Why Bob shows “unknown” instead of guessing.

A comparison table with no gaps looks tidy. It’s also usually wrong somewhere.

When we started structuring policy wording, the hardest decision wasn’t how to extract terms. It was what to show when a term wasn’t there.

Three kinds of missing

• Unknown: we couldn’t find the term in the published documents. It may exist somewhere we haven’t seen.
• Not applicable: the term doesn’t apply to this kind of product, such as income replacement on a life policy.
• Excluded: the wording explicitly says the benefit isn’t covered.

Why we don’t fill the gap

It’s tempting to assume a missing benefit isn’t included, or to borrow the answer from a similar product. Both can mislead. A gap that reads as “no” can push someone away from a policy that does cover them; a gap filled with a guess can do the opposite.

Missing information is shown as unknown, not applicable or excluded. Never as a hidden zero.

How we stay fair, rule four

What it looks like on Bob

In the comparison table, unknown values appear in amber and excluded ones in red, each with a note on what we searched. Match scores lose points for unknowns rather than treating them as a pass or a fail.

What insurers can do

If a term shows as unknown and the information exists, insurers can send us the document. We review corrections within five working days, and the change is versioned like any other.