Jackee Batanda – USAID
When the legacy SACCO – FSN, first introduced the funeral cover product to its members, I was one of the first ones to sign up and also added my dad and siblings to my cover. I knew the importance of having additional support when tragedy strikes. The last thing you want is to worry about money when you are dealing with grief.
I continued my annual renewals when we merged into SteadFin, because we all know that death makes no appointment and will always come when you are not financially ready. Insurance, therefore, helps remove that burden from your family.
Last May, death came calling when my father, who had been admitted for what we thought would be treatable ailment passed away within two days of his admission. The money spent looking after an elderly person means that sometimes your accounts are ‘dry’. However, I was not worried about financing. I knew that we already had 5,000,000 ugx to begin with, before we started collecting money to help us give our father a decent send off.
As soon I got the call at 2:30am in the morning, SteadFin was one of the first places I sent an email. When the team received my notification at the start of their work day, they reached out to me with the most plausible option. Because the Insurance company will only make a pay out after receiving the death certificate, we agreed to deduct the 5,000,000 pay out from my retirement account to help with the urgent matter at hand.
The money was credited to my mobile money account [ my preferred form of payment] by 3:00pm that day. I appreciate the fast turnaround from SteadFin SACCO staff to support me and my family. Yes, when we processed the death certificate, the Insurer paid the money, which was promptly returned to my retirement account.
I would recommend this product to anyone still standing on the fence. You need to cover all your loved ones. Like Marvin Gaye sang in his song Trouble Man: There are three things that’s for sure: Taxes, Death and Trouble. The SteadFin Funeral Cover, takes care of the death in this triumvirate.
