Advice on insurance please?

Question

My friend and I are aged 48 and 55 and remortgaging our house. I have heard bad reports on endowments. What kind of insurance should we take out and could it include life insurance? We will be paying interest only for two years to get back on our feet having consolidated other debts. We hope to upgrade house in next couple of years, and I know in Scotland (Highlands) prices are going up, so although our house will be worth a lot when one of us retires, how do we make sure that a) in the event of death, the mortgage will get cleared and provide a capital sum? Sorry for sounding vague, but I know nothing except we have to be insured.
Oh and thanks!

Answer 1

You have about 6 separate (and distinct) problems that need to be resolved. Each of which has a number of options.

These are:
1.the refinance of a mortgage.
2. existing debt to be refinanced/consolidated
3. Life insurance unrelated to the mortgage
4. Life insurance as a requirement for a mortgage (presumed)
5. Retiring planning.
6. survivorship planning/estate planning.

Although you certainly CAN choose to have your problem answered here, based on the answers I have read so far - you will be much better off taking your problem to a professional.

I wanted to answer your question for you, but to be honest and direct, it would take several hours just to get enough information from you to address the rather complex situation you have presented.

I personally don't have any working knowledge of the local laws in effect for Scotland, which is another consideration.

To repeat, your situation is complex enoiugh to warrant the expense of hiring a financial planner to address each issue.

This may be rather obvious, but unless you have a working budget, refinancing won't improve your situation as much as you might hope. (statistically) So you should also do your best to make such a budget prior to the first meeting with your financial planner.

I also question the decision to remortgage without having a working budget - and since I have no way of knowing if you have one or not, I am just assuming you don't. If you do, then that is a different set of cicumstances.

Normally I don't advise people to contact me, but if there remains doubt in your mind about hiring a professional near you, then please contact me so that I might again attempt to impress upon you the absolute need for professional help in your case.

P.S. Do not purchase the insurance from the same company or person who performs the planning for you - you want an objective opinion.

Answer 2

the fact you are taking on a mortgage interest only lender will almost certainly insist on you having some insurance.

Endowments are currently bad news, you need either a whole life policy which will pay out a fixed amount in the event of a death, this can be joint or you could take out single policies. As the value of the house rises, and the debt falls due to repayments there will be a positive effect on the policy giving you some capital.

The alternative is a policy designed simply to pay the mortgage off in the event of death. This is slightly cheaper as the value of the policy falls inline with the outstanding debt and there is no residual capital value.

It is worth shopping around for these policies

Answer 3

You can get mortgage protection with a savings element. That allows the insurance to be paid off and will yield a capital sum depending on the length of time you've been paying and how the markets perform. The savings element can be cashed at any time, but only after the first two years.

Life assurance can be costly, but there are good twenty year packages out there for the under 65's. They are quite cheap, but after the 20 years, the premiums shoot up to make them pretty unsustainable.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Sounds like you need a joint and last survivor contract, go see an agent rather than a banker. Try Northwestern Mutual, Prudential, etc. but you might find (2) 6 digit term contracts through a company like Zurich Direct, of say, $250,000, cheaper and more efficient, you insure each other with 2 policies, amount owed on the home has no bearing on the insurance, except the insurance more than covers it.

Answer 5

You dont want endowment, thats a form of mortgage
You need
1, Life Insurance tied to your house so if one of you does pass on the house gets paid
2, Buildings Insurance
If your working you should already have Insurance that covers you against losing your job, Sickness, & Death, make sure this one is up to date & current

Answer 6

Be very careful on who you go to. The best advice I can give you would be to go to a few independent financial advisors and get various quotes but before you decide find out EXACTLY what the cover is. Many years ago my wife and I took out a critical illness insurance policy with THE ABBEY NATIONAL. This was meant to pay off my mortgage in the event that either my wife or I became critically ill. About three years ago I was unfortunately diagnosed with several critical illnesses which were Emphysema (a lung disease), Degenerative disc disease (Arthritis in spine) and a heart problem. The ABBEY said I was not covered and tried to get out of their obligation to pay my mortgage off. I took them to court and after about two years they offered to pay half. I refused their derisory offer and it is still in the hands of solicitors. Take care on who you finally pay your money to and MAKE SURE OF WHAT YOU ARE GETTING IN RETURN!!!!!

Answer 7

If you want to get house insurance depending on what your house is actually worth that is how your quote will be based on. Now homeowners insurance does not cover life insurance but it does cover is someone gets hurt in your property. It covers them for up to 100,000 depending of what level of insurance you do have. i also know for a fact that if you get auto insurance in some states you can get another policy that can cover you for life insurance and can cover your homeowners insurance also, this makes your rate alot cheaper if you put them both together.

Answer 8

the subject is in the beginning his age, secondly the actuality that he's a he. i'm a 2d driving force on my boyfriends’ motor vehicle, (provisional, 23 and female) and it in basic terms expenses one extra £40 a 12 months. i understand this is discrimination however the coverage employer see a youthful lad as risky that’s basically how that's. in case you place you down through fact the main significant driving force and him as a 2d driving force, this is going to likely be plenty extra much less costly. (some businesses will additionally enable him obtain no claims.)

Answer 9

GET IN TOUCH WITH THE [C.I.S INSURANCE GROUP]TELL THEM YOUR NEEDS AND HOW MUCH YOU CAN AFFORD ,BUT ALWAYS HAGGLE WITH THEM ,THEY CAN POSSIBLY BEAT ANY QUOTE YOU HAVE HAD,THEY DID FOR ME WITH NO COMPLAINTS,ALL THE BEST