Claims settlement in insurance contracts from a consumer protection perspective in Cameroon

• Main Author: Comfort Fuah Kwanga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bucharest University of Economic Studies 2017-10-01
• Series: Juridical Tribune
• Subjects: claims settlement; consumer protection; insurance contracts; Cameroon
• Online Access: http://tribunajuridica.eu/arhiva/An7v11/3.%20Kwanga.pdf

Everyone in the society is faced with the possibility of one or more hazards that are part of life will sooner or later befall him and may occasion some loss. This misfortune is uncertain as to the time and period when it will occur and this amongst others include: fire outbreak, accident, and even death. This necessitates the need for people to go for insurance policies which suit their various needs in order to permit compensation in case of loss. Most consumers of insurance products are “short changed” in the process because very few take the trouble to read through their insurance policies in order to ascertain and understand the terms and conditions. The result is that most often when a claim arises and it is discovered that the loss is not covered by the terms of the insurance contract, there is the tendency of blaming the insurance companies. This paper posits that: there are of course some “bad eggs” in the industry who manipulate consumers. However, the paper holds that this unpleasant quagmire is often due to lack of understanding of the terms of insurance contracts in general and consumer apathy in particular. The essence of this study is to re-iterate the need to communicate the rules of the insurance game, thereby minimizing some of the misunderstanding and problems faced by consumers.