Monday, March 31, 2008

Fairer Treatment For Life Insurance Needed

Deciding on how much life insurance you need to take out and the type of policy that you need is hard enough as it is, after all you are facing the fact that this would be paid out should you die. Recently the Financial Services Authority has been looking into the financial sector and life insurance is just one of them.

The Financial Services Authority is the regulator for all financial service providers in the UK and looks out for the consumer when it comes to buying products. Recent findings have shown that when it comes to life insurance consumers don’t get enough information about this type of cover and can’t always make the best choice when it comes to buying their policy.

One of the main problems when it comes to buying insurance is that the consumer doesn’t understand what a policy involves and what it covers. The with-profits policy can be particularly confusing; this type of policy is a combination of cover and investment, in this case the holder of the policy benefits and so does the insurance company. This type of insurance is particularly attractive to the younger people as you gain benefits over the years.

However while it is a very popular policy there are many holding them that have to rely on the information that came with the policy they bought many years ago which leads them unable to make informed decisions regarding their policy.

As a result of this the Financial Services Authority are now asking insurance providers to start making changes when it comes to the selling practices of life insurance policies. They are asking that insurers ensure that the consumer understands the policy that they are buying and what is involved in it and to give advice when needed.

When it comes to buying life insurance then the best way to do so is by using a specialist broker. They can give you a vast amount of information concerning life insurance polices and are also able to get quotes which you can compare to make sure that you get the cheapest deal when it comes to you life insurance policy.

As with any type of insurance, life insurance policies have many hidden exclusions in the small print, it is essential that you understand this and read them. This is where you will find what you are and are not covered for in your policy.

resource:www.articlesnatch.com

Monday, March 24, 2008

Some Facts About The Types Of Life Insurance That You Can Get

When people feel that they need to leave tangible evidence of their life behind them generally you will find that people look at different life insurance policies. As these policies all have various differences it is best to know some facts about the types of life insurance that you can get. There are about 4 to 5 different major types of life insurance that most insurance companies can provide you details of.

There is an important fact that you should keep in mind about these types of life insurance policies. This fact is that each insurance company has different ideas about what these types of life insurance policies will cover. And you will also find that these same companies will also have various ways of looking at the policy depending on the state you are in.

However before you start panicking you might still want to get a rough idea of these types of life insurance policies. This way you will be prepared to look for the terms which identify the policy for ones that are recognizable to you. Well before we look any further you should know what these life insurance policies are in general called. You have Term Life insurance, Universal Variable Life Insurance, Whole Life Insurance, Variable Life Insurance and you also have Universal Life Insurance.

In each of these life insurance policies you will find that there are differences. These differences can be seen as you examine each policy. For instance you will find that each of these policies has a different insurance policy rates. Of these many policies you will notice that you can arrange matters so that your dependents will be able to claim a good deal.

Now in the types of life insurance you should look more carefully at how the policy will work for you. For instance in whole life insurance policies you will discover that the premiums are set for the entire period of your life. Universal life insurance is considered as being a very flexible life insurance policy. The term life insurance is known to be one of the simplest and yet the least expensive policies that you can find.

This is just a small glimpse into the different types of life insurance policies which you can get. For this reason you may want to see what sort of brochures and other documentation you can get. These should ideally concentrate on details that matter for the clients.

resource:www.free-articles-zone.com

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Cheaper Life Insurance Rates - Simple Tips - Massive Savings

You can easily get cheaper life insurance rates if you take note of, and implement, a number of things. I'll share a few of such tips here...

1. An excellent credit rating will reflect in your favor with respect to your life insurance rate. Having a poor credit history is simply making it hard for yourself apart from the fact that your rates will be much more. It's normal for insurers to predict that a person who fails in credit card payments will also easily miss payments of life insurance premiums. This perception of high risk makes such individuals get very high rates in life insurance and other insurance policies.

2. Overweight people get a lot more in life insurance rates than people with normal weights. Your BMI or Body Mass Index is a very useful factor in calculating your risk to a life insurance carrier.

A high BMI will always result in an expensive life insurance premium all other things being equal. If your BMI rating is high it simply means that your weight is too much for your height. Now do not wait until when you can lose 30 pounds because shedding 5 pounds can drop you into a lower BMI rating which leads to lower life insurance rates.

3. Those who decide to participate in extreme sports surely attract life insurance rates that are costly. It's therefore compulsory to quit such dangerous sports if you are looking for lower life insurance rates.

4. You can reduce your insurance rate by asking for quotes from reputable quotes sites. Using at least five reputable quotes sites raise the chances that you would make more savings. This is because insurers not represented by one site will be represented by the other. And since the likelihood of receiving lower insurance quotes has to do with the range of quotes you get, the more companies you get quotes from, the brighter your chances.

resource: www.ezinearticles.com

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

The Benefits Of Ensuring You Have Critical Illness Insurance Within Your Life Plan

Critical Illness cover is a form of insurance product whereby the policy holder receives a lump sum cash payment from the insurer once diagnosed with any given illness stipulated in the policy. Unlike full life insurance, it does not require the policy holder to die.

To ensure that the pay-out is triggered, the policy-holder must survive a minimum term to ensure that this is considered a survivable illness, usually about 28 days. Up to two dozen different illnesses can be covered by the policy and they are all survivable to a greater or lesser degree but with improving medical technology the probability of living a full life after diagnosis is increasing.

A lot of people consider this type of insurance a must for any mortgage protection policy. The reason for this is if you do suffer a heart attack, stroke or cancer, but to name a few conditions, having your mortgage paid off almost immediately can be a great boost to aid recovery were possible.

Whilst most critical illness policies do pay out a lump sum you can get some plans that pay out a monthly or annual benefit. This means that it can be used as an income replacement policy. That said Critical illness insurance is no substitute for income protection insurance as the trigger point for a claim is diagnosis of a critical illness and income protection policies can pay out if you are just off work due to sickness and disability which could be considered far less than what is needed for a critical illness claim.

When critical illness cover was devised, the four main conditions covered were heart attack, cancer, stroke and coronary by-pass surgery but this has now been extended to include organ failure, or transplant, paralysis and other conditions like Alzheimer's disease.

This type of policy (which can also been known as Living Assurance or Serious Illness Insurance) has such obvious benefits in everyday life and might seem like it has been around forever, like life insurance. But in fact the first plan was only created as recently as 1983 by Dr M Barnard who termed it cover for "Dread Disease." His foresight against the unexpected has made many lives easier today.

Obviously the policy safeguards the policy holder, however the insurers themselves are not out to lose money, and therefore the person taking out the policy must give the insurer no reason to think a payout is imminent. The policy holder must be fit and healthy at the outset and factors such as smoking and dangerous sports are taken into consideration.

Due to the potential cost of the policy, and diminishing health later in life, taking out a policy in early life is more beneficial. It spreads the payments longer, therefore making them lower, and it means that the insurer is less likely to be worried about illnesses associated with old age. There are only a small minority who will offer cover to someone over pension age.

Critical Illness cover is beneficial for peace of mind, and protecting against the unforeseen. By adding life insurance to the policy too then all options are covered, for a full life after the diagnosis of what can be a relative minor issue, or if the worst happens then there is some financial help for those left behind.

Resource: www.ezinearticles.com