Life insurance pays a lump sum or a monthly income should the policyholder die during the term of the plan. It is usually used to repay a mortgage or to provide for a family in the event of the life insured’s premature death.

Trusts & Setting Up The Policy Correctly

The most important factor with life insurance is to ensure the pay-out goes to the right person or people at the right time with the minimum of hassle. This can only be done by ensuring that the policy is set up correctly. Some of the options include joint policies, polices arranged on a “life of another” basis or by putting the plan in trust.

Underwriting

Your health, occupation, and hobbies can all have an effect on the premiums that you pay for your life insurance. We have relationships with most of the major insurers so that we can make preliminary inquiries to see which insurers are likely to offer the lowest rates should you have any problems obtaining cover at standard rates.

Critical illness insurance is designed to pay a lump sum upon diagnosis of a specified critical illness. Conditions covered will normally include cancer, heart attack, multiple sclerosis, stroke, and total permanent disability. Most insurers will cover around 40 different illnesses or conditions.

It can be used to repay a mortgage or to provide a lump sum to pay for treatment or simply provide financial relief at a time when it is most needed.

Different companies cover different illnesses & more importantly have different definitions of the illnesses or disabilities:

A “loss of limb” definition with one company, for example, may simply require the loss of use of one limb whereby another company’s definition may require physical severance of two or more limbs – the former is obviously more beneficial as it offers a much higher likelihood of a claim.
Heart attack definitions are another area that can differ – some have a requirement for “typical symptoms such as chest pain” – this means that a “silent heart attack” could be excluded from payment yet leaves the policyholder severely impeded from carrying on their lives as before. These are just two examples of how critical illness policies can differ from the differences often hidden in the lengthy terms and conditions provided by the insurers.
With critical illness, the cheapest does not always mean best. There is little point in paying slightly lower premiums if the chances of a successful claim are diminished.
We can help you make the right choices with critical illness cover by identifying the best quality policies relevant to your circumstances at the best prices.

Buildings and Contents Insurance cover is available for both residential and buy to let properties (Landlords Insurance).  We have access to several large insurance providers to ensure that we can provide a competitive quote.

If you have a mortgage on your property, most lenders will insist that you have adequate buildings insurance and this should be purchased in time for exchange of contracts, which is when you become financially liable for the property.

Residential  Properties

Buildings insurance covers the structure of a property, such as a roof, walls, and windows, as well as permanent fixtures such as kitchen and bathroom suites. Policies vary, but they should all insure your home in case of fire, storm, flood, subsidence, burst pipes, theft, and falling trees. It is important to cover the rebuild cost of your home, such as in the event of the house burning to the ground, and this cost will be different from the market value of the property.

It is also important to insure the contents of your home as the cost of replacing items in the home in the event of fire, theft or flooding can run into thousands of pounds.  You may also wish to add specific valuables to the policy, such as jewellery, laptops and higher value bikes, as well as accidental damage and personal possessions away from the home.

Landlords’ Insurance

If you rent a place to tenants, standard house insurance is not adequate. You will need landlord’s insurance.

It should include building insurance, in case a tenant damages or destroys the structure of your property. It should also cover the cost of rehousing them should the home be inhabitable due say, to a fire or flood. In addition, there should be contents cover for any furniture left in the property that belongs to you. Finally, it should protect you with liability cover in the event that a tenant or their visitor is injured at your property and claims against you.