No Life Insurance? Find Out Alternate Ways to Pay for a Funeral in 2021

Alternate Ways to Pay for a Funeral

Suffering the loss of someone you love is painful. It becomes even more painful when one does not have enough money for a funeral service nor know how to pay for a funeral without life insurance. The burden of having no money for a funeral would make the grieving process even harder.

Why is dying without life insurance a serious issue?

Give it a minute to think about the situation where someone close is no longer alive, and your family, devastated, is planning to perform their last rites, and they do not know how to pay for the funeral. The thoughts of how to plan a funeral with no money would be adding to the misery of the loss of their loved one.

The National Funeral Directors Association estimates that funerals cost around $8,755 with viewing and burial and $6,260 with viewing and cremation. As you can see, funerals are expensive ordeals, and having to put your family through the situation without funeral money is a crisis.

On the other hand, if you are the person responsible for providing funeral service to your dear one but have no burial insurance or life insurance policy, or means to pay, you will have to know how to plan a funeral with no money. This article will help you know your options about how to pay for a funeral without life insurance.

Alternate Ways to Pay for a Funeral

Alternate Ways to Pay for a Funeral
Alternate Ways to Pay for a Funeral

How to bury someone with no money for the funeral? Who pays for the funeral when there is no money or life insurance? These are some questions that come up when resources to fund the funeral are lacking. Listed below are several ways that you and your family can plan on how to pay for the funeral during such difficult times.

1) Assistance from Indigent Burial & Cremation Programs

The US government has set up Indigent Burial & Cremation Programs across all the states. They provide assistance to the destitute and the neediest population to help take care of their funeral arrangements. Designated areas are provided to conduct simple burials in the municipal cemetery. They also provide a low-cost solution through direct cremation to dispose of the body of the dead. Suppose your deceased loved one had already applied for some government assistance. In that case, there is a good chance that they would be eligible for compensation from indigent burial and cremation assistance programs.

The Human Services Office would provide details about the eligibility and application process to receive a part or full compensation of the funeral expense. 

2) Services Provided by the Federal and State Government

Will the state bury you for free? The government does provide aid to those who do not have the money to pay for a funeral through Medicaid Funeral Assistance. Small amounts of money are provided by the state to people with disabilities and the indigent through this program. Programs to compensate for the funerals of victims of accidents due to driving under the influence or murder are also available in certain states.

3) Accident Compensation or Victim Compensation Programs

If the death of your loved one was the result of an unfortunate accident or a crime, help is available. Auto insurances would cover parts of funeral expenses when the deceased is a victim of a vehicular accident. Insurances have an accidental death clause and no-fault coverages, which can be checked to see if they can cover a part of the funeral expenses

4) Benefits from Unions or Employers

Some companies and employers have provisions to provide benefits and assistance to their employees to cover funeral costs. Some unions have benefit packages that provide help with the same.

5) Welfare of Veterans

National cemeteries provide free burial services to military and army veterans. The gravesite, opening and closing of the grave, the marker, and the vaults are provided for free. The Veterans Administration Office provides a sum of money to their families to cover other funeral expenses or to buy a burial plot elsewhere if the deceased veteran is not buried in the national cemetery.

6) Payable-On-Death Bank Account or Totten Trust Fund

A planned way to save for a funeral is to open a POD account and designate a beneficiary who can access the savings after you or the account holder passes away. Upon their death, the beneficiary can get the funds immediately, without probate, by providing the death certificate of the deceased and their own proof of identity. It requires a certain amount of planning and discipline to accumulate and save enough money for one’s funeral to be held in the future.

7) Use Estate Funds of the Deceased

Estate funds can be used to cover the cost of the funeral by approaching the funeral home and providing it with proof of the estate funds. However, these funds are subject to probate and would take months or years to be released to use payment.

8) Crowdfund the Funeral through a Kickstarter Campaign

Instead of bearing the funeral’s high cost, it can be funded by immediate family members or sympathizers through sites like gofundme.com or kickstarter.com through small amounts as gestures. These sites provide easy access to people from around the world whom you could reach out to with your stories and seek help in paying for a funeral. However, the funds raised would not completely reach you as these platforms take a percentage from it.

9)    Seek Help from Non-Profit Organizations

Some non-profit organizations provide financial assistance to families and friends with paying for funerals if they are in high need and cannot come up with the required funds.

10) Assistance Provided by the Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration provides aid to the owners who have received their Social Security before their death and qualify with a lump sum benefit amount of $255. This benefit is extended to the spouse and children of a person owning social security too, who could pay for the funeral. The deceased’s social security number must be provided to the funeral director who would report the death to the Social Security Administration to receive the fund.

11) Look for Payment Plans provided by Funeral Homes

Funeral homes provide loans for the families and friends of the dead to conduct the funeral and pay back the amount monthly. The loan amounts could range from $1000 to $10,000 with interests as high as 15-25% for up to 36 months. It is essential to read the terms and conditions of these plans carefully. However, it is a beneficial means of acquiring money for funerals as it does not affect your credit score.

