How Do You Choose Between Two Insurers With The Same Claim Settlement Ratio?

You have two term plan quotes open in separate tabs. Both insurers advertise a headline number in the high nineties, and both brochures use almost the same language about trust and reliability. Yet, you are no closer to picking one than you were an hour ago. 

What is actually left to compare if the number every website leads with is identical?

Why Does the Same Headline Number Not Settle the Decision?

Claim settlement ratio is a count-based figure. An insurer takes the total number of claims it paid out, divides that by the total number of claims it received, and multiplies by 100. If a company received 1,000 individual death claims and settled 980 of them, the published figure reads 98%.

That formula treats every claim as one unit in all cases. Two insurers can land on the exact same percentage while handling completely different mixes of easy and difficult claims underneath it.

Does the Ratio Count Every Type of Policy the Same Way?

This is where the headline number gets murky. Many insurers publish one combined figure that blends individual retail policies with group policies sold through employers, and group claims usually settle faster and more smoothly since the employer, the group administrator, and standard documentation are already in place.

An individual term policy bought directly by one person does not carry that same built-in support. When two insurers report an identical overall ratio, ask what share of that number comes from group business versus individual policies like the one you are actually buying, since the retail-only figure is the one that applies to you.

What Does the Amount Behind the Percentage Actually Tell You?

Count-based numbers can hide a lot. Picture an insurer that settles 995 of 1,000 claims, a 99.5% ratio by count. 

If the five claims it did not settle happen to be among the highest sum assured policies in that batch, the amount-based version of the same ratio, measuring the value paid out against the value claimed rather than claims settled against claims received, could look meaningfully lower.

That second number matters more than the headline percentage for someone buying a large cover amount rather than a small one. It reflects what happens to bigger payouts specifically, not just the average case.

How Fast Does Each Insurer Actually Pay Once a Claim Gets Approved?

Claim settlement ratio says nothing about speed. An insurer can approve 98% of claims and still take considerably longer to release the payment than another insurer with a similar approval rate. 

Ask each insurer directly what their average turnaround time looks like from the day all documents are submitted to the day the amount is credited, and ask whether that number is measured for individual term claims specifically rather than for the business as a whole. 

This is also a good moment to run your numbers through a term insurance calculator on each insurer's own site. Comparing premium and cover while you are already gathering documentation saves you from doing that step twice later.

What Do Complaint Numbers Reveal That the Ratio Does Not?

Every insurer also reports how many customer complaints it receives for every 10,000 policies. The regulator publishes the figure separately from the claim settlement ratio. Two insurers can carry a nearly identical settlement percentage while one receives far fewer complaints per policyholder than the other.

A lower complaint count means fewer disputes over documentation and fewer delays that irritate policyholders enough to escalate. It also means smoother communication throughout the process. This number rarely gets mentioned in a brochure, which is exactly why it is worth asking for directly.

Does Solvency Ratio Actually Matter for a Term Buyer?

Solvency ratio measures whether an insurer holds enough assets to cover its total liabilities, and the regulator requires every insurer to maintain at least 150% at all times. 

This has nothing to do with how an individual claim gets processed, but it speaks to whether the company will still be standing decades from now when your term policy is likely to actually pay out.

A large gap above the 150% floor is a reasonable sign of financial cushion, while a number sitting close to the minimum is worth a second look, especially on a policy you expect to hold for 20 or 30 years.

So Which Number Should Actually Break the Tie?

Stop treating that one headline percentage as the whole decision and start treating it as the first filter that got you down to two reasonable options. 

From here, ask each insurer for the individual-only figure, the amount-based version, their average turnaround time on individual claims, and their published complaint count, then weigh the solvency cushion behind both companies.

None of this takes more than a few direct questions or a short search on the regulator's public disclosures. The insurer that answers clearly and backs it up with numbers you can verify is usually the one worth trusting with a policy you plan to hold for a very long time.