According to FSA (the Financial Services Authority), 52% of people find it too complicated to compare financial products and another 46% are unsure whether they are getting a good deal on a financial product or not.

In an effort to help consumers choose between financial products Her Majesty’s Treasury has created a new steering group focused on promotion and development of “simple” financial products such as simple savings and protection insurance products to be brought to the market.

The steering group will bring together government representatives and specialists from trade, industry and consumer organizations. Together they will consider how “simple” products should be developed and forwarded to the market, starting with simple savings and protection products as well as simple investment products.

Former chief risk officer at Lloyds Banking Group, Carol Sergeant, has been appointed to chair the group which will submit its final report to Mark Hoban, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, in July 2012.

Ms Sergeant commented on the formation of the steering group: “Simple, easy to understand products need to be a viable commercial proposition for the industry, while offering consumers a straightforward benchmark that gives them the confidence to make good decisions in an often bewilderingly complicated market place.”

She pointed out that the success of this project “will require the involvement of consumer groups, financial regulators and the Money Advice Service, as well as the savings, investment and protection industries.”

Financial Secretary to HM Treasury Mark Hoban said: “Simple financial products have the potential to help many consumers make decisions that will help them save for the first time and plan for a secure financial future for them and their families. I am delighted that Carol Sergeant has agreed to chair a steering group to develop the thinking on simple products further and to work with industry and consumer groups to bring them to fruition.”

Thousands of holidaymakers are running the risk of spending thousands of pounds on medical bills as they travel abroad without insurance.

According to the 2011 ABTA travel trends report, 21% of British holidaymakers travel abroad uninsured, mistakenly believing the government will cover their medical bills in case of an accident. This figure rises above 25% for young adults under 25 years of age.

Moreover, 17% of Brits travelling abroad rely solely on EHIC, the European Health Insurance Card to cover their medical bills and believe that an EHIC will cover their journey back to England should they become ill. However ABTA warns that the EHIC only provides access to basic medical care and does not cover repatriation costs.

Lynda St Cooke of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office commented on the findings: “If British travellers get into difficulties overseas, there are things the nearest British Embassy or Consulate can do, including contacting friends and family for them and giving them information on how to safely transfer money from the UK. But consular staff cannot pay hospital bills for British travellers, nor fly them home if they run out of holiday money.”

John de Vial, ABTA Head of Financial Protection said: “It is very worrying that so many people are putting their health and finances at risk by travelling abroad without insurance. Many wrongly assume that it is the Foreign Office’s responsibility to pay for their hospital bills, particularly younger travellers. In the current economic climate customers should be careful to purchase insurance at the time of booking their holiday to obtain cancellation cover for redundancy as well as any potential illness prior to travelling. ”

These high numbers of uninsured travellers can be partially attributed to FSA (Financial Services Authority) regulations on insurance sold by travel agencies. Since 2007, these regulations boggle travel agents down with extra costs and red tape dissuading them from selling travel insurance. Therefore travel insurance sold through travel agencies now account for less than 17% of the total sales since agencies chose not to sell travel insurance because of the regulations.

Greg Lawson, spokesperson for the travel insurance company Columbus Direct said: “No one wants an unexpected bill and certainly not on holiday. We would join with Association of British Travel Agents and the Foreign Office to recommend that, as well as an EHIC for travel in Europe, travellers take out insurance whenever they travel overseas or in the UK.”

Last month a judgement slipped through the Newcastle County Court which could have major repercussions for the insurance industry.

The case related to a person who had been sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) by MBNA. The case was won on a technicality that will send shivers around the boardrooms of the companies that sold PPI.

The judge said that MBNA had created an “unfair relationship” by encouraging the client to take out PPI but failing to disclose the large commission that MBNA would earn as a result from the insurance company. Apparently, such an “unfair relationship” breaks new laws which were introduced in 2007.

As the judgement was delivered in a County Court, the case does not form a binding precedent but companies specialising in miss-selling compensation claims are rubbing their hands with glee. One claims company said, “This has massive ramifications. The unfair relationship issue is widely applicable as it underpins almost every sale of PPI”.

