Mortgage cover can be an excellent safety net on which to fall if you were to lose your income. Finding the mortgage repayments each month could be a struggle. In the worst case scenario, it could lead to you losing your home.
A policy can be taken to insure against the fact that you might lose your income due to suffering an accident or illness. It can also be taken out to safeguard against unemployment that is brought about through no fault of your own. If you wish to you can also insure against all three with the same policy. The cost of a policy will be reflected in this, along with your age and the amount you are insuring.
Mortgage cover starts to provide an income that would be tax-free once you have been unemployed or unfit for work for a certain period. This would allow the policyholder peace of mind and allows them to concentrate on recovering or finding another job.
The exact terms and conditions of the policy will differ depending on the provider. However, you will be given the key facts, which state when and how long the cover would last. It will also mention any exclusions that could reside in the policy. In the majority of cases, mortgage cover would begin to provide the individual with benefit once they had been unemployed or unfit for between 30 and 90 days. The policyholder would then continue to receive benefit from the policy for between 12 and 24 months.
There is a lot of confusion surrounding mortgage payment cover. In addition, faith in the products has been lost since investigations by the Office of Fair Trading and Financial Services Authority. They revealed that mis-selling of payment protection of which mortgage protection is one form was widespread. One of the latest firms to receive a fine was a mortgage lender who had to hand over a personal fine along with a company one. This was due to not having the consumer’s best interests at heart when selling cover. High street lenders are known to put huge profits ahead of the consumer. These profits are thought to bring in around £4 billion each year when tagged onto a loan or mortgage.
When considering buying mortgage protection it is imperative that you know your options. Do not be fooled into thinking that the borrowing depends on the protection being taken. Some lenders might ask you to protect the money borrowed but you do have the option of buying a policy independently. Getting several quotes with independent providers will save you money. It will also ensure that you have access to the vital information regarding the cover. This will be made available on the website of the specialist provider and will be laid out in plain English. Mortgage protection, along with the rest of the family of policies is well known for being filled with technical jargon.
Shortly the Financial Services Authority will introduce comparison tables for payment protection insurance. It is hoped these will make buying and choosing mortgage cover and related polices easier. They will highlight how much a policy would cost, show the exclusions and help the consumer to make the right choice of policy. They will do this by asking the consumer a series of questions, which will lead them to taking out the correct form of protection.
About the Author:
Simon Burgess is Managing Director of the award-winning British Insurance (www.britishinsurance.com), a specialist provider of low cost income payment protection insurance (PPI), mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI) and loan payment protection insurance.
Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:39:39 - 100%
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