How to pay less for your life insurance while securing a great product

If you are at a stage in your life where obtaining life insurance is important to you, it is likely that you will have a lot of other financial responsibilities too. Finding life insurance that will cover you for these responsibilities after you have gone, but is justifiable within your current monthly budget, is more important than ever whilst the economy is still at a low point. Finding a life insurance policy to suit your budget doesn’t mean that you need to make a sacrifice on the quality of the policy. There are several ways that you can reduce the cost of your life insurance policy without compromise.

Obtain quotes

Getting a range of prices and policy types is important whichever type of insurance you are looking for. It is no different with life insurance quotes. Be sure to check several different companies when looking for your policy. Don’t be fooled by comparison sites, 3 months free schemes or free gifts, as these are usually put in place to distract you from the small print of a policy.

List your Life Insurance Requirements

Compiling a list of figures and features that you need from your life insurance will help you to choose the right policy. If you have a special type of mortgage, you will need to make sure any mortgage life insurance policy you choose will cover your type of mortgage and fluctuations in interest rates if applicable.

Know your faults

Being aware of aspects of your health, lifestyle or financial situation that might affect your policy will help you to ensure you are covered and not paying more than you should be because of an abnormality in your situation. When looking for critical illness cover you may find a company that specialising in your health condition will charge less than a “one size fits all” type of policy.

Adapt your lifestyle.

If you are serious about getting the best deal on your life insurance policy, consider how a few lifestyle changes could reduce your risk to the insurers. Being a smoker is of course very bad for your health, and because of this your life expectancy will be lesser than a non-smoker and therefore you insurance policy will cost more.

Learn your life insurance types

Knowing about the different types of life insurance policies that are available will help you to be clever in your choice of policy types. Consider term life insurance, convertible insurance policies, investment life insurance or policies that allow riders, as these will all allow you to think ahead of the monthly payments and how much your insurance policy could back to you or your family later down the line.

A little research will go a long way, and taking the time over choosing the right life insurance policy will set you and your family up for life.

Tags: list, health lifestyle, life insurance policy, investment, lifestyle, financial responsibilities

Tighten your spending for next year

With all the uncertainty over the economy and job losses many people will be stressing over their finances and for many people sorting out their finances for the New Year will be a priority. It is always a good idea to start the New Year with a streamlined budget, as it means that you can focus on your finances and try to get them into some sort of order over the course of the year.

With this in mind it is a good idea to start now when it comes to trying to sort out your finances, and there are a few simple steps that you can take, which could help you to organise your finances more effectively, make your budget more manageable, and even reduce the amount of money that you pay each month.

The first step is to go through your finances with a fine toothcomb. You need to make a list of all of your income and all of your outgoings so that you know exactly what is going into your account and exactly what is coming out of it each month. This will allow you to see where you can make cutbacks and what changes you can make to benefit you in terms of your financial situation.

Many people have a variety of payment that they make for things that they do not even use, such as gym memberships even though they never get time to go, magazine subscriptions for magazines they no longer read, and various other payments that they may have forgotten about. Take the time to cancel anything like this, as it could mean big savings each month.

Once you have gone through your finances with a fine tooth comb it is time to see whether there is anything that you can reduce payments on by switching. Many people switch services such as their utilities, broadband, insurance, credit cards, and even mortgage in order to save money, and shopping around for a better deal could make a big difference to the amount that you have to pay out each month by reducing the cost.

Finally, look at any debt that you have and consider whether consolidation might reduce your repayments and get you a better deal. You could consolidate all of your debt such as credit cards, overdraft, and loans, into one, which would save you time and hassle each month and reduce your monthly repayment.

Tags: credit, amount, list, month, broadband, uncertainty, fine

Equifax: Be ‘cautious’ about ID fraud

Consumers should be more wary of people trying to steal their identity details, an expert at Equifax has advised.

Neil Munroe, external affairs director at Equifax, said that an individual’s personal credit profile could be worth “several times more” than their maximum limit on their credit card.

According to CIFAS, the total number of fraud cases the organisation received by the end of the first quarter of 2008 was 52,286, which represented an increase of ten per cent compared with the same period in 2007.

The number of occurrences which involved a fraudster impersonating someone in order to takeover their bank account were up by 146 per cent.

Mr Monroe commented that the authorities should also make an effort to combat the issue: “There is a list of precautions that individuals should take but it’s not just an individual’s fight, it is a combined fight and the government need to be doing more around it and so do companies.”

Tags: quarter, end, authorities, Financial services, credit, first quarter, list, Cifas

Consumers switch mortgages to save money

Nearly 1.4 million consumers have switched their mortgage provider in order to secure a better deal, one financial expert has claimed.

Research from MoneyExpert.com has revealed that an estimated three per cent of the adult population has changed mortgage supplier since June last year, a figure which is thought to represent 11 per cent of all UK mortgage holders.

Sean Gardner, chief executive of MoneyExpert.com, said: “The uncertain financial climate of the past six months has forced many people to reassess their household budget with the mortgage top of the list of priorities.”

He added that swapping mortgage supplier will cost more with rising application fees and most are now uncapped, meaning you’re likely to pay a proportion of the total amount you borrow

People aged 35 to 44 are the most likely to have switched mortgage provider, while people living in the South of England are least likely to have done so.

Meanwhile, further research from MoneyExpert.com revealed that four out of five consumers are overpaying for financial products.

Tags: mortgage supplier, budget, list, cent, consumers, Consumers switch mortgages, household budget

Study: Home-buying process ‘fraught with difficulties’

A new study by AA Insurance has found that prospective homeowners are increasingly wary of buying a new home.

The survey found that buying a house tops the list of daunting prospects among young people ahead of getting married or divorced and starting their own business.

Discontent stems from a range of sources, with 29 per cent saying they found the whole home-buying process difficult while one in ten harboured serious concerns about hidden faults.

Estate agents in particular do little to assuage the fears of homebuyers as 62 per cent of respondents said they did not trust them, placing them only marginally behind politicians (73 per cent) in terms of general unscrupulousness.

And even once homebuyers have taken the plunge it seems almost three in ten find they are unsatisfied with their new dwelling after moving in.

Janet Pell, head of AA Home Insurance, commented: “For most people, buying a home will be the most important purchase they make in their lifetime, so it’s really important to get it right and make sure you have no regrets once the contract is signed.”

She added: “Once you’ve found your dream home, make sure you shop around for the best deal on your mortgage, surveys and home insurance”.

Tags: list, survey, buying, in.janet pell, Financial economics, percentage