However it now appears that the ‘not so ready to lend’ lenders, principally the banks and building societies who caused the mess in the first place, are now restricting the capital flow further with the provision of ‘new’ products designed to protect their capital and circumvent the recent legislation outlawing the selling of PPI (Payment protection insurance) at point of sale of the loan or mortgage.

Fortunately both the FSA and consumer watchdog , the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) have been keeping a close eye on these activities and have today issued a joint statement warning the providers of these products to obey the rules or face the consequences. Both UK Government organisations are determined that another PPI mis-selling scandal should be avoided as new mortgage protection products emerge.

The two quangos have joined forces on proposed guidelines to lenders in relation to new PPI type products, the responsibility for which can fall within either regulator’s area of operations.

The statement emphasises that now is a key time to reinforce the regulations as the insurance market shifts away from PPI and providers begin to develop new products or product features.

Under particular scrutiny are short-term income protection marketed as debt freeze or debt waiver when included with a credit or loan agreement or mortgage.

Some of the payment protection products that the FSA and OFT considered during the preparation of this proposed guidance are:

Insurance. This includes short term income protection or ‘STIP’, an insurance contract which provides a pre-agreed amount to the policy holder if they experience involuntary redundancy or are incapacitated through sickness or as a result of an accident and may be combined with other forms of insurance cover or include other benefits, and which:

o has a maximum time-limited benefit duration;
o is written for a term which is less than 5 years and not predetermined by the term of any credit agreement or RMC; and
o can be terminated by the Insurer.

Non Insurance the creditor agrees to freeze or waive the requirement on a consumer to make periodic repayments, or to freeze or waive interest or other charges, when a specified ‘event’ occurs, such as sickness or unemployment.

Insurance products are regulated by the FSA under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). Non-insurance protection linked to a regulated first charge mortgage contract are also regulated by the FSA. Non-insurance protection linked to a credit or hire agreement (including a second charge mortgage) will typically be regulated by the OFT under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA).

The two organisations will continue to monitor developments in the market, and will take appropriate action under their respective powers where products or practices risk causing detriment to consumers.

The FSA’s guidance stresses that firms should ensure that product features reflect the needs of the consumers they are targeting.

Margaret Cole, FSA managing director, said: “This is the first time that the FSA has issued guidance on the design of a specific product. Firms must learn the lessons of the past and make sure they have consumers’ needs at the heart of new product development.

“That is why we are acting early to ensure firms understand the risks they should bear in mind when designing these products, and how they can manage these risks when developing or distributing the product.

“The FSA cited new forms of payment protection products as an emerging risk in its Retail Conduct Risk Outlook earlier this year, and we are following up on that warning.”

The OFT’s guidance sets out how the OFT considers the Consumer Credit Act applies to payment protection products such as debt freeze or debt waivers linked to a regulated credit agreement, and what firms can do to ensure compliance.

In particular, firms should ensure that consumers are absolutely clear about the nature, price and implications of payment protection products.

For example, if an agreement is offered with an option to choose debt waiver terms, on payment of a fee, it may be necessary to provide financial information including and excluding the cost of the debt waiver.

The guidance also sets out examples of business practices in relation to payment protection products which the OFT is likely to regard as unfair or improper (whether unlawful or not) and so may cast doubt on fitness to hold a consumer credit licence.

David Fisher, the OFT’s Director of Consumer Credit, said: “It is important that the problems encountered with mis-selling of PPI do not arise in relation to new payment protection products.

“Firms need to ensure that they comply with relevant legislation and do not engage in unfair or improper business practices. In particular, they should make clear to consumers what they are signing up to and how much it costs, so that they can make properly informed decisions.”

The consultation will be open for ten weeks, closing on January 13.

With unemployment threatening to reach record levels as the public sector shrinks, it is essential that consumers can purchase protection against accident sickness and unemployment when they commit to a mortgage or large loan. Mortgages must be made easier to obtain and mortgage protection products available to alleviate some of the risks involved in lending for both parties.
There are many established independent specialist companies out there who offer insurance at much cheaper rates than the loan or mortgage providers. Maybe one solution to this ongong saga would be to outlaw totally the provision of cover for debt by the debt provider and its subsidiaries however they want to dress it up in fancy wordings.

Related posts:

1. Insurance Brokers Pay for UK Banks PPI Claims
2. FSA orders GBP 60 Million Mortgage Protection Insurance Repayments
3. Financial Ombudsman Service Overwhelmed With PPI Complaints

Todays official figures show levels of unemployment last enjoyed under Margaret Thatcher’s Tory Government of the Eighties.

Youth unemployment is at its highest level for 19 years.
Womens unemployment is at its highest level for over 23 years.
The public sector is traditionally a large employer of both these groups.
The Governments argument that the private sector creating new jobs will prop up the public sector has proven to be widely inaccurate.
David Miliband pointed out that for every two jobs lost in the public sector only one was being created in the private sector.

The result is that the economy is in a downward spiral and the public sector job cuts are fuelling the maelstrom.
Maybe our public schools are failing as well, because it is obvious that neither David Cameron or the Chancellor bloke, whose name Insurance Blog can’t remember, have even the basic skills in macro economics!