12) Take a Personal Loan

If money is necessary despite getting external aid or emergency funeral funds, expenses for the funeral can be covered by taking personal loans. If you have good credit and feel confident about paying back the loan within three to seven years, you could apply for a personal loan or funeral loan from banks, lenders, or credit unions at an interest rate ranging from 16% to 35%.

However, taking personal loans for funerals can be expensive and difficult to get, which may affect your credit score if you are unable to repay the loan and the interest on time.

13) Put Your Credit Card to Use

Another loan option to finance the funeral is to pay for it with a credit card using a zero percent introductory rate credit card. They are beneficial as they allow the user to pay the credit loan without having to pay the interest for a given period. The time period can be between 6 and 21 months or more, after which the user begins to pay interest. Caution needs to be kept during repayment as the interest rate for paying after the introductory period could be as high as 25%.

14) Come together and Contribute

You don’t have to take the burden of grievance and bear the cost for a funeral all by yourself. It would help for all the family and friends to come together, determine the funeral costs, and divide the expenses so that everyone can contribute to it realistically and help each other out during these difficult times.

Ways to Keep the Funeral Costs Down

Ways to Keep the Funeral Costs Down
Ways to Keep the Funeral Costs Down

We hope you now have some clarity regarding how to pay for the funeral without insurance. What helps in bearing the funeral costs with no money is keeping it inexpensive as possible. It helps to come together, create a budget, and stick to it throughout the process. If things are planned a little ahead, many costs can be cut. It can be hard to check finances and work on a budget while grieving but it would help to have a respectful funeral service without having to worry about paying for the funeral in thousands.

Cremation is a good alternative to help cut costs of the funeral service as it is more economical as compared to an open funeral. The cost of cremations, including the memorial service, is seen to be ranging from $1,650 to $3,000 as opposed to funerals that cost around $8,755. If cremation is done without the memorial service, the average cost will come down to $750 to $2000, which is relatively more affordable for people struggling with funds.

Keep in mind that the price depends on various factors, including geographic location. For example, if the cremation service is held outside a funeral home like a park, a church, or a low-price venue, the cost of the funeral venue could be cut.

Being honest and upfront to the funeral director about your financial struggles with funeral-related funds could be beneficial. In such cases, the funeral director could provide options and alternatives that you can consider providing a proper service for your loved one.

Researching for the best prices and comparing costs for the funeral services provided could prove beneficial as prices vary from place to place. Seek help from family and friends to negotiate and keep the funeral service inexpensive but beautiful to help send your loved one away.

Is Burial Insurance Essential?

Is Burial Insurance Essential
Is Burial Insurance Essential

As you know, funeral costs fall anywhere from $3,000 to $25,000, and it would be the family, friends, and you who would have to pay for the service when the time comes. It would be pitiful to not have a plan, despite knowing their awaiting struggles in the future. There are ways to fund funerals without insurance. However, they are tedious, time-consuming, and could cause more distress in the process of grievance to the family and friends of the deceased.

Funeral costs are not small, and it is not easy to accumulate that large sum of money on short notice. Hence, it helps to be prepared. Help them plan for funerals by getting life insurance for yourself and your family members. It is a great option to help yourself and them with the planning and funding of funeral expenses. Ensure that your death doesn’t financially burden your loved ones by applying for funeral insurance, financial expense life insurance, and burial insurance in your name and your family.

How to pay for a funeral with life insurance? Life insurance is paid for and bought by you when you are alive, but it financially helps your family after you pass away. Having life insurance ensures that your family isn’t in debt after the demise of a bread-winner, a loved one. It will help your family through the grievance if you plan to provide for their future by taking a life insurance policy. They would be eternally grateful to you as it would help them regain balance in their lives.

What are the Advantages of Having Burial Insurance?

Financial expense insurance or burial insurance falls under permanent insurance policies that do not have specific terms. As long as the set premium is paid, it does not expire. The policy provides tax-deferring savings built by cash value components allowing the insurer to borrow or withdraw funds when in need.

  1. Easily issued. It is easy to get qualified for the insurance coverage as no medical exam is needed apart from answering some health-related questions.
  2. Tax-free. The amount paid to your beneficiary is tax-free.
  3. Fixed Benefit. The amount payable to the beneficiary is fixed and guaranteed.
  4. Fixed Premium. The premium rate is fixed based on your current age and doesn’t waiver regardless of medical conditions or advancing age.
  5. Growing Cash-Value. As they are whole-life policies, the cash value builds up over-time.
  6. Non-cancellable. If the premiums are paid, even the life insurance company cannot cancel your policy.
  7. Smaller Amount of Coverage. Returns from burial insurance can fall in-between $1,000 to $50,000.

Which is the Best Burial Insurance Policy?

Best Burial Insurance Policy
Best Burial Insurance Policy

If you are convinced that getting a burial insurance policy would help lessen the burden of your family with regard to funeral expenses, give a call to 1-800-400-8319, and you will find all the information about the policies which would be right for you.

Insurance for Final Expense specializes in aiding people to find economical burial insurance policies based on their needs. They provide the best prices for burial insurance plans obtained from A-rated insurance companies.