So you’re ready to request a policy loan and you’re wondering exactly what’s going to happen. You may be wondering how do you request a policy loan and what does that look like? It depends on the company. And some companies allow you to request a policy loan via a phone call, a physical form, or a web form.
Now, a key distinction between a policy loan and a regular conventional loan is that you’re not asking permission to access this money within your policy. You’re giving an order to the insurance company. You’re saying, “Hey, I have cash value in my life insurance policy, I have equity. I’d like to take a loan against that equity, send me a check.” And they’re saying, “Oh, I’m checking this money. You have it. Here you go. Take the loan and we’ll talk to you later.”
A policy loan will not reduce or go against your credit score. And whether or not you make a payment or you’re late on a payment on a policy loan won’t affect your credit score. Again, you’re giving an order versus asking permission. This is a big deal when it comes to, let’s say, losing your job or becoming disabled, because when you’re applying for a loan conventionally in these circumstances, you’re asking permission.
You’re going to the bank or the credit company and you’re saying, “Hey, this is what I have. Can I have some money?” And they’re going to say, “How are you going to repay it? Can you prove that you can repay this money? And if not, they’re not going to allow you access to their capital.” But with a policy loan, that’s irrelevant.
You see, the key here is that the entity, the life insurance company that is giving you the loan is also the entity that’s guaranteeing the collateral. They’re actually figuring out how much equity you have in your policy and loaning to you against that equity. It’s called a collateralized loan. Not only is it a collateralized loan, but it’s also an unstructured repayment schedule. And what that means to you as the policy owner is there’s no payment schedule set up for you.
A lot of times clients will come to us and say, “Hey, I have X amount of money to put towards my policy loan per month. How long is it going to take?” Or, “Hey, I want to pay off this policy loan in two years or five years. How much do I have to pay to accomplish that goal?” And you see, this is key because being unstructured or having an unstructured loan repayment allows you to pay back the loan within your cash flow. You’re not pinching your cash flow to fit into the amortization schedule or the terms and conditions that a bank or a credit company gave you. You’re literally fitting the monthly payment into your cash flow to accommodate your life, not somebody else’s.
There’s a delicate balance between paying your policy loan back too slowly and paying your policy loan back too quickly. When you pay back too slowly, you run the risk of the interest accruing and not covering the interest expense. And what happens is if you don’t pay it at the end of your policy year, it gets tacked on to the balance.
However, when you pay yourself back too quickly for your own cash flow, you do have the option of just taking another policy loan so you feel less pinched going forward. But the key is now you’re in control and you make the decision as to how soon or how long it takes you to pay back the loan. You also make the decision if you want to take another loan. The key benefit of repaying your policy loan is freeing up that cash to be available for you and your financial goals in the future.
Another thing that happens when you take a policy loan is uninterrupted compounding of interest. Now, this only occurs with certain types of companies. They have to be mutually owned by the policy holders, and they need to recognize non-direct recognition so that dividends aren’t affected by a policy loan balance. But the key is your money is continuing to grow at the same pace that it would have had you not borrowed. So the only cost is the interest cost.
Basically what this means in plain English is that your policy will continue to grow the exact same way with the policy loan as if there was no policy loan at all. So your money could in essence be in two places at one time because you never drained the tank. The money is still within your life insurance policy, but you have a separate loan where you have access to that money to accomplish your financial goals, whether it be taking advantage of an opportunity, paying off your debt, or sending your kids to college.
And that’s the key. With a collateralized loan, your equity stays in the policy. The insurance company puts a lean against your equity, and they give you a separate loan from their general account. And as you pay that loan down the equity increases, it’s really that simple. Because a policy loan is a collateralized loan and your money continues to grow uninterrupted compounding, you’ve literally tapped into what’s known as multi duty dollars. It’s as if your money is in two places at once because quite frankly, it is. Your money still growing in the policy as it would have had you not borrowed and you were able to obtain a loan to do whatever you want, whether it’s to make an investment or to pay a bill or to pay off an emergency. Talk about efficiency.
When you take a policy loan, you’re taking a collateralized loan against the cash value. But think about this. You still have all the benefits of your life insurance policy. Now, the death benefit is reduced dollar for dollar, but you still have that death benefit. You may have other riders like a terminal illness, a critical illness, or a disability waiver of premium. Plus, you’re able to use that loan for whatever you want. Maybe it’s growing your business, maybe it’s taking advantage of a market opportunity or investing in real estate or anything else that you may see as an opportunity out there.
So this is what we mean when we’re talking about multi duty dollars. Your money is in the policy. It gets all the benefits of the policy, the death benefit, any additional riders. And you’ve used it to either make an investment, take advantage of an opportunity, or to clean up an emergency.
When you’re thinking about taking a policy loan or you’ve taken a policy loan, keep these issues in mind.
Number one, you’re giving an order, not asking permission.
Number two, unstructured loan repayments, which means you can pay it back within your cash flow and on your timetable.
Number three, uninterrupted compounding. Your money continues to grow as if you never tapped into it.
Number four, multi duty dollars. You’re getting $1 to do the job of three, four or sometimes $5.
You see, it’s all about maintaining control and efficiency of your cash flow and your money. You want to maintain complete liquidity use and control of your money so that you’re able to continue to grow the money and still accomplish your goals like sending your kids to college or taking advantage of opportunities.
If you’d like to get started with a specially designed whole life insurance policy designed for cash accumulation and put this process to work for you, be sure to visit our website at Tier1Capital.com to schedule your free strategy session today.
If you’d like to learn more exactly how we put this process to work for our clients, check out our webinar, The Four Steps to Financial Freedom. Or if you’d like to learn how to put this process to work for college tuition. We have a webinar specifically on that. The Three Keys on How Not to Overpay for College Tuition.
And remember, it’s not how much money you make. It’s how much money you keep that really matters.
