mik

Never bothered with this in the past, but premiums seem to have come down A LOT since these schemes first appeared (?).

Not any more or less worried about my employment ~ simply taking on a bigger mortgage which would be too much should the worst ever happen..... don't want to lose the house, but cars & things can always be sold (I guess).....

Not therefore looking for full salary insurance - just the mortgage quantity.

THESE GUYS look very cheap ~ Approx £1.70 per month for every £100 you want protection on. No payment for 1st 30 days (which seems fairly standard?).

Any pitfalls I should look out for / recommendations etc?

Thanks,
mik

scoob_babe

this is a lot cheaper than what we have with Barclays/Woolwich but beware of things looking too good to be true. Get the details in writing and check the small print carefully. I think Tiggs is a financial expert so he may be able to offer more advice

MattW

Seems reasonable. Is it just redundancy or would it cover sickness and accident?

MattW

Just checked it doesnt include accident\sickness - other companies are more expensive because of the sickness\accident risk they have in built. Redundancy would surely be the least likely (statistically)

TelBoy

Although i have this cover, i'm actually quite sceptical of the whole thing. You see a lot of stories about policies not paying out on the tiniest technicality, which doesn't inspire me with confidence; having said that i know a guy who got a decent payout with little hassle.

The premium you've seen is roughly average, i wouldn't say it's a steal. Like all insurance, if you never need it it's quite a big chunk to have paid away, but with the right company does provide some peace of mind. Other people on here will have better informed opinions of which companies to go for i would imagine.

T.J

If you run your own business/ltd comapny be very careful as not having work does not mean unemployed. Every time I have looked into this (ltd company MD) ...not covered

Scooby96

check what the deferred period is - ususally 6 weeks (ie they wont pay out unless you're off work for more than 6 weeks and it isnt backdated if you are)

Tiggs

depends what you are after, the policy above will only cover for a limited time which is no good if you bust your back and are of work for 5 years.

i tell ALL clients who are in work to have income protection proper ie. permenant health insurance. this will cover them after a set period of non-working* untill an end date- normaly set at retirement age. I have this to cover 75% of my pay until 65, it can also cover dividens and so on if need be.

it is very pricey comapred to life cover because you are FAR more likley to need it than life cover!

* it wont cover you against unemploymnet/redundency etc but most people can find work under those conditions anyway....when you cant find work is when cancer is chewing up your bits...you'll be happy you have cover then.

as for small print the stuff to check is whether you are protected as long as you are medicaly unable to do your own job or any job. ie. if your an engineer and too sick to do that will they say go be a tesco checkout girl instead, you're fit enough. thats bad, you need cover to protect you against YOUR job, not any job.

as for companies not paying.....its rare....in 10 years i have never seen a valid case turned down but i have seen a LOT of people get cancer, heart attacks, strokes, accidents, etc, etc.

so buy some.

this is hurried and rushed as im busy so i'll let the tied agent boys fill in the gaps....its more up their street

T

edit to add that the original few post are geared towards protection against unemployment as opposed to illness/ accident.....if thats what your after this post wont help.....i have NEVER sold such a policy yet though. whats worse? your sacked or your very sick.....personally i'll take my chances at the job centre ahead of the hospital. (fastbloke, feel free to use that line in your pitch )

[Edited by Tiggs - 8/27/2003 1:09:05 PM]