When there was a global depression in the USA in the late 1920′s, FD Rooseveldt’s ‘New Deal’ of public works and public sector employment, brought America out of the downward spiral and introduced infrastructure which gave the post war US a massive competitive advantage.
President Obama has finally realised that cuts don’t work and has announced a massive Federal investment in public works. Alex Salmond, Leader of the Scottish Parliament today said that unemployment was down in Scotland during the last three months due to a large public building program.

David Cameron is carrying on making people and public sector workers unemployed.

If you work in the Public Sector there is still time to get unemployment insurance and income protection however you must hurry.

Income Protection Insurance is available to eveyone in full time employment. As long as you have not been informed by your employer that your job is at risk, you can still take out an income protection policy.

Act quickly and you can protect your mortgage, rent and other regular payments such as council tax, utilities bills, finance agreements and even gym memberships and satellite/cable tv bills. With low monthly payments you have a choice of cover between accident, sickness and unemployment, accident and sickness or unemployment only, with 12 or 18 month benefit options.

Related posts:

1. Public Sector Employees Facing Redundancy Should Consider Unemployment Insurance
2. UK Unemployment hits record heights
3. Unemployment to hit North of UK First warns Specialist Insurer

Lloyds Bank  has decided to settle all the PPI misselling claims after UK banks lost a High court judicial review called by Barclays and others over PPI  claims compensation last month.

Payment protection insurance also known as ASU, Income Protection Insurance and Mortgage Protection Insurance,  was sold by the large banking corporations at inflated rates to cover in particular credit cards, personal loans and mortgage repayments  if income ceases or falls because of accident sickness or unemployment.

Since 2009 thousands of Uk complainants have received compensation because their policies were mis-sold. Missold, because they were sold policies that were either not explained to them, did not cover them because of certain exclusions or in the majority of cases was only taken out for fear of not obtaining the loan.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) published guidelines last year which said banks should contact all PPI past policyholders to ask them to complain if they believed they had been mis-sold PPI.

Insurance Blog is pleased that the UK Government owned bank is leading the way on payment protection insurance compensation claims. The other banks will now have to follow suit.

It is only fitting that the big banks who were the main offenders in the misselling of PPI should be made to pay and not the hard pressed insurance industry, and particularly the Insurance Brokers, that has so far footed most of the bill with ridiculously high FSA fees, which in many cases has created barriers to entry for the UK Financial Services market.

On a footnote if the Bank of England keeps Interest Rates at the same level today, it will be a good day for the UK Public.

Related posts:

1. Payment Protection Insurance Claims and Premiums Rocket
2. Insurance Brokers Pay for UK Banks PPI Claims
3. Mis-Sold Payment Protection Insurance? Claim It Back Now!

If you haven’t taken out unemployment insurance yet, there may still be a little time, although given latest figures you will have to move as fast as the postman with the redundancy notices, as UK Unemployment hit record heights.

Here’s the facts of the state of Britains Economy

The employment rate for those aged from 16 to 64 for the three months to November 2010 was 70.4 per cent, down 0.3 on the quarter.

The number of people in employment aged 16 and over fell by 69,000 on the quarter to reach 29.09 million.

The last time there were larger quarterly falls in the employment level and rate was in the three months to August 2009.

The number of people working full-time fell by 37,000 on the quarter to reach 21.16 million and the number of people working part-time fell by 32,000 to reach 7.93 million.

Part Time Working at all time high!

The number of employees and self-employed people who were working part-time because they could not find a full-time job increased by 26,000 on the quarter to reach 1.16 million, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992.

The unemployment rate for the three months to November 2010 was 7.9 per cent, up 0.2 on the quarter.

The total number of unemployed people increased by 49,000 over the quarter to reach 2.50 million.

Male unemployment increased by 43,000 on the quarter to reach 1.48 million and female unemployment increased by 6,000 on the quarter to reach 1.02 million.

Youth Unemployment at record levels!

The unemployment rate for those aged from 16 to 24 increased by 1.0 on the quarter to reach 20.3 per cent, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992.

The number of unemployed 16 to 24 year olds increased by 32,000 on the quarter to reach 951,000, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992.

Redundancies on steady increase.
There were 157,000 redundancies in the three months to November 2010, up 14,000 on the quarter.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (the claimant count) fell by 4,100 between November and December 2010 to reach 1.46 million, although the number of people claiming for up to six months increased by 7,200 to reach 960,300.

The total number of male claimants fell by 6,600 on the month to reach 1.02 million but the number of female claimants increased by 2,500 to reach 439,300.

The inactivity rate for those aged from 16 to 64 for the three months to November 2010 was 23.4 per cent, up 0.2 on the quarter.

The number of economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64 increased by 89,000 over the quarter to reach 9.37 million.

Early Retirement at Record levels !

The number of people who were economically inactive because they had taken retirement before reaching the age of sixty-five increased by 39,000 on the quarter to reach 1.56 million, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1993.

Wages Stay the Same!
The earnings annual growth rate for total pay (including bonuses) was 2.1 per cent for the three months to November 2010, unchanged from the three months to October.

