Great Eastern GREAT Prime Rewards 3 Review (2023): Get regular payouts for up to 20 years

GREAT Prime Rewards 3 offers up to 20 years of payouts and a capital guarantee. Additionally, you can use your SRS funds to pay for it. So, is this the ideal endowment plan for you?

GREAT Prime Rewards 3 by Great Eastern is a single-premium, participating endowment policy designed for retirement income. 

Policyholders can choose to receive up to 20 years of annual payouts, or defer their payouts to earn additional interest for a lump-sum payout at the end of the term. 

This plan also offers coverage for death, terminal illness, or total and permanent disability, and those who are cash-strapped should note that this plan may be funded via the CPF SRS account.

With its flexible structure and funding methods, is GREAT Prime Rewards the best endowment plan in Singapore? Let’s take a closer look to find out. 

Table of contents:

• What can GREAT Prime Rewards 3 do for you?
• Key features of GREAT Prime Rewards 3
• Who should get GREAT Prime Rewards?
• Important exclusions
• How to claim?

What can GREAT Prime Rewards 3 do for you?

GREAT Prime Rewards Product Summary

• Type of plan: Endowment, participating 
• Premiums: Single premium only
• Minimum single premium: S$10,000
• Capital guarantee: Yes, 100% capital guarantee from the end of the 5th policy year with no policy alternations
• Payout duration: 10, 15, 17, or 20 years
• Accumulation period: Up to 5 years
• Cash value: The annual payouts are made up of guaranteed and non-guaranteed components. 
• Suitable for: Retirement
• Death, Terminal Illness and Total and Permanent Disability: Covered
• Purchase options: Cash, Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) funds

Pros and cons of GREAT Prime Rewards

Key features of GREAT Prime Rewards

#1: Provides up to 20 years of payouts

GREAT Prime Rewards is an endowment plan that offers guaranteed payouts each year. You can choose from four payout terms – 10, 15, 17, or 20 years.

These payouts will be provided annually, and may be used for a variety of your needs, such as to supplement your income or your retirement funds.

#2: Option to accumulate payouts for higher returns 

If you don’t need the annual payouts, you can choose to defer them for higher interest. How this works is that deferred payments remain in your account and earn additional interest at a non-guaranteed rate. This gives you higher total returns. 

Your payouts can be deferred until the end of your policy term – doing so will furnish the highest possible returns. Once your policy matures, all your accumulated payouts and guaranteed benefits will be paid out to you in one lump-sum. 

Additionally, you can also choose to withdraw your accumulated payouts (whether partially or in full) should the need arise. This means you can treat GREAT Prime Rewards as a course of emergency funds that is interest-bearing. 

#3: Covers death, terminal illness (TI), and total and permanent disability (TPD)

Your GREAT Prime Rewards policy also provides coverage for death, TI, and TPD. Upon any of these occurrences, you may make a claim for a lump-sum payout.

Note that your payout will include any bonuses or deductions applicable, altering the final amount you or your beneficiaries will receive. 

The downside is that pre-existing conditions and critical illnesses are not covered, which means that if death, terminal illness or TPD occurs and it is related to any pre-ex condition you have, you cannot make any claim.

This policy also does not cover medical and hospitalisation bills. 

#4: Does not require long-term financial commitment

This endowment policy is available as a single-premium policy only, which means that you only need to pay your premiums once. As such, there is no ongoing premium payment required. 

That said, the plan requires a high cost of entry, and you won’t be able to apply if you have insufficient cash on hand.

However, provided you have a sufficiently large balance, you may also use your CPF SRS to purchase this plan. This saves you the need to dig into your bank account. 

#5: Comes with a capital guarantee (after 5 years)

GREAT Prime Rewards guarantees your capital as it is shielded from any losses, which will be absorbed by your insurer instead. This means that at minimum, the premiums paid for this policy will be returned to you. This benefit is ideal for the risk-averse investors who are wary of losing part of their capital. 

It’s important to note that this capital guarantee is only applicable from the end of the fifth policy year onwards, under the condition that no policy alterations were made.  

Who should get GREAT Prime Rewards?

As an endowment plan, GREAT Prime Rewards is designed for people looking for additional income, either as a yearly payout, a lump-sum payout, or a combination of the two. 

You can choose to receive your payouts in four different terms: 10 years, 15 years, 17 years or 20 years. Or, defer your annual payouts for a larger total return at the end of your term. Or, make partial withdrawals whenever you need.

As such, GREAT Prime Rewards can contribute to various financial goals. Younger policyholders may use it to supplement their income, while older policyholders may use it to boost their retirement funds. 

On the flip side, this policy is not suitable for those who can only afford to make small monthly payments; owing to it being a single-premium plan that requires you to have a large sum of money from the get-go. 

Important exclusions to note

Before signing up for GREAT Prime Rewards, note the following exclusions. 

• Pre-existing conditions
• Forms of TPD that are not presumptive TPD over age 65
• Suicide, self-inflicted injury or HIV
• Death or TPD within 12 months from start or reinstatement of policy 

For the full list of exclusions, benefits and terms, please refer to the policy wording. 

How to claim

Follow these three steps to make a claim under the GREAT Prime Rewards plan:

1. Visit the Great Eastern Life claims page
2. Click on the appropriate tile on the page (death claim or total and permanent disability claim)
3. Follow the on-screen prompts to submit your claim

You may contact Great Eastern for further assistance at 1800 248 2888 or wecare-sg@greateasternlife.com.

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