Cancer Suffers

Posted in Life Insurance on 12/11/2009 06:32 pm by admin

 Five years ago when Greg Taylor was informed that he had a brain tumour, life was never going to be the same again but after a harrowing operation his recuperation has been excellect. Still Greg lives with the thought that the tumour could re-occur at some stage in the next 10 years. He will also take pills to lessen his epilepsy for life.

Mr Taylor, who is now forty one, thinks he is the most “fortunate man alive” to be here. However he cannot get life insurance cover.

Mr Greg and his partner have a 4 year old son, Matthew, and last year they moved from Manchester to Bramhall in Greater Manchester. The family remortgaged 80,000 pounds with the Halifax but Greg was not able to protect the debt with life assurance cover in his name.

“The Nationwide’s underwriters turned down my application for life insurance. Sally has life and critical illness cover for the entire mortgage,” he says.

The prospects of getting life cover are particularly unpromising if a request is put forward during the first 5 years of having been diagnosed with a a severe heart attack or a particularly nasty form of cancer. Should the patient make a full recovery within a set period of time, usually up to five years, insurance companies will contemplate insuring them again but apply a “loading” on to the rates. In lots of cases this may be as large as ten times the rates that others pay.

During the first two years following an operation, someone in Mr Taylor’s situation would be declined life assurance. Following this set period, life assurance cover should be available “however at a very high monthly payment”.

The life company which underwrites for high-risk customers (those people who practice perilous sports or with serious illnesses is the Special Risks Bureau (SRB). It professes to have a victory rate of 70% when putting its customers with insurers. SRS confirmed that it will be a further year before they could contemplate an application from Mr Taylor.

Premiums will definitely be heavy because of his epilepsy and because there would still be a larger mortality risk in contrast with the general population. Unless an insurance cover purposely excluded cancers, Mr Taylor would almost probably be refused any critical illness insurance cover.

As a result of independent financial advice, the Taylor family has saved up six months’ emergency money, effectively a self-insurance cover.

And there is a touch of good news for Greg. The Co-op, his previous mortgage company, has permitted him to retain 60,000 pounds of life life assurance from an existing policy – albeit at a price of forty five pounds a month. The name for this kind of policy is Guaranteed Insurability Option (GIO) and means the insurance company will allow the insured up to half of the initial amount assured without underwriting.

On the other hand it is not just serious medical conditions that can have an effect on  life insurance. Edward Jennings, chairman of Sale Sharks sports Club had his first application declined because of a minor skin condition. Various visits to doctors and endless phone calls to Aviva they finally sorted things out. Mr Jennings suggestion to anybody in the same situation is to make an application early and collaborate it with a full medical report.

 

Protection Insurance A Must If Illness Is Critical

Posted in Critical Illness Insurance, Life Insurance on 11/25/2009 01:19 pm by admin

Summary
The compensations offered by life insurance policies are balanced with the benefits of critical illness insurance. The reasons why it is advisable to sign up for critical illness cover now.

Think about this scenario ‘Could you afford to pay your monthly financial commitments if illness prevented you from working?’ Many of us would say ‘No’. So evidently we need to consider insuring ourselves against the worst happening. A normal critical illness insurance policy would pay out a tax free lump sum if the policyholder is diagnosed with a potentially terminal illness. The lump sum may be used in numerous ways. For example, you could simply settle your bills, pay off your mortgage or make alterations to your home to accommodate a wheelchair.

The coming months will see a big price rise, so if you don’t have cover at the moment, now is the time to get covered. The cost of life cover has come down over the past twenty years. There are many reasons why this has happened. Firstly the Aids epidemic, which was expected in 1980-1987 never occurred and secondly the recovery rate of those suffering from cancer and heart attacks has significantly improved. These facts have enabled increased. Protection is often reviewed by insurers, when the amount of claims for certain conditions are assessed. Following such a review Friends Provident will be amending premiums soon, with the price of life insurance dropping slightly and the payments for critical illness insurance cover rising. The Insurance Company is not able to say by how much, as the client’s circumstances and the sum covered fluctuate from client to client, but the increase should not be huge is forecasting that there could be increase of between 25 and 52 per cent in critical illness cover payments in the next few months. It also fears that guaranted premiums may either become unaffordable for many, or even die away owing to the unsound marketplace. It’s best to compare life insurance if you want to get the lowest price for life assurance protection.

Swiss Re has said that it is refusing to underwrite critical insurance policies from the end of the year as the cover is costing them too much.

The cost of insurance has been put up by 2 of the largest high street life insurance companies.  A 20 to 25 % price increasehas recently been publicised by Swiss Life and L & G. On the other hand this is very little compared to the incredible increases written into the policies now offered by Friends Provident and BUPA, which vary between 50 to 60%.

