Grrrrr, Payment Protection

W33f33t

Hi

I'm trying to claw my way out of credit card debt and was approved for a loan with one of my CC companies.

However, I was incredibly annoyed with the 'loan expert' when he kept trying to push Payment Protection on me and did his best to make me feel guilty for not taking it.

Are there any advantages to having PP? Please do correct me if I'm wrong but I could have sworn that I heard Martin basically say that it isn't worth the paper it's written on?

Thanks!

lisyloo

If you want to protect yourself then it's much better in my opinion to protect your entire income and not just one credit card bill.
It is a very expensive way to buy it and only protects one card.

It is a good idea to protect yourself against things like sickness, accident and redundancy etc. if you can afford it but not by using schemes that arte expensive and only cover one card.

I think you did the right thing by turning it down.
He was only after his target/commission.

W33f33t

Oooh, now that sounds interesting.

What is this thing you speak of to protect my income and how do I start looking into it? (I'm a bit green about these things) I would like to have some protection, but as you said, the separate policies with lenders are very expensive.

Thanks for the help thus far!

Tr@cker

Depends on how safe your income is. Personally i wouldn't buy any of them.

lisyloo

What you need depends on a number of factors.
The first place you want to look is your employer and see what benefits they provide.

The different risks you could cover are mainly - death, redundancy and sickness/accident.

You may find that your employer provides life cover especially if you have a pension.
You also need to consider whether you need this insurance. For example if you have no dependents then it may not be necessary for you to get life cover.

The next one is redundancy. You need to work out what your employer would currently offer you and how long it woudl last you. You then need to make an assesment of how easily you'd manage. Do you have dependents? Would it likely last you long enough to get another job? Can you easily get a job in your chosen field? If not could you easily get a job to "get by"?
The downside to this insurance is that it's expensive (which won't help if you are trying to pay back debt) plus it only lasts for a fixed length of time.
You need to work out what the risk is and the impact.
Personally I don't have any redundancy cover because I am married and could get by on one income if necessary.
My own opinion is that it is better to "self insure" where possible however that is not always possible.

The next one is sickness/accident. Again you need to look at what your emplyer provides. In most cases, the emplyer provides a sick pay scheme that lasts about sixx months. After that you are on your own on very low benefits.
Again you need to asses the risk. If you are young and paying off debt then this might not be a priority.

Martinslovechild

W33,

Should you wish to consider Income Protection, check out the MoneySupermarket website.  Be aware that Income Protection is not the same as Mortgage Protection (which is less expensive).  Read the guides on their website to differentiate between the two.

If you are self-employed, be very careful to read the T&C's thoroughly as you may not be covered.

Don't be tempted to purchase either of these products from a high-street bank/building society before doing the price comparison as you'll find that:-

a) they may want to sell you additional insurance (accident & sickness, life cover etc) that you definitely
  i) don't want (because your employer already covers you for such eventualities) or,
ii) may not want (because you already have similar cover elsewhere)

b) they tend to be much more expensive (i.e. double or treble specialist insurers).

bobbygirl

I was desperate for a loan and signed up for one of £7000 over seven years, after a while I asked for a settlement figure and it was about £10K, I was shocked, when I saw the application form a computer had put a tick in the payments protection box. I stupidly hadnt read the agreement as i was just pleased to be getting the cash, but the total repayable was......wait for it......£22K!!!!! I tried to argue my case but got no where, it still makes me feel sick when I think about it.

westernpromise

Could you ever have claimed under the terms of the payment protection insurance? For instance, were you self-employed, seasonally employed, etc? Were you unemployed when you took the loan out? If so then I would think you'd have a claim against the company for mis-selling. They can't sell you an insurance product whose terms effectively prohibit you from claiming.

Robert_Sterling_3

I was desperate for a loan and signed up for one of £7000 over seven years ....

..... but the total repayable was......wait for it......£22K!!!!! I tried to argue my case but got no where, it still makes me feel sick when I think about it.

I would like to see a lot more details as I am shocked too.

deemy2004

salaryprotect.co.uk