Life Cover

If you’re struggling to pay your Life Cover, Critical Illness Cover or Income Cover monthly premiums because of coronavirus, help is available. Please visit our support page to find out more.

We're here to help you protect your loved ones today, so you don't have to worry about tomorrow.

HSBC Life Cover offers financial support for your loved ones, paying a lump sum if you were to die or be diagnosed with a terminal illness - or a critical illness if you take out extra cover.

Cover is provided by HSBC Life (UK) Limited. Please check the policy documents for full details as terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions apply.

Already have Life Cover with us?

Find out more about your policy.

Key benefits

Fixed premiums

Know that your payments will never go up
Single or joint

Choose the type of cover that's right for you
Handy calculator

Work out how much individual cover you need

Reliable pay outs

HSBC Life paid over 99% of claims in 2021
Quick application

Get a quote in minutes
Critical Illness Cover

Available as an optional add-on for extra protection for you and your family

How to apply

Understanding your options

Level or decreasing cover?

With level cover, the payout you receive stays the same throughout the term of the policy. Level cover can be used for protecting personal loans and debts, university fees, funeral costs and other expenses. It is also suitable for interest-only mortgages, but it's optional. Having life insurance is not a condition of getting a new HSBC mortgage. Keep in mind the payout from level cover does not keep up with inflation.

With decreasing cover, the insured sum decreases over the term of the policy. This means your monthly payments will be lower than with level cover, although the amount you pay will stay the same throughout. If you want to protect a capital repayment mortgage, decreasing cover could be suitable.

Joint or single cover?

As the name suggests, single cover protects one person. It’s tailored to the insured person's needs and pays out once when they die.

In contrast, joint life cover protects the lives of two people. The same cover amount applies to both of the insured people. And it pays out once when either person dies, at which point the policy ends.

Critical Illness Cover

Available as an optional add-on, Critical Illness Cover can help you with bills and day-to-day expenses, or you could use it to fund private medical care.

Critical Illness Cover pays a lump sum on diagnosis of one of 35 illnesses and surgical procedures including, cancer (excludes less advanced cases), heart attack, stroke and dementia. In 2021, HSBC Critical Illness Cover paid 95.5% of claims received.

With this add-on, if you cancel your Critical Illness policy or make a successful claim, your Critical Illness policy will end but your Life Cover policy will continue. If you cancel your Life Cover policy or make a successful Life Cover claim, your Critical Illness Cover will end.

This add-on is only available as level cover. If you need Critical Illness Cover that reduces over time (known as decreasing cover), or a standalone Critical Illness policy without life cover, speak to one of our advisers.

You’re eligible for Life Cover if you’re:

an HSBC current account holder (for joint cover, only one person needs to have an HSBC bank account)
a UK resident (not including the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man)
over 17 and under 70 years of age at the time the policy starts

Please note, Life Cover must cease before your 80th birthday. If you need Critical Illness Cover after your 75th birthday, please speak to a protection adviser.

Get a quote in minutes

Use our handy calculator to work out how much cover you need and get a quote. To apply online, you need to be registered for online banking.

Continue your application This link will open in a new window

Things to know

Before applying, please take the time to read the following. You may also want to save some of these documents for future reference.

Life Cover policy document and summary of cover (PDF, 282KB) Download

This document applies to new policies only. If you already have life cover with us, here’s where you can find out about your policy.

Critical Illness Cover policy document and summary of cover (PDF, 225KB) Download

This document applies to add-on policies bought when applying online for Life Cover.

If you're registered for mobile banking, you can get a quote and apply straight from the app. If you're not yet using the app, you can download it now on compatible devices.

Get personalised advice

Our protection advisers can discuss your options and recommend a policy that's right for you from our list of selected providers, including HSBC. This video or phone call service is available at no extra cost to HSBC customers who are UK residents aged 18 and over.

Frequently Asked Questions

Life insurance offers financial peace of mind that if something happens to you, your loved ones will be looked after. If you were to die, or get diagnosed with an illness which limits your life expectancy, it would pay a lump sum to your beneficiaries, subject to the normal claims assessment process.

With a level term life insurance policy, your family would be paid the pre-agreed sum of money if you were to die within the term. With a decreasing term policy, the value of the cash paid would go down over the length of the policy. This would typically be bought in line with the amount outstanding on a repayment mortgage.

If you're not sure which type of policy or level of cover is right for you, you may want to get some protection advice.

Our advisers can discuss your options and recommend a policy from our list of selected providers, including HSBC. This video or phone call service is available at no extra cost to HSBC UK customers who are UK residents aged 18 and over.

HSBC Life Cover covers suicide occurring after the first 12 months of the policy, subject to the normal claims assessment process.

You can cancel your HSBC Life Cover policy at any point by calling HSBC Life on 0345 745 6125. Lines are open 08:00 to 17:00 from Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.

If you’re not sure if your cover still meets your needs, you may wish to speak to a financial adviser. If you're having financial difficulty due to the coronavirus pandemic, we may be able to help. Please visit our Financial Support page.

The terms life insurance and life assurance are often used interchangeably – although strictly speaking they mean different things.

Life insurance is protection for a specified amount of time. If the policyholder dies during the term of the policy, the insurance company will pay a sum to their beneficiaries. If they outlive the term of the policy, their beneficiaries will not receive any payment. Therefore, the payment is insured, rather than ‘assured’.

Life assurance on the other hand means the policyholder is covered until they die. It’s also known as ‘whole of life’ cover. With life assurance, a payment is typically made when the policyholder dies.

HSBC Life (UK) Limited use the term ‘life insurance’ to apply to both term and whole of life cover.

Want to get a quote or continue your application?

We're here to help you protect your loved ones today, so you don't have to worry about tomorrow.

Key benefits

Treat yourself

Understanding your options

Level or decreasing cover?

Joint or single cover?

Critical Illness Cover

Apply online

You’re eligible for Life Cover if you’re:

Get a quote in minutes

Things to know

Policy documents and forms

Apply in the mobile app

Get personalised advice

Frequently Asked Questions

What is life insurance?

Which policy is right for me?

Does life insurance cover suicide?

Can I cancel my life cover?

What's the difference between life insurance and life assurance?

You might also be interested in

What insurance do you need with a mortgage?

How much life insurance do you need?

A single or joint life policy?

Customer support