Pinkfinance.co.uk

First Published November 2011
Loaded Insurance
By Chris Morgan
When should you pay more for your insurance? Yes, you read that first line correctly, that in some circumstances it is better to pay more for your insurance. I’ve witnessed on many occasions people taking low cost, diluted insurance policies with insurers that try and avoid paying out on a claim. Our job as Independent Insurance advisers is make sure that people find the best quality cover for a reasonable premium. Carl has recently been looking for some Life Assurance, but in the past has had a few health problems and is unsure if he is even insurable. He’s been looking for Life Assurance to cover his mortgage for a sum assured of £333,835 over the next 30 years, but would like to keep the premiums within his monthly budget. Carl Said …
‘I was concerned about asking my local bank for insurance cover, because they ask questions about all of my past health problems’. I would prefer to avoid speaking with them about my medical conditions, but still would like all of my existing medical conditions to be covered on my policy. Carl Continued …
‘I’ve been taking ventolin inhaler’s to control my asthma and in the past I was prescribed some medication for a few incidents of depression. I became depressed due to a relationship breaking up and don’t really want to share intimate details of this with my bank manager’. Here’s some advice if you have existing medical conditions and are looking for Life Assurance.
If you are concerned about sharing personal medical information with your bank, then you could always approach a specialist insurance adviser that can look after these issues separately. This would avoid any difficult situations, especially if you are also asking them for mortgage or business borrowing. Always remember that it is better to try and find insurance that includes cover for your existing medical conditions, even if it means paying a little extra for the insurance. This is true for Life Assurance, Income Protection and Critical illness Cover policies. For medical conditions such as Asthma, Depression, High Cholestral, Diabetes and High Blood Pressure insurance companies are likely to ask for a slightly higher premium. Loadings range from plus 50%, through to plus 400% dependent on the severity of a condition. And Carl?
Carl had been taking steroid based Asthma medications and had also taken a course of Prozac in the past, therefore the insurer asked for the minimum +50% increase on his premium. This meant that the base premium of £16.24 was increased to £24.36 per month, which was within his budget. All of his existing medical conditions were included on the policy. Chris Morgan is a freelance journalist and qualified Independent Financial Adviser. He is the Marketing Manager
of Compass, The Gay Mortgage and Insurance Advisers and can be contacted by phone 0845 474 3075 By Email
[email protected] or by web www.compassindependent.co.uk
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Source: http://www.pinkfinance.co.uk/assets/Loaded_Insurance.pdf