Would a life insurance company think I was teetotal if I said I didn't drink regularly?
I have a life insurance policy and one of the application questions was "Do you regularly drink alcohol?". I answered "no", because to me it meant "do you drink every day?" or "do you drink every week?" and I can go for weeks or even months without drinking.
However, my colleague thinks this question really means "are you teetotal?" which I am not, and particularly over periods like Christmas I can drink a fair amount.
I would think if they wanted to know if I was teetotal, they would actually ask that. Who is right? I am concerned they may void any claim if they think I have lied.
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I spoke to their help line (anonymously) and the call centre agent stated they consider regular to be at least one drink per week. If I don't drink that often I can legitimately say I don't drink regularly.
I don't think this is really a personal finance question. Legally, for you to lie, you have to make a false statement of fact. What constitutes "regularly" is a matter of opinion, and therefore statements regarding the matter are not statements of fact. If you drink every day, maybe they could make a claim that you lied, but if there's any reasonable ambiguity, it has to be resolved in favor of you. So a competent lawyer should be able to force them to pay. Whether you or your heirs will be able to afford a lawyer is another matter
This is probably a legal question, and I am not a lawyer, but:
I'd say common sense says that if they ask, "Do you drink alcohol regularly?" that is different from "Do you drink alcohol at all?"
It's a poor question because "regularly" is a vague qualifier. As others have noted, does "regularly" mean "every day"? "Every week"? "At least twice a year"? Etc. If this went to court I would think the company would have a hard time proving that someone deliberately lied on the application because his idea of "regularly" was different from what the insurance company had in mind.
I've had insurance applications where they ask, say, "Do you have an average of more than two drinks of alcohol per week?" That's a much more concrete question.
And just by the way, my favorite alcohol consumption question ever: "Has anyone ever annoyed you by complaining about your drinking?" Of course if someone says, "Yeah, my wife is always nagging me about my drinking. But I have it totally under control", I think it's a fair guess that he's an alcoholic. I wonder how many people fall for this question.
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