Over 65 life insurance.

Rev

Can anyone point me in the direction of a decent life insurer for someone over 65? Asking on behalf of my mother.

dunstonh

most providers will go post 65. You will find term assurances may stop at 70 or 75 and need to look a whole of life assurance plans instead. Although that will really depend on whether there is a financial need for whole of life assurance. Its best avoiding the whole of life insurance plans though like the over 50 plans. They are awful and should be considered a last resort.

Rev

Basically she has some debts and plans as a last resort to secure a small loan against the house to pay those debts. But in case of the worse she would like some sort of insurance policy in place that will pay of the loan. Save selling the house as the amount she needs to borrow is tiny in comparison to the worth of the house. But having spent hours in CAB going through all options, this is pretty much the only way she can consolidate her debts.

dunstonh

Does she have anyone that is financially dependent on her?

What age will the debts be cleared?

Rev

No dependants. She's looking to pay over 5 years if she gets the loan. If she doesn't get the loan god knows when the debts will be paid, since the interest is so high she's not making a dent in the actual debt.

dunstonh

If she has no financial dependents then why does she need life assurance?

Annisele

Or to be a little more blunt...

If she's already in financial difficulties, why does she need to pay for life assurance that won't provide a benefit to her?

jamesd

Forget life assurance. After death any remaining debts are paid out of her estate and that's not something she needs to worry about.

What sort of amount are the debts? Can she get 0% credit card deals? Can a family member get 0% credit card deals? With a 0% credit card deals putting spending on the card will accumulate a balance and the money being spent can be used to pay off the debts, reducing their cost.

Rev

She wants the inaurance to cover debts so her house doesn't have to be sold to cover them. She might not have dependants but she does want to leave the house to family. Not whatever cash is left after the house has been sold to repay the debt.

The debt isn't huge. About £6000. We've been down the credit card route, half her debt is now in my name on various cards. But it's a struggle, I'm helping her as much as I can but she wants a single, managable monthly repayment. Hence the loan.

jamesd

It seems that it might be a better idea to contact CCCS or another debt advice charity to see what they can do with the situation. They may be able to negotiate a suspension of interest and should be able to handle taking one payment and distributing it to all lenders.

Rev

I assume such an agreement would be detrimental to your credit score?

That's something we're trying to avoid, since half the debt is in my name, I'd obviously have to do the same. And as harsh as it may sound, given it's my mother I'm talking about, I'm not prepared to have my credit score shredded for a debt that's not mine unless it's absolutely unavoidable. The CAB have said they can contact all the creditors should it need doing and offer token monthly payments. The only other option is taking a loan on the house, but even the CAB have said it's not advisable to do so without some sort of insurance in place. If this doesn't work out, or if the monthly repayments (including insurance) are unaffordable, then the only other option will be to let the CAB contact the creditors. I really do appreciate all the advice but we've spent hours and hours in the CAB going over all the options. We're following their advice.

So to my original question, does anyone know of a life insurer worth looking at for someone over 65?