The earnings annual growth rate for regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 2.3 per cent for the three months to November 2010, unchanged from the three months to October.

The Oulook.

Very Bleak!  The current situation is comparable to the early Thatcher years and the axe has yet to fall on 600,000 public sector workers. The knock on effects to the high street of this contraction in money flow will damage small to medium sized businesses as demand inevitably drops. Further unemployment within the already contracted private sector is inevitable as orders dry up and the unemployemt queues will increase.

All sectors of the economy will suffer from this so called ‘double dip recession’ particularly high end products and high street businesses will suffer. Insurance will not have an easy time either! Already we are seeing once profitable sectors like shop insurance virtually disappear as a viable large market as the number of shops rapidly decreases. When was the last time you saw a high street travel agents or hardware store? The pattern is being repeated across all sectors of the UK Commercial Insurance market.

Coupled with this we are under immense inflationary pressures from energy prices and global food markets which inevitable, although foolishly, will lead to the Bank of England be foreced to politically raise Interest rates. After all, there are no more weapons in the economic arsenal.

Darwinian ConDemNation.

The future is blue and orange and civil commotion – If you are not a merchant banker, are you fit enough to survive?

Related posts:

1. New Year Recession Fears
2. Unemployment to hit North of UK First warns Specialist Insurer
3. Bank of England is Steady at the Helm with Sensible Interest Rate

UK Government Cutbacks Will Widen the North-South Divide

News of job losses continues unabated. Not so much for those employed by the house builders or major financial institutions, but further down the economic food chain. Those companies such as fashion house Ethel Austin with 300 stores predominantly in the North of England. They called in the receiver in February 2010 and have since set about closing 120 stores and issuing 1800 redundancy notices. They, like many others shedding labour, held on waiting for an upturn in the economy that never came soon enough to save them. Faced with still hesitant consumer spending, their loses continued and creditors ran out of patience. However, for the North, it is about to get a lot worse.

The UK’s fairy tale economy saw a mushrooming of Public Sector jobs over the last 10 years. The broad industrial group ‘public administration, education and health’ covered 7.16 million jobs in 2007, 26.9 percent of total employment (Source: ABI statistics). Since then the Public Sector has grown whereas the Private Sector has been battered by the recession. In 2007 there were substantially less than one million unemployed, in February 2010 this figure had grown to 2.5 million (Source: office of National Statistics) and almost all of these job losses were in the Private Sector. Post election slashing of Government budgets is unavoidable and contraction of Public Sector jobs is now widely forecast. The only question is where the axe will fall.

The North South divide is about to get a lot wider as the cut backs in pubic expenditure will be felt most acutely in the North. Because of their national pay scales, the wages of Public Sector employees have always gone much further in the North. They offer the opportunity to spend significantly more in the local economy than their colleagues in the South, saddled for years with high mortgage costs and rents. This has benefited the money in circulation in the North and the boom in restaurants, bars and countless other businesses blossomed up and down the land. Just how much this was dependent upon salaries paid out of the public purse is about to become far more apparent.

Things have now changed and ‘its grim’ is about to return ‘up North’ because cut backs will be felt disproportionately by the major northern conurbations. Perversely, past efforts of Governments to create jobs in northern Britain are about to make matters worse. The Lyons Review from 2004 had a target to move over 24,000 jobs out of London by this year. However Lyons followed years of relocation of Government functions to the regions that started in the 1970′s. As a consequence, by 2009 in the North West 3.4% of total employment was in the Civil Service. This compares to a more typical 1.3% in Eastern England and just 2.1% in London despite being the heart of Government. (Source: ONS, Civil Service Statistics, 2009).

Politicians pledging to preserve front line services in Health and Education will only mean even more pressure is applied elsewhere. Once again it is the North, specifically core cities that are likely to bear the brunt. Local Government statistics show they employ just over 40 people per 1000 residents in cities across the UK as a whole. However, in Manchester this is nearer 45 and in Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds and Newcastle there are over 55 per capita. Clearly these cities offer greater scope for large scale cut backs than elsewhere in the country.

Whether the Public Sector ‘efficiency savings’ manifest themselves in redundancies or just a recruitment freeze, the North’s disproportionate dependency on the public purse will weigh heavily for several years to come. Money will melt from local economies and it follows that particularly smaller or regional businesses will suffer as a consequence.

State benefits paid when out of work are pitifully inadequate to meet the outgoings of the average household. Therefore, should anyone not have savings to get them and their families through six months to a year of unemployment, they should consider Income Protection Insurance. This can be bought for much less than insuring a car. On-line there are Income Protection Insurance providers offering typical policy benefits of up to £1500 per month. This will pay to up to a year and is enough to meet mortgage and other big bills. Dennis Haggerty of income protection specialist iprotect insurance commented “The most popular benefit level chosen by our customers is £1,000 per month, the average monthly premium for this insurance is under £30.”

Income Protection Insurance is only available to people who are in work and have no immediate prospect of being selected for redundancy. So the time is running out for Civil Servants and other people in the Public Sector to secure this cover before the budget cuts for their particular area are announced.

