Why do you need Life Assurance and Critial Insurance?
The loss of a spouse or parent can leave dependants with additional issues to cope with other than the emotional. If you are inadequately insured, your dependants may be left with a dramatically reduced household income, which could affect their quality of life. Potentially there may be reduced opportunities for children such as the ability to pay for a university education or difficulties in maintaining mortgage payments on a reduced income.
In the event of your death, a lending institution will not write off your debt. Rather, they will continue to pursue the debt through your dependants and could, ultimately, foreclose on the loan meaning the loss of the family home.
What will the State provide?
The main benefits the State may provide are the Widowed Parent's Allowance and Child Benefit. Depending on whether the widow(er) qualifies for Income Support, the State may or may not help with paying the mortgage interest.
The method for calculating which benefits an individual may qualify for is extremely complicated. More information is available at the Department of Work and Pensions website www.dss.gov.uk.
Why is home insurance needed?
As our homes are the most important asset that we are ever going to own, it is imperative that adequate home insurance is taken out for your property. You will never know when you will need to claim under your home insurance so it is best to make sure you are covered properly.
Statistics show that 1 in 4 people in the UK will get burgled during their lives but people still choose to ignore this and don't get any protection whatsoever. Other unforeseen circumstances such as floods and fire may also wreak havoc among your possessions and by not getting covered properly you are taking a big risk in losing out financially.
There are two types of home insurance; Buildings insurance and contents insurance. Buildings insurance is a mandatory condition when taking out a mortgage and lenders will insist that this insurance is in place. This will protect the house being damaged from events which cannot be repaired.
Contents insurance is not usually a mandatory requirement when taking out a mortgage, but it is in our own interest to secure your personal belongings as you have worked hard for them and if anything was to happen then you will be kicking yourself.
Remember, there are many home insurance providers out there and looking for the best cover for your house is important because after all it's your possessions and looking after them should be paramount.
