Post Office LIfeStyle Protection Insurance - Any Good?

ChloeRadshaw

Hi,

Has anyone claimed / had experience with Post Office LifeStyle Insurance?

I am seriously thinking f taking this out but am a bit dubious. Has anyone used this before?

dunstonh

Its a budget, payment protection insurance. Basically aimed at the bottom end of the market for people that dont want full income protection but feel that doing something is better than nothing. There is a bit of a hybrid life insurance in there as well (its not assurance due to terms).

Its not underwritten at point of sale and will have a number of clauses and restrictions that proper income protection would not have (proper = permanant health insurance or PHI).

ChloeRadshaw

dunstonh wrote: »

Its a budget, payment protection insurance. Basically aimed at the bottom end of the market for people that dont want full income protection but feel that doing something is better than nothing. There is a bit of a hybrid life insurance in there as well (its not assurance due to terms).

Its not underwritten at point of sale and will have a number of clauses and restrictions that proper income protection would not have (proper = permanant health insurance or PHI).

DUnstoh - Thank you

Can you in one sentence confirm what those differences are likely to be please?

Ignore the life assurance piece - i am more interested in the redundancy bit ....

Seems to me they are underwritten by Axa - I just wonder how difficult it would be for them to pay out - They managed to cover 2.5K salary for £110 a month which I think is good value

FSexpert

ChloeRadshaw wrote: »

DUnstoh - Thank you

Can you in one sentence confirm what those differences are likely to be please?

Ignore the life assurance piece - i am more interested in the redundancy bit ....

Seems to me they are underwritten by Axa - I just wonder how difficult it would be for them to pay out - They managed to cover 2.5K salary for £110 a month which I think is good value

Are you aware of that you may be being made redundandt? If you are or if you are placed on notice of possible redundancy after shortly after the policy is issued then your policy isn't worth the paper its written on.

Considering the ammount of cover you are looking for I'd recomend you speak to an IFA.

Twopints

I used bestinsurance for a similar level of cover for £68.75, as recommended in Martin's article on Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance

MPPI Article

dunstonh

If you are after redundancy cover then stick with MPPI, PPI or standalone unemployment cover. Do note though that they are not all the same.

For that £110 price, and a around £30 less, I would have thought you could have got 2 years of cover and a good low deferment with a bit of shopping round.

ChloeRadshaw

dunstonh wrote: »

If you are after redundancy cover then stick with MPPI, PPI or standalone unemployment cover. Do note though that they are not all the same.

For that £110 price, and a around £30 less, I would have thought you could have got 2 years of cover and a good low deferment with a bit of shopping round.

Thanks - I dont have a mortgage or credit card deb so I do not this PPI insurance is for me...

Am I right - COuld I get PPI which would pay 2.5k a month in the event of being made redundant?

dunstonh

MPPI is not applicable to you but PPI would be. That is not linked to lending. As long as £2500 is no more than around 60% of your income pm then you should be fine. However, a number of providers wont go above £1500. Some will but you may not find them as easy to find.

globalvillage

Hi,

I am in a similira situation as ChloeRadshaw.

What I am interested in is
1. The cover should not be linked to expenses / bills (e.g. mortgage, credit cards, etc.)
2. The minimum wait period for the cover to be active....some have 120 days whereas the Post office Lifestyle has 60 days
3. What is the max cover available (I guess only the Post office Lifestyle cover gives upto £2500 ...ofcourse there is a cap of upto 60% of your Gross salary)
4. The Post Office cover is backdated from day 1....which is a real bonus in case you are in a situation where you would need it.

Can someone guide me whether there are any better covers out there. The most important factor being point 1 above.

On_South_Coast

The Guardian newspaper, on 12 January 2009, in its 'g2' section, page 14, had a feature about the Post Office's People's Lifestyle Protection policy, in which is stated:

"Duncan Caesar-Gordon, head of protection products of the Post Office Financial Services [said] "If you haven't been officially notified that there are going to be cutbacks or restructuring, then you can take out our policy and - provided you don't get made redundant in the first 60 days - you can claim.""

The key is OFFICIALLY NOTIFIED, which usually means receiving a letter, not a verbal communication from your boss.

What I would like to know is, I'm in fulltime employment where I've heard rumblings (should be OK to get the insurance as that isn't OFFICIALLY NOTIFIED), but I have a small totally unrelated business in which I'm technically self-employed. Even tho this makes very little money (sometimes a loss), the Post Office's website says that self-employment has to cease fully (see their full wording to get the full flavour) which in my case it wouldn't. Would I therefore be eligible to claim on redundancy from my main, fulltime job? I suspect not, unfortunately. Does anyone know? Thanks.

samr_2

Thanks for that. Link is
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jan/12/redundancy-advice