Insurance companies are there to spread the risk of lost earnings. However they will not sell this type of cover to someone who is very likely to be made redundant, just like they decline fire insurance for a house that is already smouldering. With Public Sector jobs looking vulnerable, there has never been a more urgent time for anyone ultimately paid by the taxpayer to consider how they would meet their financial commitments if they were out of work. With a large section of the local workforce suddenly cutting back their spending because they are worried about their jobs, people employed in the Private Sector ‘up North’ should also be thinking how this could affect them and taking steps to protect themselves and their families.

Related posts:

1. Public Sector Employees Facing Redundancy Should Consider Unemployment Insurance
2. Unemployment Insurance – An Election Safety Net?
3. A History of UK Unemployment Insurance

For the Public sector this must be a worrying time. Whoever gets into power come the elections in May, will make public sector job cuts their first priority in order to reduce the massive National debt accrued by so called quantitiive easing.
Civil Servants need to ACT NOW! if they are to protect themselves from redundancy come the Summer of 2010.

Dennis Haggerty Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute (FCII) from lifestyle protection company iprotectinsurance explains………

Up until now, Public Sector jobs have largely escaped the ravages of the recession. Although for Defence related jobs, budget cuts have already begun to bite. Because of this, many Mortgage Protection and Income Protection Insurance providers are currently turning down applications from people who work in the Defence industry, believing they now represent an exceptional level of risk. What is meant by risk? The Underwriters think in terms of the number of redundancies made by a specific employer proving much higher than average. The same view is taken about people working for several Councils currently implementing staff reductions.

“Therefore, it is probably the last chance for the majority working in the Public Sector to buy this type of insurance, before the deep post election budget cuts begin.”

State benefits are pitiful compared to the real cost of living for the average family or young couple living in the UK today. When denied their ability to earn a living wage by accident, sickness or unemployment, everyone needs money to fall back on. The fortunate have savings, however the majority will find themselves in real financial trouble within weeks. Research published in 2008 established that most people of working age have less than 2 months wages saved, with 25% reported to have nothing at all. This applies equally to Public Sector employees. Therefore, having an insurance policy that covers all important bills whilst out of work, makes a great deal of sense. For those that need this insurance, get it now before the Underwriters say ‘no thanks’ to all Civil Servants, Local Authority and Health Service employees.

For anyone employed full time (at least 16 hours per week) in the Public Sector and where there are not any reports of any impending threats to jobs, it would be prudent to consider getting a quote right now. If a Government Department or Council for example, has made an announcement regarding cut backs, a recruitment freeze or layoffs, it is probably too late to buy this cover. Without any doubt, now is the time to get a low premium deal, rather than wait for this cover to rocket in price, or applications to be simply denied altogether.

Even those who already have this type of insurance, perhaps just covering a mortgage or a single loan, should check if they have sufficient benefits. For working couples, particularly where the main wage earner is employed, say, by a Local Authority, it could be prudent for them to take out additional low cost cover whilst it is still on offer.

Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI) is designed to cover monthly mortgage payments and can usually be increased by up to 25% to contribute toward other expenses related to the home.

Income Protection Insurance (often called Lifestyle Protection) is very similar to MPPI, however it is designed to replace the majority of net income if the person insured is unable to work. As it pays out for up to a year it is more accurate to describe this as short term income protection insurance. It is not limited to mortgage repayments. However many providers cap their maximum monthly benefits at £1500, some £2000. It is rarely more because the Underwriters make the assumption this would be enough for most buyers to pay their monthly bills.

Most buyers tend to be only be interested in unemployment cover in the mistaken belief health related benefit is less important for them. However there are relatively few providers of unemployment only cover and frequently their competitors will offer full Accident Sickness and Unemployment cover for less! More importantly with 2.4m people in the UK claiming Disability Benefit (Dept of Work and Pensions 2008) the risk of health related claims is greater than many think.

The best rates are available on line where Income Protection and Lifestyle Protection Insurance can be bought without the expense of telephone sales or high commission to inflate the price. Moneysupermarket are a good source of comparison quotes, however the summary of cover should always be read very carefully to ensure what each provider offers for the price, really is like for like.

A web based comparison service is provided by the FSA. This is entirely independent and not trying to sell anything. Their tables also include quality measures, although as a result they are quite complex and therefore not easy to use. However they represent a good place to research a shortlist of suppliers to compare quality as well as price.

Applying for Income Protection, Mortgage Protection or Payment Protection Insurance on-line is a great way to save money. However the acceptance criteria applied by different underwriters varies. If applying on-line does not work out, it may simply mean the applicant is one of many who need advice regarding what to buy.

