No idea how to insure

terriblesaver

Hi

We remortgaged recemntly and have a 20 year interest only mortgage for £230,000. In a couple of years when we are out of the LETS TAKE ALL YOUR MONEY period and we have better credit we will change this to a repayment mrotgage with a lower interest rate but we have no Life assurance / insurance at all and personally i have no idea where to start.

CAn someone please advise us on what type of cover. term etc we should be investigating as i keep getting phone calls from people trying to sell me products and i have no idea a) how to get rid of them b) what i should be listening too if they are offering me a good deal.


Thank you

dunstonh

keep getting phone calls from people trying to sell me products

Most firms do not cold call on insurance. Those that do shouldn't be used.

have no idea a) how to get rid of them

register with the telephone preferential service. Also do the mail preferential service at the same time as that works wonders too.

b) what i should be listening too if they are offering me a good deal.

Unlikely they will be offering a good deal as cold calling is expensive.

Can someone please advise us on what type of cover. term etc we should be investigating

We dont know enough about your circumstances. However, you should be looking at (in no particular order)

house insurance (including contents insurance)
life assurance
critical illness cover
permanent health insurance
accident, sickness and unemployment cover
private medical insurance
retirement provision (not an insurance but with state pension at £4381 a year it does need considering).

terriblesaver

Thank you for this.

We do have buildings and contents insurance. The one we need to do is soething to cover the mortgage to poay it off should anything happen to one or both of us.

Fleeting_Glimpse

We are in same situation.

Home cover...no problem.

I am self employed, I know I need both but, which is most important? Critical illness or some kinda cover incase I can't work for whatever reason?

Or is there a policy that combines the two?

Where do I get these from and who are a good company to go with?

dunstonh

Fleeting Glimpse: quick issues for you are:

1 - you are self employed so you dont get all the state pensions. You just get the basic state pension at £4381 a year (assuming you fully qualify). So, your retirement planning is going to have to be better than an employed individual.

2 - Critical illness is good but is comes after permanent health insurance in the pecking order of needs. PHI is proper income protection. You wouldnt combine the two.

Where you go and who is best depends on your circumstances. Income protection is very hard to research online yourself as the plans are never the same and there are budget, low cost and comprehensive plans as well as each having different ways of defining disability and inability to work. This is why the various online sites have very little coverage when it comes to income protection.

justmarried06

If its any help, we have the following:
Buildings & Contents cover
Life & Ctitical Illness cover
Accident/Sickness/Unemployment cover.

It is expensive, but we wouldn't be without it as if something did happen then neither of us could cover the costs of the house on our own. My hubby is in the process of going self employed (from next Monday) and we have advised both insurers and although it impacts on the terms & conditions of the cover the basics are still the same.

By the by when I spoke to our IFA a week or so ago he mentioned that critical illness conditions are going to change from 27th April which may make it more difficult to claim so you might want to think about getting something in place before then?

HTH

JM

dunstonh

By the by when I spoke to our IFA a week or so ago he mentioned that critical illness conditions are going to change from 27th April which may make it more difficult to claim so you might want to think about getting something in place before then?

The providers have been asked to adopt the ABI’s Statement of Best Practice definitions for critical illness policies. The deadline for which is 30th April. However, some providers have already moved over to this.

It shouldnt make any difference to the ability to claim but is a drive to give greater clarity on what is and isnt covered and making it easier to compare different provider's offerings.