Public Sector Employees Facing Redundancy Should Consider Unemployment Insurance
With the recession officially over and 0.5 percent growth in the last quarter of 2009 you might be fooled in believing that unemployment is a thing of the past.
The grim truth is that every day up and down the country people are still losing their jobs in the thousands.
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, howeve
r 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.
Labels: income protection, lifestyle insurance, mortgage protection, mortgage protection insurance, Quantitative Easing, redundancy insurance, UK government, unemployment, unemployment insurance
Payment Protection Insurance - Barclays Challenge Government ruling
Barclays scupper plans for PPI reform
Plans to restrict the sale of payment protection insurance (PPI) at the point when loans or mortgage are granted have been set back following a successful appeal by Barclays bank.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal has now been forced to instruct the Competition Commission to back down from its plan to ban PPI sales such as
mortgage protection insurance, at this point of the transaction. The Commission released a statement commenting that it would study the judgement closely before deciding what course of action it would take next. In a carefully worded statement however it was made clear that it was only this one small part of their strategy, to make choices clearer for consumers, that was being affected.
A spokesman for the commission commented "The appeal was upheld on one ground which relates to our assessment of the remedy prohibiting the sale of PPI at the point of sale of credit,” before adding that it was because The Commission had been asked to “reconsider the loss of convenience for consumers of not being able to buy PPI at the same time as taking out credit."
Intended to allow consumers a cushion for repayment of their credit cards, loans or mortgages should they fall ill or lose their job, PPI has been a bone of contention between insurance companies and banks and finance companies for some considerable time. Early this year the Commission outlined a range of limitations on the sale of PPI with some commentators claiming the lack of competition in the field has led to “persistently high prices”. The Commission had stated that from October 2010, lenders would be unable to initiate a sale of a policy for up to 7 days after granting a loan to combat the “point of sale” advantage that the lenders had gained.
However after challenging the Commission’s plan on four separate grounds – three of which related directly to the point of sale restriction, Barclays have successfully convinced a tribunal that putting this plan into place could put customers who actually wanted to purchase cover at a disadvantage.
Referring to the plans laid out by the commission as a “remedy without consent” the Tribunal concluded that the Commission had failed to take into account the “loss of convenience which would flow from the imposition of the point of sale prohibition”. The Tribunal also added that it was this “constituted failure to take into account a relevant consideration” that meant that the Commission would need to revise its plans once more.
However the overhaul of how PPI sales are regulated is still continuing at a rapid pace as complaints from consumer organisations and those who believe they have been mis-sold PPI grow exponentially. This year alone we have already seen the FSA tell banks and other financial institutions to compensate those who may have been mis-sold policies, re-open the 185,000 old complaints that have been dismissed, and stop selling the much criticised single premium PPI, whilst companies offering help and advice to claim back fees spent on mis-sold PPI has practically become an industry in itself.
Referred to as a “protection racket” in some corners of the industry due to abnormally high cost policies being sold to people who can’t actually make a valid claim under the terms of their agreements PPI providers added excess profits of £1.4bn to their coffers in the heady days of 2006 when the Competition Commission first began making enquiries into the sector.
As Martin Lewis of financial advice website moneysaingexpert.com succinctly commented “Bank-based PPI is a near con - it's hideously over-expensive, billions of pounds of it have been mis-sold, and the sooner it's cleaned up and cleared out the better.”
At a time when public faith in the entire banking sector is at an all time low how the public will react to this further delay in cleaning up what is a tainted section of both the banking and insurance worlds’ remains to be seen. However, the general consensus amongst financial commentators is again echoed in Mr Lewis’ comments "It's a shame Barclays has succeeded in using its lawyers to delay the implementation of such an important ruling"
Whether they have stemmed the tide for good, or as Mr Lewis suggests have simply delayed the inevitable is uncertain, but for the time being the Bank’s are refusing to let this go without a fight.
Kris Oldland
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WARNING DO NOT BUY PPI FROM A BANK - EVER!