Related posts:

1. UK Finance Giants withdraw Unemployment Mortgage Protection Insurance for own employees
2. UK Unemployment Figures Highest Since 1997
3. Fantastic Value unemployment PPI products released to cope with Credit Crunch

As a concept the first type of Unemployment Insurance available in the UK was created by the Liberal Goverment of Lloyd George with the passing of the National Insurance Act in 1911.
The bill was introduced mainly to protect the two point five million workers in manual trades who along with their employers were required to pay into a central fund to cover the claims.
The payments were calculated on a sliding scale up to a maximum of seven shillings a week.
The cover period for which claims could be drawn was limited to one fifth of the period of contributions.
In other words you had to be in work and paying contributions or premiums for five years before you would be covered for unemployment that lasted a year.
The unemployed who did not qualify for cover or who had not been in work long enough had recourse to the Poor Law authorities which inevitably at this time still meant the workhouse for many unfortunates.

High premiums and poor cover, not a very good effort for the first Government led insurance scheme, but it did offer some protection to those in work, and coupled with the social change of the Edwardian period led to a new sense of Government social responsibility and a working class mentality that became the foundations of the Labour Party and eventually led to other social provisions such as the NHS.

This National Unemployment Insurance scheme proved to be inadequate to provide for the large numbers of unemployed and returning demobilised military, that followed the end of the First World War in 1918.

A temporary scheme of unemployment relief was designed to combat the suffering, which was known as the ‘Out of Work Donation’.
This enabled a much larger payment of 29 shillings a week for men and 24 shillings for women to be made to claimants, with additional allowances for dependents, to most adults who registered as unemployed.
This was available for a strictly limited period, but the Government was forced to grant extensions as more and more servicemen were demobilised.
In 1920 the Unemployment Insurance Act was passed amid an mini economic recovery. The Act extended the provision of the 1911 Act to most workers earning less than £250 per year.
The period in which money could be claimed was shortened to one sixth of the period of payment contributions and for the first time a maximum cover period, during which benefits would be paid was set to 15 weeks.

The UK Economy changed radically for the worse early in 1921 and by the middle of the year unemployment exacerbated by the coal strike, was close to 20 per cent. Under these conditions, the contributory system and the one in six rule were untenable given the threat of political instability and civil unrest among the unemployed.

The Unemployment Insurance Act of March 1921 relaxed the ‘one in six’ rule by providing for the payment of ‘uncovenanted’ benefit without previous contributions. The intention was that benefits would be paid for a maximum of 32 weeks.
The 1921 Act also introduced for the first time what were effectively ‘policy conditions’ a ‘seeking work’ test for those claiming benefit.
Claimants had attend a labour exchange and show that they were genuinely seeking work and were obliged to accept any work paying a ‘fair’ wage – whatever that means!.

In February 1922 further conditions were introduced by way of a means test, aimed at restricting benefit payments. Some groups, such as single adults living with relatives, could be excluded unless it would cause serious hardship.

So what has gone wrong with the system of Nationalised Unemployment Insurance?

Jump forward sixty years to 1979 when Margaret Thatcher duped the nation into electing her with her infamous Labour isn’t working campaign…

…only to return Britain to the largest number of Unemployed since the 1920′s.

Under the Conservative Government of the 1980′s the number of claimants for unemployment insurance far outweighed the resources being paid into the risk pool.
Civil unrest spread to every corner of the country in 1981 as the great unemployed sought vengeance on the Tory elite.
Unemployment Insurance now had to cover many millions who had never contributed to the system, not just those who had worked all their lives and paid their premiums. Fortunately for Mrs Thatcher she was able to pay for her mismanagement by squandering the proceeds of North Sea oil and keeping most of the nation at subsistence level.

So little had changed in sixty years. Out of this mess in the late 1980′s was born a new private market for mortgage protection insurance for unemployment, aimed at the new home owing working classes and middle classes; and initiated by the banks and building societies, primarily to ensure that their mortgages got paid should the home owner lose their job.
Most of these policies were flawed in their design and have been subject to recent criticism leading to the mis-selling findings by the Competition Commission and large fines by the FSA.

To counter this the insurance industry came up with an income protection policy designed to protect the insured against unemployment for a fixed period and a fixed amount commensurate with the level of premium.
National Unemployment Insurance still exists in the form of job seekers allowance or income support whatever they wish to call it, today pays out very little, is still means tested although everyone has to still pay ‘national insurance’ contributions and has an excess period of 13 weeks before you can claim.

One thing that hasn’t changed in nearly 100 years is that, if you are unfortunate enough to become unemployed – you can’t rely on the Government to cover you!
In the current recession it is wise to protect yourself against unemployment with income protection or lifestyle insurance.
Very reasonably rated polices are available from independent suppliers such as Personal Accident.

Related posts:

1. Lifestyle Insurance: How to avoid the unemployment spectre
2. UK Unemployment Figures Highest Since 1997
3. UK Finance Giants withdraw Unemployment Mortgage Protection Insurance for own employees

Mortgages – only if you’ve got 30% to put down!

Life Insurance – people are only looking to downsize covers!

Loans? You’ll be lucky!

PPI a product that should be selling well during the current economic times, is dead in the water due to bad publicity and PPI Claims farmers.

Health Insurance?

Hmm Maybe?

Health Insurance is in the limelight at the moment thanks to a bunch of redneck yanks using the NHS as an example of everything that is wrong with the State interfering with healthcare.
However, like it or not we will soon see a swing to the right in UK Government and with this will inevitably come cutbacks in State funded healthcare.
Many savvy Health Insurance compamies are well aware of this window of opportunity for selling ‘new’ health insurance products – expect to see ads on the TV very soon!

