accept the application on standard terms you will receive an immediate decision online
If we do not accept the application immediately, we'll refer it to our underwriters. They will either make a decision, request further evidence or decline the application. We'll contact you within a few days to let you know our decision or tell you what further information we need.
Q: What is next best processing?
A: We have added an option called next best processing underneath where the
decision is shown on the decision screen. This functionality triggers when a
TPD, ICS or PCS cover has been declined and establishes if there is another
definition or deferred period that we might be able to consider. This allows
you to review the decision given online, and to consider different options such
as changing to working tasks or changing a deferred period, to allow the case
to be submitted with the benefit.
5. How to save and retrieve
Q. How do I save a quote?
A. You can save your quote using the 'save quote' button on the quotation summary screen.
Q. How do I save an application?
A. You can use the 'save' button on the application screens and it will save the information you have already keyed.
Q. How do I search for a saved quote or an application?
A. You can retrieve both quotes and online applications by using the 'retrieve quote' option. This is available from the quotes home page and you can do a search using your client's last name, quote or application number, or date. The search results will be displayed in a list (if more than 1) and will show as:
- Quote - these are cases that have not progressed to online applications.
- Application - these are applications that have been partially completed or fully completed but have not yet been submitted.
- Policy - these are online applications you've already submitted.
Q. Can I retrieve an application I keyed in the past?
A. Yes, all valid quotations and applications are available for 30 days after you create the initial quote.
Q. Can I retrieve an application I've already submitted?
A. Once you've submitted an online application you won't be able to retrieve it, but you will be able to view and print a copy of the online application for up to 30 days after the initial quote date. Bright Grey recommend that you print a copy of the online application and keep this on your client's file.
6. After submitting the application
Q. What happens after I submit an application?
A. After you submit an online application:
-
If we accept the application on standard terms you will receive an immediate
decision online. We will then send you confirmation of these terms.
- If we do not accept the application immediately, we'll refer it to our
underwriters. They will either make a decision, request further evidence or
decline the application. We'll contact you to let you know our decision or tell
you what further information we need.
- We'll send your client a letter confirming our initial decision (if
we've been able to make an immediate decision), together with a copy of the
online application and quote.
- Your client must then check the online application and use the online confirmation form to tell us if the information is correct or not. If any information is inaccurate or incomplete they must also give us the correct or missing information in this form.
Please note that if we do not receive the online confirmation form within 60 days of us sending it to your client, we will cancel your client's plan if it has already started and they will not be covered by Bright Grey.
Q. Does my client need to complete an Access to Medical Reports Act declaration?
A. If we cannot accept your client's plan immediately and refer it to our underwriters, we will need a signed Access to Medical Reports Act declaration in case we need to request medical information from your client's GP. If we need an AMRA declaration you will be prompted to download and print one from the application decision screen and you can then fax or post this to us. Alternatively, you can send us the signed AMRA declaration from your client's paper application form. We will need to receive a signed declaration before we can request any medical reports for your client.
Q. Do I need to send you the paper application form?
A. No, please don't send us the paper application form. We will process the application using the information you submit online.
Q. Can applications submitted online go in force straight away?
A. For some cases we will still need to carry out identity checks, but once this is successful, the plan can go in force. If our identity check is not successful, we will ask you to provide verification of your client's identity.
If we give an application a standard terms decision online and your client has asked for an immediate start date, it will start on the same day, provided we've carried out a successful identity check. If we give an immediate standard terms decision, this will be subject to all the information you have given us on behalf of your client being accurate and complete.
If your client tells us that some of the information is incorrect or incomplete, we may change the terms we've offered or decline the application. We may then have to request further information before we can decide on any revised terms. If this is the case we will cancel any terms previously offered. Please make sure your client knows that they need to check the online application we send them and return the online confirmation form to us.
7. What else do I need to know?
Q. If the application is not accepted online will my client still be eligible for Instant Cover?
A. There has been no change to our rules around Instant Cover for online business. But you should be aware that if any of the information you submit online is inaccurate or incomplete, then your client will not receive Instant Cover. For more information on when Instant Cover applies, please see our key facts.
