Anyone who is responsible wants to make sure that their family are well looked after and buying a home is the first step to creating a good environment for you and your family to live in. Getting a mortgage can be a difficult and stressful period, yet once you have moved into your new home it can be too easy to forget how hard you have worked to get it. Then it can be easy to overlook the fact that your home could be taken away from you if you do not meet the repayments. Even the most well organised people can have things happen to them which they do not expect and this is where things can start to go wrong.
If you are the sole wage earner, or even if you share the monthly bills could your family cope without your wage for a protracted period of time, or forever? When things are going well for a family mortgage protection is often something that is put to one side, to “sort out another day” and unfortunately that day might not come until it is too late. Without mortgage protection, which is a form of insurance that will pay your mortgage in the vent of you not being able to through death, illness or redundancy you and your family could run the risk of being homeless. Mortgage lenders expect their repayments to be met and occasionally will allow a missed payment, but not several, and if this happens repossession proceedings can and will begin.
For anyone who doesn’t know about mortgage protection what follows is a run down of what is on offer and what you can expect if you take it out:
• Fully protected mortgage – this is the most comprehensive type of plan and will cover the mortgage holders for things like: their death, redundancy, critical illness, long term sickness and there will also be buildings insurance. Opting for this type of mortgage protection provides the most cover and is often what many people choose to take out as they like knowing that they are protected for many different events. It is more expensive than some of the other protection plans but without it you could lose your home if your repayments stop.
• Mortgage decreasing term assurance - this will pay out if the policy holder dies or contracts a critical illness during the term, however like a mortgage the amount of the payment will decrease as time goes on.
• Level term insurance – this plan will pay out a lump sum if the policy holder dies during the term. If the term passes without the death of the policy holder however the policy ends.
• Family income benefit – this pays a fixed monthly amount to the family of the deceased. It can help having a set amount coming into the house every month but as soon as the term of the policy is over the payments will end too.
• Mortgage payment protection insurance – this type of mortgage protection will pay out if the mortgage holder goes on long term sick. However there are terms and conditions attached to this and anyone considering it should go through these before they opt in to the plan.
There are different mortgage protection plans available but these are the most popular. Anyone looking into protecting their mortgage should speak to Go Direct who have trained advisors waiting to answer your questions. Remember mortgage protection might seem like an unnecessary expense but if you suddenly die or are unable to work how will your mortgage get paid? Without it you could loose your home if your life turns upside down.
