Please help me! Life Insurance / Critical Illness / TMPP

[Cockwomble]

Hi! I currently pay for a total mortgage protection plan (TMPP), and I think I'm being ripped off. It's through my mortgage/bank, its £91 per month. Apparently this covers life insurance, illness and redundancy - but I don't really understand it. All I know is the bank is very keen for me to have it (of course they are )and I'm paying so bloody much for it. I am pretty sure there are a thousand get-out-of-paying-you clauses in it anyway.

Is it worth having this? I can get cheaper quotes for life+illness. Is it even worth having the illness cover, as it's very specific?

I think I would have a few options anyway if I were made redundant and failed to get a job immediately wouldn't I? Such as payment breaks?

It's all so confusing! Please help!

Whether it's worth it depends on how likely you think you are to claim on the policy. IMHO critical illness is a 'nice to have' rather than essential - especially if you're quite young, healthy and/or not from a family that has a history of serious illness. Redundancy cover is not worth it as the compensation typically starts only once you've been out of work for several months - the one time I tried claiming I'd got a new job before the qualifying period had elapsed. Covering the balance of the mortgage in case you die is pretty sensible. Affordability is also important and £91/month sounds very steep to me.

Sounds very very expensive to me, unless you have some serious health problems which make you high risk to an insurer.

Consider carefully whether or not you need / want this cover. If so - shop around!

Thanks

I have no health problems, and I am 28. I don't think I am high risk?

onetwo It's more that I'm not sure I need this level of cover, it seems loads, but then I am terrified about the job stuff, but if it takes month to pay out any redundancy cover there is def no point in it I think.

Thanks people!

*months

Check the details of the redundancy cover. In my case the qualifying period was 3 months. I pay about £10/month life cover and, if I were you, I'd salt the extra £80/month away in an ISA or something. You'd quickly have enough savings to give you a cushion in case you were made redundant.

The redundancy cover usually wouldn't cover you if you opted for voluntary redundancy either. After 12 weeks from redundancy the gov pays your mortgage interest, so you would only be required to pay the capital or switch to interest only.

Check your mortgage details carefully as not all mortgages allow payment holidays.

I would shop around, mine is £46 per month for a £781pm payment (with Paymentsheild)
We paid ours for 15 years before we needed to claim but it has been a life saver, a couple of years ago my DH got made redundant after only 3 months in a new job so no pay out. The insurance kicked in after a month and paid out for the 6 months he was out of work. DH then had a breakdown in November last year and is unable to work, they have been great at paying each month - though it does only last for 12 months. It just takes the pressure off us so DH can get well.
Ours is for Redundancy and sickness only, our life cover is seperate at £6.75 per month (with Royal Sun Alliance)

Go to the bank and say you feel you've been mis-sold this policy. If they immediately offer to refund all your premiums you'll know you've been sold a pup. If not, it MIGHT indicate it has some value.

How many other people are in the financial s**t if you go under? What are you insuring FOR?

I second redundancy cover not being worth it unless they're going to pay out quickly. If you have to wait months you may have a new job by then anyway.

Critical illness cover though may be worth having - although shop around. We were paying £35 pm for 2 of us, in our 40s, life and critical illness cover.

DH was diagnosed with cancer just before Christmas and is ok now with very good prognosis following surgery but the fact that we are now able to pay off our mortgage is one less thing to worry about when you get those sleepless nights and are going through all the "what if?" scenarios in your head.

That's |£1000 a year more or less, a huge amount. I would be very tempted to ditch it and save the £1000 each year....

i find it very interesting how many people have an opinion, when all you have sai d is your age and overall monthly premium for 3 different types of cover. You haven't mentioned how long the term is, nor how much the sums assured are, nor whether you smoke. So it is impossible for anyone to say if the cover you have is expensive or not. You also haven't given any personal information other than you have a mortgage to protect against, for anyone to be able to know if you need the cover or not, so there is no way of knowing if you have been mis-sold.

Pat - please stop being a blood sucking leech and spamming sensitive boards.

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