The home, car or pet, its policy and its bill
Insurance for a thing has three parts that belong together: the home, car or pet, the policy that covers it, and the bill that pays for it. Whichever you add first, NestWise asks once for the rest, so a renewal replaces last year instead of sitting beside it.
- Add an insurance bill and it asks what the bill covers: a policy you already have, or new cover for a home, car or pet. New cover is saved as a policy from the bill, so nothing is typed twice. On the Bills page the bill then reads, for example, “Home · Insurance” or “Corolla · Insurance”.
- Add a policy yourself and it asks which home, car or pet it covers, and offers to add or link its bill.
- Add a home, car or pet and it asks once whether it is insured. Add its insurance, say it is not insured, or close the question; your answer is kept.
When a new policy, forwarded notice or bill is the same kind of cover for the same home, car or pet as one you have, it asks whether it replaces it, even when the insurer has changed. Yes keeps the old year as history and stops the old bill, so the premium is counted once. Nothing is replaced without your yes. If the same cover is already on file twice, the insurance page shows This cover looks saved twice, with one tap to make them one.
Around a renewal
From 30 days before a policy renews until the renewal is dealt with, the policy shows a short renewal card. Four steps across the top tick themselves from what you have saved:
- Renewal notice: ticked once the new period is recorded: by forwarding the notice to your NestWise email address, by choosing Photograph it on a paper notice (members), or by editing the policy and saying it renewed.
- New premium: ticked once the premium for the new period is on the policy. If you recorded only the new date, it asks you to check the premium.
- Bill matches: ticked once the bill that pays the policy says the same as the new premium, so your cashflow uses it.
- Paid: ticked only when the payment is matched to your bank. Without bank statements or a connected bank, it shows the date the payment is in your cashflow and is never ticked for you.
Only the next step has a button. Once both periods are recorded, the card shows last period’s yearly premium and this one, with the change. Everything else is under Details: the two years side by side, the amount covered and the excess when both periods hold them, and a line worth asking your insurer about, which appears only when the figures show it: the premium rising by a tenth or more for the same amount covered, a higher excess, or less cover. Close it and it stays closed for that renewal; it comes back at the next one. It does not appear for cover inside super or cover that comes with a card.
After you save a renewal notice
Whether you forwarded it or photographed it, you check what was read and save. NestWise then says, in a few lines: when the policy renews, how much more or less the new premium is in the way you pay it (for example, “$18 more each fortnight” for a bill paid fortnightly), and that the notice is saved on the policy. If your accounts are linked, you can choose who is sorting the renewal. If the bill still has the old amount, one button updates it. The table of last year against this year is under Details.
If any part does not save, it says exactly which. If the notice could not be put on the policy, it stays safe and the email stays in your inbox until Try againfinishes it. Nothing is marked done until it is.
On Home
From 21 days before a policy renews, if something is still to do (the notice has not come, the new premium needs checking, or the bill still has the old amount), Home shows one line, for example “Your car insurance renews in 21 days”, with who is sorting it and the one thing left. If your partner is sorting it, it is on their Home instead. Once everything is done, the line goes quiet; the renewal stays on your Renewals list.
Reminders, your calendar and Money
Each policy’s renewal date is on your calendar, and tapping it opens the policy. You are reminded 30 days, 2 weeks and 1 week before, in NestWise, by email and on your phone if you allow it. After you save a renewal, the confirmation says so only once it is true; if the calendar is still updating, it says it will be there within a few hours. The same is true when you change a policy’s renewal date or premium yourself. If its bill still has the old amount, the message says so, and Update the bill opens that policy on its bill.
When a premium changes, Money says so once, the next time you look, in the way you pay it: for example, “Your car (RACQ) premium is $18 more each fortnight. Your plan now uses it.” If the bill still has the old amount, it says that instead, and tapping it opens the policy.
Quotes, and changing insurer
Open a policy and choose Save a quote to keep a price another insurer (or the same one) gave you: who quoted, the price and how often, and if you like the excess, a note and a photo or PDF of the quote. Quotes stay with that policy, newest first. Before the policy renews, its renewal card names the lowest quote you saved in the last year, and how it compares with what you pay now.
Switch to this one makes a quote the policy from the day you choose, for a year. Last period stays in the policy’s history, and the bill that pays it changes only when you say so. Whenever a policy renews with a different insurer, by a quote or by Edit, it asks once what made you change and what the last insurer wanted to renew for. Answer or skip: it is not asked again, and your answer stays with the policy.
What a policy can say
- When it renews: in the 30 days before the renewal date, how many days are left. If the date has passed, it asks you to update the date and the new premium.
- New premium needs checking: when the policy was marked renewed without a new premium. Enter it, or say it stayed the same.
- The bill: what the bill that pays the policy says. If it is different from the premium on the policy, it says by how much in the way you pay (such as each fortnight), with a button to update the bill. If no bill is linked, it says the premium is not in your cashflow, unless one of your bills looks like it pays this policy: then it names that bill and asks Yes, this one or No, it pays something else. A new bill can only be added once you have answered, so the same premium is never counted twice.
- Counted twice: if another of your bills looks like the same premium as the one linked to the policy, it is named, with a link to it. Both are in your cashflow, so if one is left over from before, stop it and the premium is counted once.
- Your cashflow: the date and amount of the next payment in your cashflow.
- Paid: if you have brought in bank statements or connected your bank, whether the last payment was matched to a bank payment. When a due date has passed with no match, it says so, with a link to check your payments.
What it does not do
NestWise does not sell insurance, compare insurers or judge whether your cover is right for you. The renewal card and these lines only describe what you have saved, including the quotes you were given, and what your bank shows. The bill changes only when you ask it to.
Cover inside super
Insurance held in a super account is paid from the super balance. It is never a bill and never appears in your cashflow, and the policy says so.
When something changes
Making the bill match, linking a bill or stopping one updates your cashflow, usually straight away. If the date is still being worked out, the policy says “We are updating the cashflow date” rather than saying it is there. If you archive a policy that has a bill, you are asked whether to stop the bill as well. If stopping it does not finish, a Try again button stays on the page, and Home tells you until it is done.