Insuranceblogger urges consumers to shop around and buy
mortgage protection insurance from independent suppliers after they have researched the market. The point of removing PPI sales from mortgage and loan sales was to stop the consumer from being pressurised into buying overpriced products to secure the loan.
Once again a bank, admittedly not one overly involved in the toxic debt fiasco , but one intricately involved in the collapse of the banking system by it's failure to step in and rescue Lehman Bros. (until they had collapsed and they cherry picked the best bits!), is allowed to dictate to Parliament and interfere with the due process of consumer law!
Insuranceblogger recommends checking out alternative protection products such as
Lifestyle Income Protection Insurance which has wider covers and is not tied to any particular lump sum debt.
Labels: Barclays, mortgage, mortgage insurance, mortgage protection, mortgage protection insurance, mppi, PPI, UK government
FSA orders GBP 60 Million Mortgage Protection Insurance Repayments
More than a million UK householders are to get refunds on their recent mortgage protection insurance monthly payments, after the City watchdog, the FSA, forced PPI providers including giant firms such as Aviva and Abbey; to pay back over GBP60 million in increased
Mortgage Protection Insurance premiums, which were slapped on already cash strapped mortgage borrowers earlier this year.
Over 2.1 million UK consumers have policies to repay mortgages and loans with accident, sickness and unemployment insurance attached.
The major UK money lenders have had over 10 years of collecting premiums on inflated house prices, with very few claims. But with claims now rising due to the recession, they've been recently hiking up the rates on many of these policies to maintain their profit levels.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and
Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI) firms have agreed an industry-wide package of measures for consumers, including refunds of around £60 million.
The industry has acted in response to FSA concerns over recent increases in premiums and reductions in what customers are covered for under their policy. The FSA’s concerns centred on the terms permitting these changes, and how clearly they were disclosed. The FSA expects its concerns to be addressed by the agreement reached.
Following discussions initiated by the FSA with relevant trade bodies and some firms, the industry has responded positively by agreeing to:
• proactively refund increases in premiums, and reverse any reductions in cover, for customers who have experienced these changes to their policy in 2009;
• offer to reinstate policies where a customer had cancelled it within two months of an increase in premium or reduction in cover made during 2009;
• freeze premiums and cover for existing customers for at least the remainder of this year
• amend Mortgage Protection Insurance contracts to ensure that all customers are made aware of the circumstances in which firms have the right to vary premiums and cover.
New contracts will mean customers get a fairer deal with two months' notice of any changes to enable people to
compare mortgage protection insurance products and switch mortgage protection if necessary.
Jon Pain, managing director of supervision at the FSA, said:
"The FSA welcomes this positive move by Mortgage Protection Insurance firms to reverse recent changes in premiums or cover which will put affected customers back in the position they were in before the policy was changed. It will also give all MPPI customers clarity about when and why firms will be able to vary these in future.
"This clarity will provide the basis for MPPI to remain a valuable option for many mortgage customers who wish to take out protection, alongside the mortgage commitment they are taking on."
The affected companies will contact customers if their policy is affected, and will make all refunds by the end of June 2010.
The Consumer Panel has also welcomed the announcement today of FSA action and an industry-wide refund on Mortgage Protection Insurance.
Adam Phillips, Chairman of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, said:
“This is exactly what a financial regulator should be here for and we applaud the FSA’s action. It cannot be right that firms change the terms and conditions of an insurance policy just as times get hard and when people are more likely to try to claim on it.
We note that this agreement is to freeze premiums and cover for existing customers until at least January 2010. We will be watching to see how the FSA ensures
Mortgage Protection customers continue to get a fair deal beyond this date. Significant changes to cover go against the whole principle of why people pay for insurance and undermine consumers’ trust in the industry.”
Labels: fsa, FSCS, mortgage, mortgage insurance, mortgage payment protection, mortgage payment protection insurance, mortgage protection, mortgage protection insurance, mppi, UK government
Mortgage insurance – why be vulnerable?
Burgesses
Insurance News has published an interesting article today looking at the rationale behind the purchasing of insurance as a protection vehicle, and questions why the public are disinterested and can't be bothered when it comes to purchasing
Mortgage Protection for the largest investment of all - a house!...........