Q: What is reflexive questioning?
A: Depending on your client’s answers to the data capture form questions, a further set of related questions may be presented after the standard ones. These questions are generated dynamically depending on your client’s answers, and are designed to remove the need for certain conditions to go to an underwriter. This allows an immediate online decision for more applications. Certain disclosures will have to be referred either to an underwriter or for medical evidence to be issued. If the reflexive additional questions are triggered you will need to have your client available to answer these questions.
Q: Do I need to press anything after answering each reflexive question?
A: Our system works away in the background, analysing the answer to the question and working out which one to present to the user next, this can take a few seconds to process; you don’t need to do anything. The next question will appear automatically. After a numeric answer, a date answer, or any large free text box you can either tab or click outside of the field to indicate you have finished typing your answer.
Q: What is the dictionary and how does it work?
A: It’s built in behind the scenes and has thousands of entries for certain
conditions and disclosures. When you reach a box where this function is available
a ‘?’ will appear. When you hover over it and an information box
will show stating:
‘To search enter at least 2 characters. Do not press 'enter' or any other
command as the search will automatically happen. A list of potential items will
then be presented. Click once for a fuller description of an item and again
to select.’
Q: If the client has had more than one instance of the same condition do they need to disclose it twice?
A: Yes, we do not want to limit disclosure from your client and they should disclose all relevant information under each relevant question. If they disclose the same thing twice they will be asked ‘is this the same occurrence of the same condition?’ If it is then they should indicate this in the follow-up question and we will only ask one questionnaire for the condition. But if there have been two separate occurrences of the same condition they should choose ‘no’ to the follow up question (for example two cysts in the same location but at different times) as we need to capture further details around each condition. Care is needed to answer this question correctly - if the condition is a ratable one and the client discloses it twice, and tells us incorrectly that they are two separate occurrences, they may get a double rating applied automatically.
Q. Are there any pop-ups during the online application process?
A. A few of our screens pop up, but there are no pop-up advertisements. Some versions of Internet Explorer have an automatic pop-up blocker. You will need to switch this facility off before using our interactive quote and apply process otherwise you will not be able to bring up any of the PDFs on the quote and apply screens.
Q. How easy is it to navigate through the quote and apply screens?
A. You should be able to navigate through the screens without any difficulty. To make it easier for you, you can tab through the fields and use the left and right arrow keys to select and de-select the radio buttons when answering questions.
Q. Do I have to download any PDFs?
A. The PDFs available to download throughout the process are as follows:
- Data capture form – this needs to be completed before you can use the new interactive quote and apply system
- Quote - you can download the quote from the quotation summary screen.
- Client application pack - this contains a copy of the client covering letter, the online application and the online confirmation form.
- Access to Medical Reports Act declaration.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the PDFs.
Q. What are the technical specifications of the online application screens?
A. Our screens are built for use with Internet Explorer (IE) 5.5 and above. The screen resolution is optimal at 1024 x 768 pixels.
8. Common error messages
‘Sorry, the application pack for the above application is currently not available online.’
You will see this message when the client application pack isn't available for you to view or print online. We'll send you an email as soon as the documents are available. If you get this message you don't need to do anything and shouldn't resubmit the application.
‘Sorry, we are currently experiencing technical problems with our adviser site.’
You will see this message when our interactive quote and apply service is unavailable.
‘Sorry, cannot Modify/Proceed with a previously submitted application.’
You will see this message if you submit an application then use the 'back' button
to return to a previous screen and change the information on that screen before
resubmitting the application. You should make sure that all of the details on
the application are correct before you submit an application.
9. Contact details
Q. Who do I contact if I have any questions about using the system?
A. We have a service desk available to answer both user questions and technical questions about the system. You can contact them on 0845 6094 511 between 8am and 6pm. This number is also displayed on the application screens.