However as pointed out in a recent ezine article there is a lot more to wholistic personal insurance protection than just medical expenses cover…..

Five Ways to Protect Your Health and Wealth With Insurance Against Sickness

If you are unfortunate enough to suffer an illness, sickness or an accident at any time in your life, the consequences can be far reaching and affect your lifestyle and family for perhaps months or years into the future. Primarily you will require immediate treatment and care for the accident or illness. You will also need to consider how to meet your financial commitments during a period of hospitalisation and recovery. Furthermore it is wise to be recompensed for the unfortunate loss of bodily functions or if your contract a chronic or life critical illness.

Five ways to protect yourself and your family against sickness with Insurance:

1. Protect your personal health with Private Medical Insurance

Medical or Health Insurance is often called Private Health Insurance, Private Medical Insurance or PMI in the UK. This type of cover provides quicker access to specialist consultants, hospital treatment and rehabilitation services, and is designed to cover the costs of and arrange remedies for treatable short term or acute accident or sickness. It is however often restricted to hospitals owned by the particular insurance group. PMI is primarily bought to receive quicker treatment in nicer surroundings than is offered by the state system. Many policies allow you to top up cover should you require additional treatment. Levels of indemnity or cover limits are quite often determined by the price you pay as a premium. Policies are often sold with varying levels of cover under banners such as Silver, Gold and Platinum cover, and covers are extendable to other members of the immediate family.

Many UK employers provide what is known as Group Health Insurance plans as health care and medical cover for their employees, however this practice has declined since this became a taxable benefit. It is important to note that nearly all of these types of medical insurance policies exclude pre-existing conditions and are designed for treatable conditions only.

2. Protect your body with Personal Accident Insurance Cover

Personal Accident Insurance or PAI as it is known covers the loss of various body parts and pays out a lump sum designed to help ease your immediate suffering. Each limb or organ is priced and if you are unfortunate enough to lose for example an eye, you will receive the commensurate agreed benefit amount for the loss of the eye. Many policies also pay out a lump sum on death.

3. Protect your lifestyle and wealth with Personal Accident and Sickness Insurance

Often known as ASU, these products provide a lump sum of money each month if you are unfortunate enough to have an accident or be sick, whether hospitalised or not, allowing various expenses and costs of your life style to be protected while you are ill and recovering. These include income protection for your earnings, mortgage and loan protection for your debts and monthly outgoings and the more encompassing lifestyle insurance to protect all your finances, when you are sick. These type of policies pay out an agreed monthly benefit commensurate with the amount of cover required.

4. Protect your future with Critical Illness Insurance

Basic medical insurance is designed to cover short term illness only. Critical Illness or dreaded disease polices are a recent innovation in the UK Health Insurance market, having originated in South Africa. You are covered under this type of policy if you are struck by one of a number of specified diseases, many of which are terminal and for that reason critical illness insurance is often sold as a bolt on cover with a life insurance policy. Examples of the types of critical illness covered are Cancer, Heart Disease, Strokes, Parkinson’s, and Multiple Sclerosis, to name but a few.In the event of a claim, as with personal accident and sickness cover, you will receive a lump sum to help with the costs of the illness. When sold as part of a life policy the lump sum payable on death is often reduced if there has been an earlier critical illness claim.

5. Protect your family with a hospital bed with Health Cash plans

Health cash plans where you make regular payments into a specific medical fund which entitles you to claim if the need occurs. These cash plans have been available for some time in the UK and have been particularly popular in the areas of optometry and dentistry which are mainly privately funded outside of the NHS. Recent innovative more affordable health insurance hospital cash plans are becoming very popular, mainly because they allow access to all the hospital services that are available under a standard medical insurance policy except that you are not tied to one hospital provider of medical supplier to provide that service.

As with all Insurance products it is now very straightforward to shop around and compare prices on the Internet. Each individual will have varying cover needs and it is important to compare insurance covers as well as premium prices. It is very important with all health and personal protection insurance policies to read the small print and online documents to be sure that you understand the exclusions to each particular health care coverage.

For more information and advice on all aspects of medical insurance visit UK Health Insurance. Compare health insurance quotes and various plans online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Healey

Related posts:

1. Health Insurance and Care Abroad – Get Travel Medical Insurance!
2. Health Insurance as a complimentary contingency
3. UK Health Insurance- From the Cradle to the Queue

Hmm!

Here’s the full story – Nominet domains

Let us know your thoughts!
Should obscene domain names be banned or is this freedom of speech?

Related posts:

1. Insurance SEO
2. Insurance Marketing Enters Cyberspace

If you are just starting out in business or have been self employed for some time you should consider protecting not just yourself, but also your home and family against the possibility of you having an accident at work or home, or perhaps getting sick for a long time and not being able to work.

Both of these risks happen every day to someone unfortunate and it would be a brave person to jeopardise their home and business when accident and sickness insurance is widely available online to purchase in an instant cover that has been specifically designed for the self employed, and would remove all those worries.

