Life Assurance with Critical illness

mistercurly

Hi, Me and my partner are in the process of buying our first house and the time has come to choose some life assurance. We are looking for a decreasing policy that comes with critical illness cover and after reading a few threads on this site my head is really spinning!!
I have had a few quotes from some comparison websites and they are returning figures of £30 - £40 a month. I am 33 and my girlfriend is 27, both non smokers and our mortgage will be be £113400 over the next 25 years.

What I wanted to know is.
1. Are these prices about right?
2. Are comparison sites any good for looking at Life assurance or should I seek advice from a Financial advisor, I have never had any financial advice before so wouldn't know where to go??
3. I have seen Insurance companies quote "Defaqto Star Ratings" do the star ratings mean anything in real terms or is it just a guide?
4. Where can I find out what percentage of claims on a policy were successful?
5. Is there an easy way to compare all the illness's payable across multiple policies and insurers?
Any other tips on Life Assurance with critical illness would be greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks

kingstreet

It sounds like you'd be better off seeking independent advice. You know what questions to ask and an IFA will be able to give you the answers. Different providers have different unique selling points, or USPs.

There are serious illness options available with earlier and smaller multiple payouts compared with critical illness plans where the full payout is based on a greater degree of an illness.

You have the choice of guaranteed rates which stay the same for the whole term, or reviewable premiums where claims history of the cover will determine if your premiums stay the same or increase. Decreasing cover will fall as you repay your mortgage and is cheaper than level cover which could provide a lump sum after the mortgage is repaid later in the life of the mortgage.

My figures show a decreasing cover premium of £31.96 for a reviewable death or earlier joint life plan, with the lowest guaranteed premium at £34.05. For level cover, the premiums are £48.38 and £51.44 respectively. Your premium expectations appear correct, based on rough ages next birthday.

One last point. You might like to consider income replacement cover as an alternative to critical illness cover. This would pay a monthly benefit if you are unable to work and could pay out for something not serious enough to claim on critical illness.