Credit life insurance: you can choose your own insurer

Credit life insurance pays your loan, card or account if you die, become disabled or are retrenched. Lenders sell it with the credit, but section 106(4) of the National Credit Act gives you the right to use your own policy instead, and the lender must accept it if it meets the rules. Switching can lower the monthly cost. Updated September 2026.

Get credit life insurance quotes

Who it suits

Credit life suits anyone with a home loan, vehicle finance, a personal loan or store accounts who is paying the lender's insurance on top of the instalment. Most people do not know what they pay or that they can substitute it. The credit life regulations cap the monthly cost per R1 000 owed, and an insurer who specialises in this cover may quote below the lender's price. Retrenchment cover needs proof of formal employment, so tell us how you work.

What the insurer will ask, and why

These are the questions on our form for credit life, with what the insurer does with each answer. Nothing here is optional guesswork: every question exists because a licensed insurer needs it to quote.

Select all that apply: Product per credit type; the NCA caps credit life cost per R1 000 of the deferred amount.
Total amount still owing across these: Sum assured.
Do you pay credit life insurance today?: 'Yes, through the lender' is the substitution segment (NCA s106(4)).
Your total monthly instalments on these (optional)
What do you want from this?
Do you smoke? (optional)
Your date of birth: Age is the primary rating factor across every product.
Which province do you live in?: Regional risk and pricing tables.
Town or suburb (optional): Postal-code rating for short-term products; language and dialect hints for call centres.
What best describes your work situation?: Affordability and, for income products, insurability.
Do you have a bank account you can pay from by debit order?: Collection method.

Questions people ask

Can the bank refuse my own policy?

Not if the policy meets the minimum cover in the regulations and you follow the lender's process for substitution. The insurer who calls you will supply the documents the lender needs.

What does it cover?

Death, permanent and temporary disability, and, for most credit, retrenchment for a limited number of months.

Is this a loan?

No. Olvian does not offer or advertise credit. This is insurance on credit you already have or are about to take.

Olvian is a marketing and lead-referral service. We are not a licensed financial services provider, we do not give advice, and we do not sell insurance.