Accident insurance is always sold as a policy in conjunction with Sickness insurance. This can usually be purchased individually as what is known as a disability cover or bundled up in a group of insurance products usually known as ASU (Accident, Sickness and Unemployment) or as Protection Insurance, commonly known as PPI.

When you purchase accident and sickness cover, you purchase levels of protection as units of what is known as monthly benefit. So for example if you need 1000 units of monthly cover you pay by the percentage rate cover unit determined by how old you are.

Typically a thirty year old in the UK who buys disability insurance from a well known independent supplier, will pay as little as GBP18 per month for GBP1000 worth of benefits, should they get sick or have an accident, leading to missing time off work.

ASU can be particularly cheap for self-employed persons if bought without the unemployment element of cover, which has significantly increased the cost of this type of cover in the near past due to the economic crisis.

Working for yourself is hard enough work alone, without having to worry about where the money is going to come from to pay the bills if you have to stop your business dealings for any time due to an accident or sickness.
Protection Insurance products such as mortgage, lifestyle and income protection, all offer peace of mind and cover for anyone who works for themselves or as a contractor, and is not covered by any existing employer accident compensation.

Be aware that any long term pre-existing medical condition usually excludes you from purchasing Payment Protection Insurance or Sickness Insurance cover.

Shop around the independent providers of ASU for accident insurance, as there are always good deals to be had in this very competitive market Sickness Insurance and Accident Insurance for the self-employed can be purchased quickly online from leading UK companies.
Originally publishedat : http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Healey http://EzineArticles.com/?Accident-and-Sickness-Insurance-For-the-Self-Employed&id=2441903

Related posts:

1. Does Sickness Insurance cover ‘swine flu’?
2. iProtect assure Income Protection Insurance clients are covered for Swine Flu
3. Dolphin Riding Accident Insurance

If you took out a loan, mortgage or credit card from a bank or building society in the UK the chances are that you were mis-sold payment protection insurance or PPI as it is often known. The law has now changed and it is possible to reclaim all your payments in full plus in some cases, damages, usually at no cost to yourself through a so called no win no fee agreement..

The types of policies that were mis-sold were mortgage protection, loan payment protection insurance, Credit card insurance and in some cases and income protection.
Whether you qualify to claim depends very much upon when you were mis-sold the policy. The new law only covers payment protection insurance policies sold after January 2005. However, many lawyers will pursue on you behalf policies sold before the cut off date, and in many cases recover your payments. there are numerous no-win no-fee law firms starting up to pursue these errant banks and lenders through the UK courts in what has become a multi-billion dollar business.

The good news for the claimant is that these law firms handle everything for you and the only contribution you have to make is confirming the mis-selling took place and banking the check.

You are eligible to claim through the UK courts against a lender who mis-sold you payment protection insurance if you can satisfy any one of the following 13 conditions.

1. The PPI was added without your express agreement or knowledge.

2. The sales staff or person selling the mortgage or loan insurance was coercive, pushy and strongly advised you to take out the PPI cover.

3. You were told you had to take the payment insurance.

4. You were told you could not get the mortgage without MPPI.

5. You were told you could not get the loan without loan payment protection insurance.

6. The cover you were offered was included in the loan or mortgage

7. You knew you were soon to be unemployed.

8. You were self-employed when the payment protection was sold to you.

9. You were retired or over the age limit for PPi cover which is usually 65.

10. You were not asked about any pre-existing medical conditions that you may have suffered from.

11. You were not told that pre-existing medical conditions could affect your insurance cover.

12. You were not informed that the UK’s two largest problems for time of work, namely stress and back problems were excluded from the insurance/ or you informed the lenders staff about your medical condition but was not warned that this would affect the protection insurance cover in the event of a claim.

13. You were not asked if you already had any existing mortgage protection or loan insurance in place elsewhere or employer benefits that would cover my repayments.

If any of the above instances apply to you , you have probably been mis-sold payment protection cover and need to contact a solicitor or specialist lawyer who will claim on your behalf. Act now as there may well be additional time limitations put in place as the number of claims rises.

To learn more about mortgage protection insurance and how to make a successful claim visit Personal Accident plc.

For the latest news of the cheapest payment protection insurance available from independent UK suppliers visit the Payment Protection Insurance News website run by specialist provider Burgesses.com.

Insurance Blogger would like to thank Dave for the original Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Healey http://EzineArticles.com/?Have-You-Been-Mis-Sold-Payment-Protection-Insurance?&id=2417542

Related posts:

1. Payment Protection Insurance Claims and Premiums Rocket
2. Understanding UK Payment Protection Insurance
3. FSA says shop around for Loan Payment Protection Insurance

Insurance Blogger thinks this is outrageous after years of expenditure on the investigations by the FSA and Competition Commission and others, and the subsequent fines for misselling, that any institution, let alone a largely Government owned institution Lloyds Bank, should have the right to challenge any such decision!

