How much does your life insurance cost?

[ElBombero]

Just bought a new house that we are moving into and plan to rent our current house. Want a good policy that will cover both mortgages (which only equate to a out 250k outstanding) and quote of for £135 a month. This seems excessive... Is it? We are paying for critical illness cover too

I'm just arranging some for me.

£80,000 to cover the rest of the mortgage over 16 years (decreasing cover as the debt will be decreasing) with critical illness cover, and a lump sum of £100,000. This will cost £28 a month with Aviva.

I'm arranging it through Hannah and have been very impressed with their service so far.

Yours is obviously going to cost more to cover the mortgage, and Ime, it's the critical illness that pushes it up.

Oh, forgot to say, we decided not to include the mortgage for our hose that we rent out - if we couldn't cover that mortgage it would be sold.

Thanks. Does the 28 include you both? Good idea about the second home. Think I need to speak with an expert ether than deal with it through comparison sites. Ill look up Hannah

No, it's just for me. DH is well insured through his work.

Comparison sites were coming back with massive quotes for me (£70+) so I was really pleased when I spoke to this company.

I pay £9.50 a month to Aviva for £200k insurance which covers the mortgage and gives a bit over for my DC (no DP around).

I don't smoke and am fairly healthy.

£12 a month for me, £17 for my DH. Pays out £200k each. Done through the cavendish site and am insured with legal & general. Cavendish is recommended by money saving expert.

Mine is looking expensive now

£16 a month for £150,000 here. That's is more than the original quote which went up due to family illnesses I had to declare.

They won't touch me with a barge pole .
On the plus side it does mean it's not costing me anything.

I pay £20 a month to Aviva. Not sure what it covers exactly, DH sorted it out.

I find it thoroughly depressing to see it on my bank statement each month, a reminder of my mortality I suppose. And there's always a slight element of "well, that was a waste of £20 this month.".

£78 annually. It covers £250k on death and £100k maximum for critical illness. Your higher figures have made me nervous now, I'm off to dig out the policy and re-read.

That is pretty high. Does it include critical illness?

I don't take out critical illness because that is often a rip off (but agents love to sell that to you because they get hefty premiums) and questionable whether it pays out when you need it. If you can, get critical illness through your employer (if your employer provides) or at least compare the rates. Have you checked whether your employer already offers death in service life insurance as a benefit?

Just ask them to quote for a term policy, either flat or mortgage reducing, and see what figure they come up with.

BTW, if you are a standard case (no complicated medical conditions), I would just go on moneysupermarket and gets quotes off there. They will be cheaper than if you went through a broker or to the insurance company directly.

For example, we got Legal & General to quote to increase dh?s life cover. They gave a figure that was higher than moneysupermarket?s and admitted to dh they could not match their own rates on moneysupermarket.

It also depends on your age. It is going to be cheaper the younger you are.

And it also depends on your close family history - my mum died of cancer at 50 and Dad was diagnosed with heart problems that resulted in surgery before he was 65. Both of those things push up my premium.

OP, I have recently had a quote similar to yours for a similar amount of cover. I have checked around and can't get it lower on a like for like basis.

There are so many factors that the premium depends on: level vs decreasing, the amount you are insuring, your age, smoker status, and family history, that it's difficult to compare it with anyone else's IMO.

Like you I have been quoted for critical illness (or in this case serious illness- which covers more conditions than critical illness) and think I am likely to take it. I am trying to work out whether I should then ditch my income protection policy. I have a feeling I will be overinsured but whatever I drop will leave me with gaps that are not covered!

By the way I do have death in service cover with work but worry that if I were to be made redundant I would find myself with no cover. Of course I could then try to buy some in the market but I might not be as young healthy then as I am now.

Pendulum, if you only wait until you get made redundant to buy life cover, what you save in premium whilst in employment can then potentially cover any increased premium at the point you take it out.

Of course, there are no guarantees, in that you might acquire a medical condition in the meantime which will make it much more expensive to take out a policy later but hey, it is a gamble. Just wanted to point out you don?t necessarily lose out monetarily by relying on your employer?s policy.

FWIW, I took out life cover largely to cover the mortgage but relied on employers? policy to top up living expenses for my dependants on my death. Therefore, if I lose my job, I only lose one set of cover.

Income protection, like critical illness, is another expensive policy. It has its uses but make sure you read the fine print as to when it pays out. It does not alway pay out when you expect it to.

I'm a SAHM now and have £150k cover in case I go before the kids are 18... (7 years time) cost £7.95 a month. Hubby has a civil service pension with death in service benefits of about the same.

blueshoes, I'm taking the same approach as you to the life cover- enough to cover the mortgage, with the work policy to provide an additional lump sum.

I have an exciting weekend lined up reading the small print of the income protection and serious illness policies..

Mmmm just phoned Aviva £150 a month for joint cover for 1 mortgage with a current balance of 91k. That's critical illness cover... Seems steep. Gonna try Hannah next x

Ps both healthy n don't smoke!