Life insurance from broker - good deal?

PL800

Myself and my partner are buying our first property. We've taken a mortgage through a broker, who offered us life insurance, which we have taken with L&G for £56/month. It's a joint policy, decreasing with the mortgage, with critical & terminal illness cover. We're in our (nearing mid) 30s, with few health issues.

The policy is to start next month, but I've been curious and shopped around to find much cheaper policies (inc. critical & terminal illness), and wonder if we've been ripped off by the broker? They did have other quotes but recommended this one. I've looked at our policy docs which includes some text saying commission will be payable to the firm who set-up the policy.

I've also read that joint policies are not recommended and should go with single policies instead, especially should we split up?

strawb_shortcake

I can only go by what we used to pay, started off £140 per month with history of cancer, diabetes and one smoker - both weighing more than we should. When we remortgaged we got a better price of £100 per month.

That was life and critical, on decreasing basis, we had to make a claim on the critical last year and the policy stopped, I'm not yet convinced it was the best policy as it would have been more beneficial to have the life cover continue.
I don't imagine it will be financially sensible to take cover out for my Husband again despite him making a full recovery.

I need to cover myself again but at the moment making do with cover offered by my employer.

Weighty1

L&G do 2 different sorts of critical illness cover, a basic plan and a critical illness Extra plan, the latter being much more comprehensive, so if it's the Extra cover that could account for some of the premium difference.

Also, a mortgage can only ever be repaid once so financially there is no need to have separate policies, especially when they would cost more than a joint plan. There'd need to be a very justifiable reason to recommend separate plans for a joint debt. You say "if you split up". What if you don't? You'll have paid higher premiums for all those years unnecessarily. A broker can only deal with your circumstances in the here and now as nobody knows what's around the corner.

coachman12

Talking of brokers, may I put in a good word for Cavendish , an online broker who is honest, reliable and has served me and my family well for some years.

coachman12

Anybody got any experience of Cavendish brokers who seem excellent to me ?

ACG

Are you on commission Coachman?

To the OP, you wont have been ripped off by a broker, but there are cheaper alternatives out there. I suppose really you need to weigh up:
1) Are the policies like for like - critical illness and life insurance can be good/bad/average even if it comes from the same provider. As an example, critical illness through aviva has 2 variations in their policy and then add ons which can also be taken out.
2) If they are life for like, what is the difference in premiums. If you need to make a claim, would you want a broker who can come out, see you, tell you where to sign and send it off for you? If you do it over the internet with a cheap and cheerful company, you are unlikely to get that extra bit of support.

There is no right or wrong way, it comes down to what is best for you.

Weighty1

coachman12 wrote: »

Anybody got any experience of Cavendish brokers who seem excellent to me ?

You already say you've got personal experience of Cavendish and they've been excellent so why are you asking for other people's experience? Seems a bit contrived to me.....

csgohan4

+1 to Life search

at the end of the day it's your choice, own research and/or brokers

SonOf

I've also read that joint policies are not recommended and should go with single policies instead, especially should we split up?

Where have you read that and in what context?

For covering a debt where there is two of you, then joint life, first death is the normal way to do it. Not single life. There are a small number of scenarios where single life could be better but without repeating a currently ongoing thread on this subject, the majority would expect to do joint when covering a mortgage but more likely to be sole when it comes to family protection or replacing income in death and things like that.

shopped around to find much cheaper policies (inc. critical & terminal illness),

Critical illness cover is not all the same. So, you cannot go by price alone. You get some plans that cover only the minimum levels and plans that go way beyond that and a whole load in between. So, if you are comparing, you cannot go by price alone.

and wonder if we've been ripped off by the broker?

Highly unlikely as you expect comparison sites and online/direct options to be cheaper than an adviser/mortgage broker as they are not giving advice. That is factored into the premium with adviser cases. Case in point being you thinking it should be sole cover and not joint. The adviser in question should set it up correctly. If you use a non-advised option, you take responsibility for setting it up correctly and checking the terms of coverage. Some of these direct distributors/providers (including some that advertise on TV) cut out an awful lot of coverage on their plans to reduce their premium.

fullofcold

To put this into perspective, some critical illness providers cover less than 10 critical illnesses, whereas I know of others in excess of 100 listed.  L&G are ok, but personally I'd want the enhanced level.  We are in our 40's.  My adviser quoted us for our mortgage of around 200k over 24 years and the critical illness with a good provider (ie good level of cover, not 10) and the figure came out at £208 per month.  This is prohibitive financially for us so we have chosen a smaller lump sum for my husband (I have cic with work) and for him to have Income Protection instead as covering our monthly bills if he is unable to work due to any illness or accident was more important to us (also a benefit I have through work).  

coachman12

Weighty1 said:

coachman12 wrote: »

Anybody got any experience of Cavendish brokers who seem excellent to me ?

You already say you've got personal experience of Cavendish and they've been excellent so why are you asking for other people's experience? Seems a bit contrived to me.....

Definitely contrived, Weighty. I'm such a fan of the broker in question ( notice the name is not mentioned----that is contrived too ). Seriously, I just like the company and thought I'd give them a double plug. But if it makes you grumpy, I'll contrive to be less "obvious".
But, your  post gave me the germ of an idea, and I am writing to the unnamed brokers, asking for commission if I keep mentioning them every day on MSE Forums