Body part insurance ‘relatively uncommon’

It is “relatively uncommon” for an everyday consumer to insure a body part that their livelihood may depend on, one insurance expert has claimed.

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) said it is a very limited market and that those who want this sort of product would have to go to a specialist insurer.

Peter Staddon, head of technical services for the BIBA, said that insurance in this field usually covers a person for any scarring and disfigurement that may prevent an individual from working, such as a hand disfigurement preventing a carpenter or sculptor from earning a living.

He said: “If you get somebody who’s got an annual income, of, say, a quarter of a million pounds, you can justify them insuring themselves for one or two million.

“If you’ve got somebody who’s annual income is £10,000, it’s difficult to justify a £2 million life policy.”

Meanwhile, the Telegraph reported that many celebrities have various parts of their body insured as that is their livelihood.

Pop star Bruce Springsteen recently took out cover for his voice worth $3 million (£1.5 million).

Tags: who's annual income, head, sculptor, bruce springsteen, expert, various parts, british insurance, living

Average family pays £42 per day in bills

The average family in the UK is spending up to £42 per day on bills, a figure which is expected to rise further according to new figures.

Findings from Data show that the cost of primary bills has risen to £3,426 a year for the typical UK household, which is expected to increase more when the council tax and water bill increases arrive.

Added to the average mortgage costs, which equate to £12,000 per year, the average household bill works out at over £15,000 per year – or £42 per day.

Moira Haynes, a spokeswoman for Citizens Advice, said: “Our debt inquiry figures suggest that growing numbers of people are not only finding themselves over-committed on credit cards, loans and overdrafts, but are also struggling to meet day-to-day living expenses.”

Despite being the lowest increases for 14 years, a survey from the Times showed that the average council tax rise will be 3.9 per cent, which equates to an additional £52 per month on a band d property.

Tags: day-to-day living, Labour Party, show, month, bill increases, Economic history, cost, living

Britons underestimate debt levels

People might owe twice as much as they think they do, eyecatching new research from Mintel claims.

Using Bank of England figures, it found that Britons owe a total of £100 billion more than they are aware of, with each person on an average of £10,300.

However, their average estimate of debt was around half this figure at £5,251. The situation was likened by the market researcher to customers “burying their heads in the sand”.

Furthermore, a total of just one in five polled said that they worried about their debt level.

Finance analyst at Mintel Toby Clark said that Britons are “wildly under-estimating the amount of money they owe on credit cards and loans.

“Without a detailed understanding of exactly how much they owe and what rates they are paying, it is easy to see how the situation could spiral out of control”, he added.

Less surprisingly, Mintel also found that debt problems were far more acute in lower-income households, with unsecured loans being taken out to meet the costs of everyday living:

As an example of this, the report stated that around 11 per cent of those on low incomes used loans to pay for basic phone bills, compared to just 4 per cent of higher earners.

Tags: living, phone, total, income households, unsecured loans, sand, everyday living