Some Illnesses Are More Critical Than Others

Your mortgage lender may offer you several financial products including critical illness cover. However, as they are not specialists in this field, you will probably find a better deal elsewhere.

The level of cover on offer is just as important as the premium when looking for critical illness cover. The policies from Nationwide and Alliance and Leicester are particularly limited according to Kevin Carr, who is a senior adviser at LifeSearch, a telephone and online life assurance broker. The Alliance and Leicester covers only eight critical illnesses, with Nationwide covering just 10, whereas the market leader, Swiss Life, covers 38.

Loss of speech, deafness, blindness, diabetes, Aids and Parkinsons are some of the conditions not covered by the two High Street names. Mr Carr says that it is not worth considering a policy, which covers less than 25 ailments.

An umbrella term included in all policies is 'total and permanent disabilities', This term means you are covered for any ailment, which prevents you from working permanently.

You need to be alert to the wording as some policies cover 'any occupation' whereas others only cover your 'own' occupation. You will not receive a payout under a 'any occupation' policy unless you are totally incapable of carrying out a job, however menial. Therefore Mr Carr advises you sign up for a 'own' occupation policy.

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

For years life insurance has been promoted by mortgage lenders. This has resulted in critical illness cover never being considered by many people. There are four times as many claims on critical illness policies compared to life policies, when the consumer has taken out both types of insurance.

Life insurance cover is extremely important, especially if you have dependents, as they will welcome the lump sum payment on your death. However critical illness cover should be the priority if you have debts to settle, particularly a mortgage. Mr Carr considers critical illness to be more important as it covers the cost of your house and food, even if you are ill and unable to work.

The premiums will be higher if you are a smoker and will also rise if you are older. A decreasing term policy, which is targeted at people only wanting to cover the cost of their mortgage, is the cheapest. However, a level term mortgage, where the amount of cover remains the same, is recommended by Mike Boles, a director at Savills Private Finance. This is because aspiring homeowners are likely to need larger mortgages, which will require an increase in the amount of cover.

Vegetarians Given Life Insurance Carrot

At not-for-profit insurance business has launched a scheme which offers fish-eaters and vegetarians a reduced price life insurance policy.

The deal, believed to be the first of its type, is being pioneered by Animal Friends Insurance (AFI). The company is offering non-meat eaters a 6 per cent discount on insurance premiums

The firm claimed that vegetarians ought to pay less for the insurance cover, which pays out if the policyholder dies, because they were less likely to suffer from a range of chronic diseases, including some cancers.

Elaine Fairfax, AFI's managing director, claims that the risk of vegetarians being diagnosed with certain cancers is reduced by up to 40% and the risk of them suffering from heart disease is cut by up to 30%, but despite this they have, until now, had to pay the same life insurance premiums as people who eat meat.

She says that AFI think that this is unfair and says the life insurance industry should recognise the fact that being a vegetarian can create a very positive impact on life expectancy and cut its premiums accordingly.

A full-price policy is also on the market for meat eaters. Both policies are underwritten by LV=, which used to be known as Liverpool Victoria.

In common with standard life insurance policies, a range of factors contribute to the cost of the premium including whether the applicant smokes, their age, weight and sex.

At the moment, AFI is funding the 6% discount itself from the fee it receives from LV=. In the future, however, Ms Fairfax said the company's aim was to offer lower premiums on specialist policies. In offering the deal, the firm is hoping to sign up enough vegetarians to make it viable for LV= to underwrite another policy that takes the vegetarian's diet into account.

Indeed there are significant savings to be made, the discount reveals that a 40-year-old non-smoker purchasing £300,000 worth of cover might potentially save £393.60 over a 20-year period, says Ms Fairfax

Where life insurance is concerned, her company believes that insurers should begin to treat meat eaters and non-meat eaters in a way that is similar to the way they view smokers and non-smokers. Ms Fairfax hopes that other companies in the insurance industry will follow the initiative taken by AFI.

Cheaper Life Insurance For Vegetarians

An animal-friendly insurance agency which has hitherto specialised in pet insurance products has extended its range to offer cheaper life insurance policies to vegetarians. Married couple Chris and Elaine Fairfax of Worthing, West Sussex, founded Animal Friends Insurance (AFI) to provide protection for our furry friends, but they now also offer non-meat-eaters a Vegetarian Term Life policy. The question is, does it come with a side salad?

AFI considers that the insurance industry as a whole should recognise that vegetarians are healthier and live longer than meat-eaters, and they should factor that into their quotations. The claim for better health and longevity of vegetarians is backed up by research.

Mr Fairfax states, "Independent studies show that, on a 12-year follow-up study of 11,000 people, vegetarians have a lower rate of mortality in some significant areas than non-vegetarians."

It is said that they are less likely to suffer with kidney stones or gall stones, or other chronic illnesses. They are also less likely to have high blood pressure or to develop diet-related diabetes.

Needless to say Mad Cow disease isn't going to affect vegetarians, so dying for a hamburger won't be on their agenda.

The Vegetarian Society claims that their followers (some four million in the UK) reduce the risk of heart disease by 30 per cent and that the risk of some cancers is down by 40 per cent.

