recommendations for mortgage ppi policies

[fragglerocker]

I am trying to save us some money on our outgoings, all part of a new year new start and all that, have managed to get most of our things cheaper and the mortgage insurance is the last to sort. Our mortgage is £500 a month. We currently pay £40 a month for 50% cover. Have had a look on some comparison websites and found a 100% cover policy with everything else we have now for about £18 a month. The insurers are British Insurance (or Insurers, can't remember now) but I've never heard of them so am a bit wary of taking out a policy with them. Any ideas? Who are you with?

No advice but will be watching this thread as we are just about to take out a new mortgage and British Insurers were the cheapest for us too for 100% cover...

Check the T&C - looked on their website, only covers 12 months and there may be an excess period

I've avoided mortgage protection insurance ever since trying to make a claim a few years ago and discovering I had to be unemployed for several months before they would pay anything out. Cancelled the policy and built up the savings instead :)

Thanks everyone. youngermother the one i looked at would only pay out for 12 months and i changed some of the things, put claims back to day 1 and I think unemployment was 60 days. We have claimed on the policy we have now, it was about 3 years ago, OH was off sick for 4 months. Will that make any difference? We were told when we first got our mortgage that we had to have ppi, you can't have a mortgage without it altough some people i speak to say 'oh we don't bother with it'. My mum has just got a new house and mortgage and she hasn't taken any ppi out.

At the moment, banks and other institutions are frantically compensating people for all kinds of PPI policies sold on the basis of 'if you want the loan/mortgage/HP/etc you have to take out the PPI'. Forcing customers to take out insurance in order to buy a financial product has been deemed as misselling and, if that was the basis on which you were sold the PPI, then you may have a claim against the mortgage company. Most lenders recommend taking out Mortgage Protection Insurance to pay off some or all of the balance in the event of death.

PPI really is optional and depends on your attitude to risk. Some prefer to build up their savings to cover 3 - 6 months payments and trust to luck that they will find a job again within that time. Others would rather have the security of the insurance. If you husband has had a serious illness and if the PPI policy covers leaving a job due to ill health (and you'd have to check that), then the premiums would be higher than someone with better health

cogito OH wasn't off work with an illness, he had to have an operation on his stomach for excess acid and because of his job he couldn't lift things until he was healed. This won't be classed as an illness will it? We took out our mortgage about 8 years ago and not really having a clue about much of it, we believed them when they said we 'needed' the ppi. We thought it was a lot to pay every month for 'just in case' but went along with it. And we did need it eventually when OH was off sick. I think we would still like a policy as you never know what might happen. The one I found on the meerkats comparison site seems like good option but have never heard of the company.

Have you checked if you can make a claim for misselling? www.moneysavingexpert.com has an excellent section link here that guides you through working out whether you have a claim and, if so, how to make that claim. Here's an extract.

It's a common complaint that consumers are told they must buy a policy from the same provider as the loan in order to be accepted for the product. This is mis-selling.

It sounds like the above applies to you. Covers loans taken out in the last 6 years so if the mortgage was 8 years ago you'd have to exclude the first 2 years, I expect. A few friends have followed the guide and the banks etc., don't appear to be quibbling at all. Worst that could happen is you don't get anything back. Best that could happen is that you end up considerably better off.

If you were looking at insurance with a life element your DH may or may not be asked to declare the illness. It really depends on the insurer.

I would think any PPI cover would require you to inform them of OH illness - they will probably reject a claim, even if unrelated as you failed to correctly apply. many on-line applications have certain things in the small print which are not necessarily obvious but are important.

cogito thanks for the link, I will have a read through it. I've never thought about making a claim. How do you prove you were mis sold?
youngermother OH has been fine since the operation and when I was going through the quote process online it asked about any illnesses during the last 12 months. I put 'no' as there hasn't been anything. I have requested full terms and conditions from the insurer through the post so I can have a proper look. I might even take them in to our current insurer so they can compare, they might do a cheaper policy for us
Thanks for your advice

Download the templates and fill in the ones that refer to you having been told you had to take out the PPI in order to be accepted for the mortgage. Follow the rest of the MoneySavingExpert site advice on what else to include with your claim and then wait. That's precisely what my friend did.... he's a self-employed driver, bought a vehicle on HP, was told he had to have PPI (which would never have paid out for someone self-employed) and, a few months later, he's just received several thousand pounds.