It it just that the public doesn't appreciate the risks? Until it is too late....
Mortgage insurance – why be vulnerable?First Published
Burgesses.com July 27th, 2009 in Mortgage Insurance |
Most people are thoroughly accustomed to one of the most basic principles of insurance – if something is valuable, it is probably worth insuring. Although the principle might be widely recognised in many other areas of domestic life, however, for some reason it does not seem to be so readily grasped when it comes to mortgage insurance.
Only an estimated 25% of the nation’s 11.7 million mortgage borrowers are believed to have arranged this potentially indispensable for of insurance. Given the sheer value of the mortgaged homes, not to mention the dire consequences of defaulting on the mortgage repayments, the statistic is surprising to say the least. Some three-quarters of borrowers seem to be leaving themselves vulnerable to the most common risks to their incomes – accidents, illnesses and unemployment – and with the loss of an income, the ability to continue their mortgage repayments.
The penalties for defaulting on the mortgage repayments, of course, can be serious indeed. In the worst cases, it can lead to repossession of the home itself by a mortgage lender determined to recover the outstanding debt. But even if some arrangement can be reached with the lender, the homeowner is still vulnerable. If mortgage repayments cannot be made, the home might have to be sold – even though the current state of the housing market might mean that such a sale realises less than the outstanding mortgage debt. At the very least, the late or non-payment of the mortgage instalments as they fall due will attract adverse credit reports on the borrower’s file. This will make borrowing – or any other form of credit – more expensive to arrange in the future, if the facility is extended to the individual at all.
This is a vulnerability that the homeowner can easily avoid with
mortgage insurance. The insurance can offer complete protection for the mortgage repayments in the event that the policy holder meets with an accident or suffers an illness that prevents normal earnings from work. The same protection is also extended if the policy holder loses his or her job through compulsory redundancy. In any of these events, such a policy will pay out an insured benefit from which the mortgage repayments can continue to be paid – in many instances, directly to the mortgage lender concerned, if needs be.
Once in payment, the
mortgage insurance monthly benefit payments ensure that the mortgage is repaid every month that the policy holder remains incapacitated for work, involuntarily unemployed, or for up to a typical maximum period of 12 months, whichever is the shorter time. Taking up the option offered by some policies, payouts can be made over an even longer period and extended for up to a maximum of 24 months, if an additional premium is paid.
Labels: mortgage, mortgage insurance, mortgage payment protection, mortgage payment protection insurance, mortgage protection, mortgage protection insurance, mppi
Accident and Sickness Insurance for the Self Employed
Accident and Sickness Insurance For the Self Employed
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=2441903Labels: accident insurance, ASU, health insurance, income protection, mortgage protection, self employed insurance, sickness insurance
Mis-Sold Payment Protection Insurance? Claim It Back Now!
Have You Been Mis-Sold Payment Protection 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=2417542Labels: claims, cover, income payment protection insurance, income protection, loan protection insurance, loans, mortgage, mortgage payment protection, mortgage protection, mppi, PPI
What a bunch of Bankers! UK Banks challenge PPI ruling
Feelings are running high this morning in the Payment Protection Market and the consumer pressure groups with news that Barclays and Lloyds TSB are challenging the Competition Commission's ruling to ban the sale of Payment Protection Insurance at the time of sale of a loan mortgage or credit.
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 InsuranceLabels: Banks, income protection, income protection insurance, lifestyle insurance, loan protection insurance, mortgage payment protection insurance, mortgage protection, mppi, PPI, unemployment insurance
iProtect assure Income Protection Insurance clients are covered for Swine Flu
Specialist provider of lifestyle insurance and income payment protection insurance products,
iProtectinsurance.com have today not only assured their existing customers that they are covered for swine flu and it's after effects, but have also issued a rallying cry to those worried about whether they are covered or not, to switch any ASU policy today at no cost and with no exclusion penalties - you might even save a lot of money!
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.
Labels: accident insurance, ASU, income insurance, income protection, income protection insurance, lifestyle insurance, mortgage protection, swine flu, unemployment insurance
