Every parent strives to ensure that their children get the best of the best in life. The future of any child tends to be a matter of concern to the parent and that is why they will do all that it takes to achieve this.
When a child is born, parents will no longer think about their own happiness and leisure but instead, that of the child will be given priority. Child care and welfare is expensive and requires a lot of sacrifice and dedication from the parent.
As the child grows up, they reach a point where they have to be enrolled in school. As a parent, the wish is to have their child enrolled in the best school that offered quality education. Such schools need a lot of financial resources as they cannot easily be afforded. Reality is, that the cost of good education is rising by the day and as a parent one has to start planning early in order to avoid getting caught out.
Parents also often worry about what would happen to the kid’s education in case they passed on. Most often than not you find that in families where the breadwinner passes on, the children left with no other option but to suffer and if at all they were in the best school, they are sometimes forced to either transfer to not the best schools around or even drop out due to lack of support from those left around them.
Whereas there are those who flourish despite the challenges, most are condemned to a vicious cycle of poverty as in Kenya today there is little one can do without at least having some form of education.
To be able to save your children from such distresses of life, it is important to start saving for their future education so that as they grow up, they do not suffer but go through school easily with Co-operative Bank of Kenya’s (Co-op Bank) Soma Na Co-op Education Policy.
This education policy is an endowment assurance policy that pays the pre-defined benefits on earlier Death/PTD (Permanent Total Disability) of the policyholder and also at the policy maturity. The main purpose of Soma Na Co-op Education Policy is to enable the policyholder to save towards the future education of their child or dependent.
The policyholder may consider having more than one policy based on affordability and subject to product rules, e.g. maximum policy term.
The policy is available to all Co-op Bank customers and any other customers of other banks in Kenya who is between the age of 18 and 65 at entry.
Upon application, the customer needs to understand the following terms before signing up:
- Policy Term (Ranging from 9 to 18 years): This is the entire period where the policyholder pays the premium and receives the benefits. The policyholder is usually covered for the term duration.
- Premium Paying Term (Ranging from 5 to 14 years): This is the period the policyholder pays the premium before the maturity.
- Policy Maturity (4 years): The product pays pre-defined benefits in 4 years. 15 percent of sum assured each and a final payout of 45 percent sum assured (105 percent of sum assured plus bonus). The minimum premium is 2,000 shillings.
The benefits that come along with Soma Na Co-op Education Policy Include:
- Death Benefit
- Surrender and Policy Loan Benefits – This is after the policy has been in force for at least 3 years. Surrender will not be allowed on policies that are already receiving premium waiver benefits. The policy loan up to 85 percent of the surrender value is acceptable after 3 years repayable at an appropriate interest rate determined by the insurer.
- Cooling Off Period (Free Look Period) – There is a 30-day cooling–off period from the date the first premium is received. The policyholder may cancel the policy and the full premiums refunded. This benefit is payable provided no claim has been paid in terms of the policy.
- Grace Period – There will be a grace period of 30 days from the date of the outstanding premium due. During the 30 days, the life assured remains covered.