It is plain that this development will be followed by other re-insurers. Fixed monthly preiums where the monthly payment is held for a precise period, characteristically ten years, may no longer be given by Life Insurance Companies.  In future, payments will be reviewed annually, just like car insurance and home insurance. The outlay for the customer will be far larger in the long term. The meaning is clear. Critical illness Insurance is becoming more pricey so buy it now to gain from guaranteed rates and the comparatively low rates being offered at present. Let us wish that you never need it, but data indicates that more and more of us will.

 

Time To Reconsider Your Protection Insurance

Posted in Critical Illness Insurance, Life Insurance on 11/04/2009 05:43 pm by admin

Summary:
This is the 2nd of two related articles about Accident cover and other interrelated types of personal insurance. If you find this article helpful you may like to read Health Insurance Dont Break The Bank.

Make enquires to find out whether your employer provides accident insurance cover for you? Some firms do without the employee being aware or remembering. Therefore if you feel the need for this kind of insurance cover, it is well worth checking it out. However, remember that accident cover may incorporated in your life insurance cover.

If you already have mortgage life insurance cover and have enough money to strengthen your protection, then it could be better to contemplate a fairly slight extra premium to purchase something akin to an income payment protection insurance, which would mean that you would receive a monthly income whilst off sick or even until you retire.

Income protection insurance policies have be put together to give you an amount of money every month, whilst you are not able to work because of an illness or accident. They are planned to pay out until your retirement age. There are other alternative policies which go by the name of Accident and Sickness Insurance, that will pay out for a limited number of years and many of these also contain cover for unemployment.

The Financial Standards Agency keep a careful eye on the way in which the public purchase cheapest life insurance cover and have stated ”There is a possibility that consumers purchasing it may not understand the limitations.”

In addition, it was accentuated that they were worried regarding the low rate of claims on these insurance policies which possibily be the outcome of excessive prices and lack of competition. In another  Financial Standards Agency investigation, this one based on “cold calling” selling methods, the regulator was critical of the very poor sales standards for a varity of numerous products and cautioned that the benefits of accident insurance were “sometimes exaggerated”.

The low rate of claims, refered to above, indicates the amount of money settled in claims, versus that received in premiums is in general low.
Consequently, it’s doubtful that pure accident cover would benefit you enormously. It would appear to be far better then, to use an insurance policy that combindes disability or death insurance within a really complete life insurance policy.

A lot of people are unaware that many of the ordinary credit cards, such as Virgin Money, Egg,  Natwest, Halifax All In One, Capital One and  Barclay Card to name a few, supply “travel accident” cover of up to £120,000, that covers you for accident or death which happens while in transit which is supplied to the customer for using their cards.

When you have a moment, it is wise to sit down and sort out just what you own in the way of  life assurance policies. As is apparent, some, in fact many, forms of cover have various benefits and it may be right time to go through just what insurance policies you do have and make sure that your present lifestyle hasn’t altered your insurance requirements.

You’ll get all assistance you want by visiting the internet and checking out a professional financial adviser, you can calculate your individual needs, try out any queries you have about new insurance covers and really investigate a very broad market to find exactly the right product for you and your loved ones.

 

Genetic Testing – An Insurance H Bomb

Posted in Critical Illness Insurance, Life Insurance on 10/20/2009 11:43 am by admin

Summary
The problems linked to the launch of genetic testing and how it will be used in the writing of insurance policies, specifically in connection with Huntington’s disease.

Insurance policies may not be affected at the moment by the contentious issue of genetic testing subsequent to ABI’s suggestions that customers ought not be asked by insurance companies for the results of genetic tests for the next five years. Like many of ABI ‘s rulings,  for example expunging the Raising Standards Initiative, it’s not a compulsory code but a voluntary one. Nevertheless it is excellent news. In practise, not many of  Association of British Insurers four hundred and fifty insurers are apt to discount the suggestions, as it would put their membership of the Associationin jeopardy.

The low dependability of genetic tests on hand at present was acknowledged by the ABI. For instance, simply because a member of their family died from cancer does not always mean that they will contract the disease. Nevertheless the still endorses the test for Huntington’s disease as a reliable indicator when underwriting cheapest life insurance policies.

With life cover over 300,000 pounds, insurance companies may well ask for the results or a genetic test for Huntington’s Disease. However Association of British Insurers states that only five percent of all life policies are underwritten for over 450,000 pounds.

A Parliamentary select committee has uttered doubt about the relevance of the genetic testing for Huntington’s Disease and has demanded that the GAIC reassesses their decision. It is vital that this moratorium is used to discuss the subject in depth sooner than to employ it as a pretext to disregard genetic testing for the next4 years. Being an strich will only aggravate the situation, as progression in medical science will be employed to develop much more trustworthy genetic tests within the next four years.

Insurance companies may then use genetic tests when underwriting cheapest critical illness covers, leaving customers with a genetic lower class, who have difficulty in finding life assurance.

A lot of Life Insurance companies like the Direct Line, are suggesting a public or private ruling to answer the problem. They recently employed an all encompassing moratorium on the underwriting of life insurance cover centred upon the results of genetic tests. Using these tests will be pricey so it is sensible that the Government should take their share of the burden with insurers.

