Nobody really wants to think about funerals, right? But, hey, it’s a part of life, and getting things sorted beforehand can seriously save your family a whole lot of stress and financial strain. We’re gonna break down what this plan covers, who you can include, the different levels of cover, and how the claims work. Think of this as a friend explaining it to you over a cup of coffee, clear, honest, and straightforward.
What Does the Metropolitan Funeral Plan Cover?
At its core, a Metropolitan Funeral Plan is designed to help you pay for a dignified funeral when a loved one passes away. Funerals can be super expensive – think coffin, the service, catering, flowers, tent hire – and this plan aims to take that financial burden right off your shoulders. The main thing it gives you is the Funeral Benefit, which pays out a lump sum to cover those immediate funeral expenses.
Who Can You Cover on One Plan?
One of the great things about the Metropolitan Funeral Plan is how flexible it is. You can cover a whole bunch of people on just one plan, making life so much easier to manage.
You can include: Yourself (the plan owner): This is obvious, you’re the one taking out the plan!
Your Life Partner: Your spouse or partner can definitely be on it.
Your Children: You can cover all your children, and even choose a “Child for life” option for one child, which is pretty unique.
Your Parents: You can add up to 4 parents to your plan. Lekker! (Nice!)
Your Extended Family: This is awesome! You can cover up to 9 extended family members. How cool is that?!
In total, you can cover up to a maximum of 20 lives on one plan, including yourself. This means you can really make sure your whole fam (family) is properly looked after.
Example: Imagine you, your partner, three kids, both your parents, and four of your siblings are all on the same plan. That’s 10 people sorted!
Cover Levels and Costs
Metropolitan’s got different Cover Levels for the Funeral Benefit, so you can choose what really fits your family’s needs and, of course, your budget.
Funeral Cover: You can choose amounts like R70,000 or R100,000 for immediate family and parents. For extended family, the maximum is R70,000.
Example: You might go for R100,000 cover for yourself and your partner, and R70,000 for your parents and other family members.
The actual premium (that’s what you pay every month) will depend on a few things:
Who you cover: More people usually means a bit more money.
How much cover you choose: Bigger cover amounts mean slightly higher premiums.
Their age: Older folks generally cost a bit more to cover. Everyone’s got to be younger than 85 when you add them, though.
Any add-on benefits: If you add extra goodies, your premium will go up a bit.
Example: Covering a younger child for R10,000 will be way cheaper than covering an elderly parent for R70,000. It just makes sense, right? It’s all made to fit you.
Built-in Benefits (You Get These Automatically!)
Metropolitan throws in some pretty cool benefits with your plan, totally free!
Payment Protection (on plan owner reaching age 85): This is a huge relief! Once you, as the main person on the plan, turn 85, Metropolitan will actually cover your premiums for you. And guess what? All your family members still covered on the plan will carry on having cover without you having to pay a cent more!
Example: If you’re 84 and paying R500 a month, when you hit 85, those R500 payments just stop. But your family’s cover keeps going as normal. Shweet! (Sweet!)
Repatriation Benefit: Moving a deceased person’s body can cost a fortune, especially if they pass away far from home. This benefit helps with getting the body to its burial spot anywhere in South Africa. Plus, it even helps with funeral and cremation arrangements. This service is available 24/7, all year round!
Example: If a family member passes away while visiting relatives in another province, this benefit will help bring their body back home for the funeral. That’s a massive help, seriously!
Add-on Benefits (You Can Choose These for Extra Goodies!)
You can make your plan even more awesome by adding these benefits for a little extra cash. You can even pick and choose these for each person on the plan, which is super flexible.
Memorial Benefit: This pays a lump sum of up to R20,000 to help you honour your loved one’s memory, like putting up a tombstone. You can even choose to get this money within 18 months after the claim.
Example: After the funeral, you could claim R20,000 to help pay for a beautiful headstone for your loved one.
Monthly Essentials Benefit: This one’s a lifesaver! It pays a monthly amount of up to R3,000 for either six or twelve months. This money can seriously help your family with living expenses after an adult family member who brought in income passes away.
Example: If your partner passes away, and they were a main income earner, this benefit could pay R3,000 a month for six months. That’d help a lot with groceries, transport, or school fees while the family gets back on its feet. No more eish! (No more exclamation of dismay!)
Payment Protection (if the plan owner passes away, becomes disabled, or retires): This add-on means Metropolitan will cover your premiums if you become disabled, retire, or even pass away. It just makes sure your family’s cover keeps going, even if you can’t pay anymore.
Example: If you become permanently disabled and can no longer work, this benefit kicks in, and Metropolitan pays your premiums. That keeps your family’s funeral cover active, no worries!
CashBack Benefit: Who doesn’t love getting money back, right?! If you add this benefit and keep your plan active, Metropolitan will give you 12.5% of your premiums back after the first 24 months, and then every 36 months after that. It’s like a reward for staying on track, how cool is that?!
Example: After two years of paying your premiums, you could get a nice chunk of cash back in your pocket. Sweet!
Value Protection Benefit: Funeral costs just keep going up every year, don’t they? This benefit lets you automatically increase your premium and cover by 6% or 10% each year. This makes sure your payout keeps up with those rising funeral costs.
Example: If your cover is R50,000 today, with Value Protection, it could be R53,000 next year. That helps make sure it’s still enough to cover a funeral in the future.
Help in Tough Times (Flexibility)
Metropolitan totally gets that life can throw some curveballs. So, they offer some pretty flexible features:
Premium Skips: You can skip up to six premiums to keep your plan active. You just need to have paid your very first premium, that’s all.
Example: If you hit a tough patch financially, you could skip a month’s premium without your policy lapsing. Phew!
Quick Plan Reinstatement: If your plan happened to stop within the last three months, you might be able to get it going again as usual if you meet certain rules.
Plan Continuation: If you, the plan owner, pass away, a family member can actually take over the plan. This just makes sure your family’s funeral cover stays intact.
Funeral Claims: Keeping it Easy
Metropolitan really tries to make the claims process as easy as possible, especially when you’re already going through such a difficult time.
Claim via WhatsApp: This is super convenient! You can send in all your valid claims via WhatsApp on 0860 724 724. That means no endless paperwork, which is quick and easy.
Example: Instead of filling out loads of forms, you can simply send the needed documents and info via WhatsApp. Much faster, right? No more tsotsi (cheating) with papers!
Closing It Up
The Metropolitan Funeral Plan is a really flexible and affordable way to protect your whole family from the money stress of a funeral. It’s not just about covering the main funeral costs; with all its built-in and add-on benefits like the CashBack, Monthly Essentials, and Value Protection, you can truly make it fit your family’s unique needs and budget.
Being able to cover up to 20 lives on one plan and that super easy WhatsApp claim process are definitely big positives. Thinking ahead about these things can bring real peace of mind, knowing that when the time comes, your loved ones will be able to give a dignified farewell without any extra money worries. I’ve based this on information from Metropolitan’s website and other reliable sources, but costs and terms can change. Always check with Metropolitan directly for the latest details.