The Vegetarian Term Life policy is underwritten by the Liverpool Victoria Life Company and offers a first year reduction on monthly premiums of 25 per cent. Mr and Mrs Fairfax are so keen on promoting the policy that they are funding the discount by forgoing their commission. They have also decided that profits from their other insurance business will be donated to animal causes.

Financial Misselling Throughout The Years

HIGH RISK BONDS:Otherwise known as 'Precipice' Bonds or 'high income' bonds which originally surfaced around 2000. Lloyds TSB again faced a substantial compensation bill of £98 million, 44% of the policies sold being unsuitable for those individuals. The FSA also fined Lloyds TSB £1.9 million in 2003. The product was designed by the Scottish Widows Group who were acquired by Lloyds TSB in March 2000. In total, 51,00 policies were sold. In 2004 the FSA also fined Capita Trust (formerly Royal & Sun Alliance Trust Company Ltd) £300,000 and compensation to customers was put at around £3.5million. The marketing of precipice bonds potentially placed a significant number of customers at risk of loss. Higher risk complex products should be promoted with care. Reasonable steps to ensure consumers understood the nature of the risks involved in precipice bonds were not taken.

ENDOWMENTS:Perhaps along with pensions the most widely recognised of mis-selling issues. Once again Lloyds TSB was fined a record £1million in December 2002 by the FSA with the bank setting aside £165 million to compensate between 42,000 and 46,000 policy holders (averaging £4000 per policyholder). The mis-sold endowment mortgages occurred between 1995 and 1999. As well as the Abbey Life arm of Lloyds TSB also involved were other providers identified by the FSA such as Royal London Group, Royal Scottish Assurance (part of RBS), Scottish Amicable, Royal and Sun Alliance and Winterhur. An estimated 430,000 home buyers were in receipt of a total of £1bn in compensation. In June 2005, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) revealed it was receiving 1,300 endowment mis-selling claims a week. Widespread unsuitable recommendations of mortgage endowments were made to unsuspecting consumers, again this advice being driven by large commissions.

MORTGAGE MIS SELLING:The most recent case of mis-selling concerns a precedent involving mortgage mis-selling. The issue concerned a housing association tenant, who had suffered the Trauma of repossession. A valuable promise of a rent fixed for life was in place. However, a mortgage adviser persuaded him to buy the property and failed to consider the consequences when the discounted mortgage rate ended. albeit recent, could well be the tip of a very large iceberg. The associated facets of regulated mortgages will no doubt prompt a flurry of activity within self certification and the more vulnerable borrowers. Council right to buy tenants have always been heavily canvassed. The Mortgage Code of Business along with The Financial Services act is there to protect consumers.

CREDIT CARD CHARGES:In 2006 The Office of Fair Trading advised that credit card default charges were unfair and that these charges had generally been set at a significantly higher level than is legally fair. These charges had netted in excess of £300 million a year. Where credit card default charges are set at more than £12, the OFT will presume that they are unfair. A default charge is not fair simply because it is below £12. A default charge should only be used to recover certain limited administrative costs. Card issuers were required to confirm their response to the OFT statement by 31 May 2006 in response to fair and appropriate charge. A fair default charge should not exceed a reasonable estimate of certain limited administrative costs which the credit card issuer reasonably expects to incur as a result of default.

Things that one should know about life insurance

Well, there is hardly a person who does not need a life insurance. Basically, a life insurance is a policy that covers different areas of your life and pay money on a regular basis under some specific circumstances. The life insurance gives you a peace of mind and thus helps you function better.

There are different walks of life that a life insurance can cover. It can cover the mortgage that you have. If you have such a life insurance policy you will get a good amount of money to pay off the mortgage if you fall ill. In case you die, your family will get the money to get rid off the loan.

Similarly, there is the Level Term Assurance. In this type of insurance policy, you have to decide the span of the policy and the amount you want. This will provide money if you within the span of the policy.

The basic aim of a life insurance is to provide financial support to you and your family in case something happens to you. Certainly it does not encourage some ominous events to take place; rather it guards you against it.

In UK there are thousands of Life insurance companies like the Virgin Money life insurance, Liverpool Victoria life insurance and plenty of others. Each of them have their own advantages and draw backs. However, before going for a specific agency, it would be better to learn about the basic concepts of life insurance first.

As you can see, a life insurance has the ability to give your family an economic protection when you are unable to provide it. So, it is important to learn about it in details.

If you belong to the age group of 18 to 69, you are eligible for a life insurance in the UK and it is better that you do it. There is nothing negative in it. Rather it gives you a peace of mind that eventually helps you to perform better. As far as the length of the life insurance is concerned you should keep in mind certain key dates of your life. this can be the date of your retirement, the date of paying off the mortgage and things like that. If you think that you need two insurances, it is better to go for two separate policies. For, in it, you have to pay almost the same amount of money. But the cover that you get in return two times than the joint policy. It is even more useful in case you or your partner has some illness. In that case the cost of the partner may be lost for the cover.

There are different factors that decided over the level of coverage. It depends on the financial dependence of the other members of the family on you. Whether there is any mortgage and what is the situation of the credit there and the age of the children and how long they will take to grow self dependant and other things.

If you are confused visit the website of UK Life Insurance. They will give you all the necessary information on the different leading service providers like AIG Direct life insurance, Direct Line life insurance and plenty of others.