An unpredjudiced complaints structure will be prepared by the ABI so that consumers have sufficient rights if they think that the insurance companies have acted towards them unfairly. At present there isn’t any details of how a proposal of this nature will perform,however it has to provide answers, which purely deliver and be fully impartial of the insurance market. The Association of British Insurers do supervise the moratorium themselves, which create uncertainties concerning whether the public might get a detached  hearing. The encouraging declaration by the Association of British Insurers will be a purposeless promise if they do not.

A Joint Statement of Concern has been presented to a House of Commons Cross Party Group  Forty six individuals and organisations have appealed to the Government to bring in a law to prevent  the use of genetic test results in insurance.

They are bothered that there is no legal framework to prevent the use of genetic testing by employers and insurance companies to make judgments about who is able to obtaininsurance. Besides they think that testing is not a dependable or conclusive predictorof a person’s impending health.

 

Is Your Illness Critical

Posted in Life Insurance, Mortgage Insurance on 09/03/2009 01:55 pm by admin

Summary

The issues you should mull over when taking out critical illness cover and the range of companies offering this type of policy.

 

Your mortgage provider may offer you quite a few financial products including critical illness cover. But, as they are not experts in this market, you will possibly find a better offer elsewhere.

The level of insurance cover on offer is just as vital as the premium when seeking critical illness cover. The policies from Alliance and Leicester and Nationwide are very restricted according to  a senior adviser at LifeSearch, a telephone and online life assurance broker. Liverpool and Victoria covers only eight critical illnesses, with Friend Provident covering just 9, whereas the market leader, Swiss Life, covers 39.

Loss of speech, deafness, blindness, diabetes, Aids and Parkinsons are some of the illnesses not covered by some of the big insurers.  The Directorsays that it is not worth thinking about a policy, which insures less than 24 illnesses.

An umbrella term incorporated in  all policies is ‘total and permanent disabilities’, this term means you are covered for any condition, which prevents you working ever again.

You must be watchful of the lanuage as some policies cover ‘any occupation’ while others only insure your ‘own’ occupation. You will not receive a settlement under a ‘any occupation’ policy unless you are totally unable to carryout a job, however unskilled. Consequently The senior adviserrecommends you sign up for a ‘own’ occupation policy.

There are a large number of companies as well as Swiss Life who offer comprehensive insurance including Legal and General, Norwich Union, Standard Life, Scottish Equitable, Scottish Provident, Friends Provident, Liverpool Victoria, Skandia and Zurich Life insurance cover

 

Mis-Selling of Life Cover and Payment Protection Policies

Posted in Life Insurance on 08/27/2009 04:45 pm by admin

Summary
The manner in which the business is dealing with mis-sold life insurance policies. The complicationsassociated with payment protection policies are emphasized.

The mis-selling of life insurance cover by a sizeable amount of mortgage lenders has to be tackled by the Government. Steps have been taken by the Department of Trade and Industry, who have nearly completed their investigationinto the lock in of home insurance with a mortgage. A press releasepreventing the procedure is Mr Greggoes on saying that while lenders may not insist that clients have life insurance, they can be persuaded that they do not have a choice, through the lender being evasive with the truth.

50 per cent of life cover is sold by mortgagelenders, however it can be purchased through independent advisers, direct providers or via the internet.

However a Department of Trade and Industry spokesman has said that their enquiry continues into a massive range of insurance lock ins. A provider who met Geoff Hoon has said that life cover has been glanced at, whereas more importance has been focused on home and contents.

The problem with customers being pressured into buying noncompetitive life insurance and home insurance plans is similarly essential for both commodities.

The problems are even more acute with payment protection insurance. Around 1/2 of all clients who have been persuaded to take out a  PPI may have been provided with the wrong the wrong kind of policy. In addition the the greater part of those who purchased one of these suspect policies expect a lot more than they would in actual fact collect if they were unable to pay their bills.

A wide-reaching investigation has brought to light that around twentyfive per cent of the population believe that they will earn a monthly income from their PPI policy, not understanding that the insurance would only cover their debts.

Another twenty per cent said they believed the policy would protect them if they could no longer meet their repayment commitments for any reason, and 7% said they believed that their medical bills would be paid if they became sick .

Several people thought the insurance would continue indefinitely to meet their outstanding debts, others thought their insurance would cover breakdowns and living expenses.

Annual sales of PPI policies are said to produce premiums of around £5.4bn for the finance business. However an astounding 4 billion pounds of this is said to be pure profit. Investigations suggest  that some banks can charge up to five hundred per cent more than others for a comparable product.

The OFT is investigating the sale of PPI preceding complaints from Citizens Advice and the National Consumer Council. It recently highlighted concerns that banks are luring in customers by advertising seemingly cheap loans and then hitting them with massive extra costs by selling expensive PPIas part of the transaction.

As a consequence, a loan which appears to give good value can end up being far more costly.

 

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Posted in Uncategorized on 08/24/2009 03:35 pm by admin

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