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There are many insurance policies available and many different terms you will hear when considering your insurance needs. How can you tell if mortgage life cover is right for you? Unlike a private mortgage insurance, which would protect you in case you couldn’t make a mortgage payment on time, mortgage life insurance is designed to protect the repayment of your mortgage. In other words if you died before the mortgage was paid, but were covered by mortgage life insurance, the policy would pay out a lump sum that would ensure the outstanding balance is paid in full.

There are two types of mortgage, repayment mortgage and interest only mortgage.

Repayment Mortgage
At the beginning of the policy the amount you need to pay will be calculated based on the length of the mortgage, the rate of repayment, and the sum that would be required to clear the balance in full. The longer you make payments the less your insurance would need to pay out in the even to death, and possibly terminal illness. The full cost of insurance will be equally divided over the life of the policy so that your premiums are the same for the duration of the policy. If you pay your mortgage in full and are still in good health you will not receive any payout. If you have accrued arrears by not making your mortgage repayments but then make a claim on your insurance it should be noted that the payout will not include any arrears you owe the bank. The payout will reflect the balance that should be owed assuming you did not default.

Interest Only Mortgage
As you are only repaying the interest on your mortgage you must make arrangements to pay the capital off at the end of the loan period. Cover for this type of mortgage is often referred to as Level Term Life Insurance. You can decide how long you need the cover for and if you make a claim against the policy during that time a set figure will be paid out, regardless of what is owed. It should be noted that whilst you can certainly take out a policy for the entire duration of your mortgage, say 25 years, you can also choose to take a shorter term if that would suit your financial circumstances better.

With either option you can obtain mortgage life cover through your loan provider usually, but it is considered good practice to speak to an independent financial advisor as there are other ways to ensure you can cover your mortgage obligations in case of death or terminal illness.

The insurance industry is currently undergoing quite an upheaval right now. The way in which premiums are being calculated is being amended to include gender equality. When your insurance provider is assessing your potential risk they cannot penalise you for being male or allow you a discount for being female. Typically this has been the case for several decades as women tend to live longer than men making them a much safer risk for insurance companies to cover.

There are also new regulations coming into play which will affect how cover is sold. New tax initiatives will see insurance companies handing over more in the way of tax and being required, by law, to provide a financial safety net to their clients in case the insurance company collapses.

All in all insurance, of any kind, is about to get much more expensive. Just how much more expensive remains to be seen , though estimates range between 20 to 30% ? The real question is, with something as important as your home at stake can you afford to not be insured?

Jacob Chapman is a columnist with experience in the financial field. You can read his articles aiming to help individuals get the right mortgage life insurance for their needs on www.mortgagelifeinsurance.org.uk . Or if you are interested in life assurance you can also visit www.lifeassurancequotes.org.uk .

As I am Managing Partner of a specialist firm of personal injury solicitors, the title alone of this post may make me appear to be a bitter personal injury lawyer, but honestly, that’s not really the case. I’m all for a level playing field and competition is inherently a good thing in all aspects of life.

In many respects, lawyers have only themselves to blame as regards the fact that in many areas of law, we no longer call the shots.

In the personal injury sector, the warning signs started many years ago with Claims Direct. An ex-lawyer decided that, based on lawyers unwillingness to invest in marketing and/or the fact they were constrained on types of advertising, he would do the marketing for us, and would be kind enough to sell us all the leads he obtained for a hefty premium !

Too few lawyers recognised the clear signal from Claims Direct and acted accordingly. The threat did not just apply to personal injury but law generally and in fact, more injury lawyers started marketing than in other sectors of legal practice.

Post Claims Direct

Insurers realised they could make money from lawyers as well, so started selling claims and expecting hefty referral fees. Claims Management Companies were created by other entrepreneurs, realising that there is a funnel whereby in many cases, a vehicle accident repair company can gain the ear of an accident victim first. Once you have the ear of the person, you can then seek to act as a broker.

To that extent, whilst the rules on advertising were relaxed for lawyers, the Claims Management Companies were again ahead of the game, and many resorted to tactics such as data marketing and mass text messaging which were still, thankfully, unavailable to lawyers who wanted to stay lawyers.

So, as can be seen from the above, lawyers are partly responsible for the fact they do not control the market, except perhaps for the very niche area of clinical negligence claims, but partly, those who acts as brokers for claims have exploited the regulation of lawyers so that there has never been a level playing field.

Referral fees banned – lawyers free to compete with each other without outside interference

With referral fees now being banned from next year, on the face of it, this would give injury lawyers an opportunity, for the first time since Claims Direct, to invest in marketing on the basis of a more level playing field, competing only with each other ?

Unfortunately not   - the referral fee ban coincides with the new ABS system which enables non-lawyers to effectively buy and control law firms. So what happens next ? Insurers and claims management companies start buying law firms, using the financial muscle obtained by using methods unavailable to lawyers to outflank and outmuscle remaining independent law firms.

Frankly, I don’t think this is fair – I am all for a level playing field and competiotion in law, but the system is now stacked against lawyers.

If the root cause of the disquiet about personal injury is the sort of tactics utilised by marketing and selling in a way which discredits genuine lawyers, should it not be the case that the root of the problem, which is not generally law firms, are removed from the equation ?

What do you say ?

If you have been injured in an incident caused by someone’s negligence you may be looking for professional help to pursue your claim for compensation. How might you be sure, however, that you are about to contact an accident claims company who know what they are doing?

Why the uncertainty?

• The reason for the question – and not a little potential concern – is because of the existence of so-called “claims farmers”.

• These are companies whose advertising may give every impression of their being able to pursue such a claim on your behalf, but who simply sell on the details of your case to a solicitor in return for a fee which may, in turn, be deducted from any compensation you eventually win.

• What indicators might help to point you in the direction of a claims company comprising professionally qualified solicitors?

Indicators

• In order to engage in professional practice, such firms are authorised and regulated by the guardians of professional standards, the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

• The website, stationery or advertising of such firms typically makes very clear that the company is so authorised and regulated.

• In the particular case of personal injury solicitors, you might also look for accreditation by a specific professional body, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.

• The company’s accreditation by this body, which is likely to be made clear in its publicity material, may help reassure you that its solicitors have achieved certain minimum levels of experience and competence in the handling of personal injury claims.

• Properly authorised and accredited firms of personal injury lawyers typically make very clear any scale of fees you are likely to encounter for their services. It is not uncommon for their services in this field to be offered on a “no win, no fee” basis.

• A “no win, no fee” agreement means that you pay no fees in the event of winning your claim (since these are typically paid by the liable party) and that even if the claim fails, you still pay no fee

Process

• You should expect a professionally staffed claims company to pay special attention to the assessment of your claim and the prospect of its being successful.

• Evidence for this is demonstrated by the care with which the full details, circumstances and background to the accident are taken.

• You may have more comfort and reassurance by being able to discuss these directly with the solicitor who is going to be handling your claim on your behalf.

• Such attention to detail and concern for you as the injured victim of an accident are factors likely to set apart the genuine company from a third party service.