Payment protection insurance lobbyist Sara-Ann Burgess from specialist payment protection insurance company, Burgesses confirms our viewpoint. She said “These institutions are without morals and intent on putting profit ahead of consumers’ interests.”
“This latest move is a bid by the banks to continue making billions of pounds in profits in order to prop up other failing business areas.
“We all know PPI mis-selling is rife amongst High Street lenders and their resultant profits are obscene. These delaying tactics, lodged to stop the ban going ahead in October 2010, only serve to prove just how shameless these firms are and the extent they will go to protect their ‘cash cows’.”

The UK Protection Insurance sector takes over £5 billion in premiums every year and around 90% of the premiums goes in profit to Banks and Building Societies.

In 2006, the Competition Commission reported the 12 largest distributors made profits of GBP1.4bn – before the recession kicked in and demand for unemployment insurance protection and income protection insurance policies grew.

After a lengthy investigation into anti-competitive practices, the Commission announced in January a series of measures to lower prices and widen choice in the PPI sector.

These included:
axing single premium PPI and replacing with monthly payments.
a seven day ban on selling cover alongside credit.
a requirement to offer PPI separately to credit.

The Financial Ombudsman Service predicted some 30,000 payment protection insurance mis-selling complaints would be received by the end of March this year and confirmed the majority of them can be traced back to High Street lenders.

It upholds at least 90% of cases and in the case of one lender, 100%.

Sara-Ann Burgess concludes: “How can you on the one hand say banks are working to restore confidence and then on the other have two major players challenging decisions in order to maintain gigantic market shares and prevent freedom of choice? Actions are certainly speaking louder than words. These lenders are damaging the financial well-being of consumers and will continue to do so. What’s equally insulting is the fact that Lloyds is paid for by taxpayers and our money is being used to ensure we continue to be ripped off.”

Insurance Blogger couldn’t agree more! The banks created the current recession by the misselling of mortgages and piggybacked missold mortgage payment protection insurance, and now they are trying to retain their ill gotten share of a market that wouldn’t exist if they had done their job properly in the first place.

BancAssurance is a French joke – Keep your noses out of Insurance – Bankers!

For those of you still in a job, we wholeheartedly recommend Burgesses Unemployment Insurance

Related posts:

1. PPI – ignore after sales follow ups
2. Banks Overcharge for Payment Protection Insurance
3. Credit Cards – time to bring the Banks to order!

Spokesman for the company Dennis Haggerty said

“At iprotect we have always refused to sell Unemployment insurance without it being combined with Accident and Sickness cover as well. This is because our statistics show some of the most expensive and long running claims are for sickness. It is really the only way to be fair to customers to ensure they are covered in of work for any form of involuntary unemployment, not just redundancy.

Despite the recession and the huge increase in unemployment, still some 40% of the claims we receive are for Accident and Sickness related absence from work. Some of our past claimants have been so unwell they could not work for close to a year. The Swine Flue outbreak is a reminder to us all why it is important to have Accident Sickness and Unemployment cover, Further, if people become infected and potentially seriously debilitated by damage to their lungs and internal organs, quite possibly they could be many months off of work.

Modern medical science may avoid deaths in the UK, but if the strain mutates and prevents its victims returning to work, it is some comfort to know that at least the bills will be paid and benefits paid under their iprotect policy prevent their family finances spiraling out of control.”

InsuranceBlogger has had a good look at the iProtect website. It’s very easy to use particularly if you are looking to switch or combine covers or policies. The ratres are some of the most competitive on the market and their lifestyle insurance offers exceptional cover at very cheap rates.

Related posts:

1. Doomsday UK – Swine fever pandemic ravages British Economy
2. Income Protection Insurance – Claim Exclusion & Excess Periods – confused?
3. Lifestyle Insurance Cover – the new ASU and Income Protection

The plan could affect up to 9,000 Group Manufacturing roles globally, including 4,500 in the UK, over the next two years.

However, the actual number of jobs lost is expected to be significantly lower than this.

A redeployment programme has already identified 650 new job opportunities in the UK and the impact will also be reduced through natural turnover and less use of agency staff.

RBS will make voluntary redundancy arrangements available which may suit some of the staff affected by this announcement. RBS agrees with Unite that compulsory redundancies should be a last resort.

The business plan, which involves a number of other cost-saving initiatives including moving to a common technology platform, will help RBS achieve its target of reducing annual costs by £2.5bn within the next three years.

It is not yet known what impact will be felt by the Insurance group which is responsible for bramds such as Churchill and Green Flag to name but a few.

Income Protection Insurance

No related posts.

The future looks particularly bleak for the high street shops and the fall of Woolworths and their 27,000 employees on the dole, may look very small by Easter if the High Street manages to disappear at the rate it is shrinking – faster than the Polar Ice Caps. There will be an inevitable knock on effect for some High Street Insurance Brokers and the numbers are likely to shrink at the same rate as the rest of the retail market is collapsing!

If you work in retail we strongly recommend that you act quickly to take out income protection insurance. You will have to wait three months in order to claim as a matter of course, so act now! you can’t rely on state benefits to maintain your lifestyle through this economic crisis!

Related posts:

1. UK Unemployment Figures Highest Since 1997
2. Unemployent to drag UK further into Recession