Hi Guys,

I would like some advice on Life Insurance & Critical Illness Cover. I am inthe process of buying a house and the mortgagae advisor has given me an excess of documentation regarding the topic, i have read through most of it and understand what each one does, but one thing that is bothering me is the price! £55/month! does that sound about right or is it excessive. A quick search on compare money supermarket has come up with £30-£50 a month, but i haven't read through cover conditions etc.

Now i would prefer to go with a level cover to ensure that if anything happens to me the house is covered and as the years go by there is a little extra in the pot.

What should i be looking out for, are the policies all pretty much similar, and is it just like car insurance. they're all just competing for business? this policy is underwritten by Aviva and offers additional benefits such as child cover (but i don't have children yet).

Any helpful comments welcomed

Alex

Had a similar experience last year when we bought our first house. In the end we went for a fixed sum policy to cover the mortgage plus a bit more plus 30k critical illness cover. We couldn't decide on the critical cover level so just picked a figure that would cover the mortgage for a few years should illness strike. The illNess cover can take up a large chunk of the premium.

Just watch the critical illness cover as it varies from company to company too with regards to what's covered and what isn't.

To give an indication we got a joint policy with Zurich, 250k life cover and 30k illness cover. I'm 32 and the mrs is 38, non smokers, good health and our premium is £38 a month.

Critical illness is the killer (no pun intended). We pay something like £4 a month for an insurance policy that clears the mortgage on death, no more no less. Critical illness on any amount of money and it's straight into £30+ per month. For a policy that paid out the equivalent of my salary, I was pretty much going to cost me my salary!

Having said that, it is traditional that insurance policies from mortgage providers work out the most expensive, so it's not surprising a third party quote can be cheaper.

As mentioned, be very clear on the terms and conditions. Some exclude certain things, I'm sure I saw one that actually excluded all cancers.

I was advised to get this when we bought our first house. I didn't get round to signing the papers, and it disappeared into the filing for too long. A few years later I was being treated for cancer, which if I had signed up, would have triggered the payout of our mortgage value. I am fine now as you know, but I cant get life cover for a sensible amount for 5 years!

So my message is, don't forget to make a decision and push the button. You never know what is around the corner.

As for cover, I balance it with my death in service cover at work and ensure my family would be left with no mortgage and some seed money. Don't forget you might want to think about writing a will at the same time. Its great getting old isn't it?!

Sometimes, taking advice from your father works

I aged around 24, when I got married, took out a Life insurance policy for myself
Payout on death is 500k, and all for £16 a month

nice, except im worth more dead than alive, which is a big disappointment

i took it out twenty years ago at a cost of £24 a month to cover the mortgage amount a the time £45k , i wish over the years i had reviewed the amount in line with inflation, i now have kidney failure and it has paid out in full £45k . i only have a £15k mortgage now though luckily
mine is with prudential cant fault it

I have a joint policy with my wife for mortgage protection and critical cover. ie all bundled together. it does cost a fair bit per month.

some one who works in insurance risk, once said to me (tho I have researched no further) that it is better to have the polices separate.

life for you, life for partner
critical for you, critical for partner.

rational if I remember correctly, is if you have to make use of the policy, that is is done, 1 claim for both of you, if you have them separated, if you use the critical bit, you have claimed on that, you still have the life policy going, where the claim will stand if the worst were to happen.

do your own research !

and sorry to hear about you guys who have been suffering, hope you are on the mend / well now.

quote:

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Originally posted by Chris_Xtreme
I have a joint policy with my wife for mortgage protection and critical cover. ie all bundled together. it does cost a fair bit per month.

some one who works in insurance risk, once said to me (tho I have researched no further) that it is better to have the polices separate.

life for you, life for partner
critical for you, critical for partner.

rational if I remember correctly, is if you have to make use of the policy, that is is done, 1 claim for both of you, if you have them separated, if you use the critical bit, you have claimed on that, you still have the life policy going, where the claim will stand if the worst were to happen.

do your own research !

and sorry to hear about you guys who have been suffering, hope you are on the mend / well now.

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I've just got a basic life cover jointly with my partner for alot less than that per month (something like £15 for both of us)

Never bothered for years, but had to sort that and the wills once my daughter came along (I really don't feel grown-up enough to have all this stuff.... In 2 weeks I'll be married too - how did that happen?.... )

I'd like to get critical illness cover too but there is no way we can afford it right now, child care is costing me more than £830 a month

Thanks for all the feedback guys, its really appreciated and gives perspective on what others haev done!

Again , credit to the community on the Forum!

eek. Need to review our cover. We've got separate life and death cover as said before means we get two payouts, also got sperate policies. The downside is were playing over 150 a month. Can't complain to much as I'm self employed and always comparing something hurting + poor family history.