The Harris Life Insurance Blog

Summary
The alternatives provided by protection major insurers to form protective packages for the consumer, which considerably reduced the rates found in life insurance options. The industry has now progresses and a flood of new protection policies have been introduced which have acquired the approval of many intermediaries.

Aviva was the first to develop a winning blueprint when it reintroduced it’s Self Assurance options. They were soon followed by Scandia Life, Scottish Equitable Protect, Friends Provident, Legal and General, Liverpool Victoria Life and others are likely to shadow their lead before long.

Three key details are found in nearly all protection menus. Critical illness cover names a number of stated critical illnesses for which it will pay out a lump sum. The cheapest option, term assurance, settles a lump sum if you die within a given period of time and nothing thereafter. The last one is income insurance, which provides you with a regular income if illness or long term disability thwarts you from working. The menu may give you redundancy cover, which is generally restricted to eighteen months or two years and can also be limited to the payment of a mortgage. The principle appeal is the flexibility of the insurance products. Such as numerous levels of cover can be organised for individual sections, so if you make a claim on 1 part the other parts will still remain in force. No more medical evidence will be needed prior to major life style events, like moving house, having a baby or becoming married. These added benefits are known as ‘Guaranteed Insurability Options’.

Different elements of insurance may be supplemented following the completion of a short questionnaire and you are still able benefit from the standard policy discounts.

An example of the benefits resulting from a protection option is demonstrated by a newley married couple who selected Legal and General’s Protection Choices menu for mortgage protection. They are paying a jointly held policy of £31.09 a month for separate critical illnesses and life policies, which have been done on a combined life basis. At the start they have insurance cover of £109,990 which reduces as their 25 year homeowner loan is paid off. Life assurance cover would be paid out if one of them departs this life and the insurance policy is ended, but the survivor will still be covered for critical illness insurance and Life insurance cover will be upheld for both of them even if one of them became ill and the insurance will settle on first to die.

If the couple had purchased a standard joint life insurance quotes with Co-op Insurance they will only get a pay out on their 1st claim. Whereas with their Protection Choices insurance policy they are given two possible settlements costing only 8 pounds more. Even if employees are sometimes offered income protection at work they may also wish to cover their home loan in a similar way. In addition they might want to take out extra critical illnesscover and life assurance not linked to their mortgage. Friends Provident’s  protection menu enables them to do so in a straightforward and cost effective way. The new options based insurance products permit you to save pounds even though you can shop around for single insurance products and only save a couple of pence.