We think it probably applies to all other forms of insurance. Unless the seller informs the client of the commission they will earn, the case would seem to have been miss-sold.

The bloodbath in the loans market has meant that many of the small and medium sized loans companies that once sold loans have gone bust or dissolved, particularly those that sold to people with impaired credit.

The result is that many clients who make a claim because they believe they were mis-sold payment protection insurance cannot reclaim against the business that sold the loan to them, because it no longer exists. Instead they are appealing for refunds from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Take Picture – they were a specialist lender whose PPI premiums for a five year loan often amounted to 50% of the initial loan value. The problem is that Picture went into liquidation last year so any customer that makes a claim is re-directed to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. And under that process, compensation can easily take 12 months to come through.

There are suspicions that some of the lenders have dissolved themselves to avoid the mis-selling liabilities that stood on their books. In our view, if that can be proved, then lawyers should find ways to hold the Directors personally responsible for the company’s mis-deeds.

According to the Centre for Economic and Business Research unemployment is set to rise from it current level of 2.4 million to 3.8 million, an increase of 58%. That’s far worse than anything the UK has experienced since the Second World War.

Stories like these are leading to a boom in the sales of Unemployment Insurance that pays out tax free cash if you were to be made redundant. Many people are buying the insurance, which can also cover against accidents and sickness, to ensure that they can continue to pay the mortgage or the rent, if the were made redundant. But in actual fact, the cash these policies pay out can be used for any purpose the policyholder wants.

As a guide, premiums are about £3.50 per £100 of monthly income to be paid for a 18 to 30 year old. This rises to about £5 for a 46 to 65 year old.

If you’ve not got Unemployment Insurance don’t leave it too late. If you have any idea that you are about to be made redundant you won’t qualify for a new policy.

The Financial Services Authority has announced plans to increase fines for mis-selling financial services by up to 300%.

The FSA says it is responding to evidence that businesses fined for mis-selling are failing to sufficiently improve their standards and operations. This seems to particularly apply to the Payment Protection Insurance scandal where improvements and the resolution of claims seem to be grinding ever so slowly.

Under the new proposals penalties will be based on up to 20% of the company’s revenue from the product category concerned involved in the mis-selling or, in the case of an individual, up to 40% of their annual salary and bonuses.

The record fine for mis-selling Payment Protection Insurance was £7 million which was levied last year on Alliance & Leicester. Alliance & Leicester subsequently got tangled up in the credit crunch and it now owned by Santander, the huge Spanish based banking group.

As far back as 2002 the financial regulator was warned about the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) racket being operated by financial services companies and the banks in particular. But it has taken an investigation by the Competition Commission into the £4 billion per year market to come up with new rules about how the insurance should be sold.

From May this year, the sale of single premium insurance policies on unsecured loans will be halted. And from October 2010 no lender will be able to sell this type of insurance at the same time as selling a loan or credit card. For years these policies have been sold and the cost of the insurance added to the initial loan taken out. This has meant that the borrower has paid interest not only on the loan itself but also the entire cost of the insurance.

But the biggest problem has been that these policies have numerous “exclusions” which invalidate claims in specified circumstances. The problem is that hitherto many policies have been sold to people who would never be able to claim by virtue of the type of their employment. This means they may have spent thousands on worthless insurance. No wonder the Financial Ombudsman is being kept busy.

The new rules say that PPI can be sold but lenders will have to wait 7 days before approaching the borrower to take out PPI although if the customer requests for cover, it can then be sold 24 hours after the loan has been put in place.

The purpose of these delays is to avoid the borrower from being pressurised at point of loan sale to take the insurance and thereby allow the borrower time to search the market for a competitive quote. The changes will also make the variety of PPI which operates on a renewable monthly premium far more popular. And this, in our view, is as it should be.

You will therefore not be surprised to learn that Brokers Online only promotes renewable monthly premium Payment Protection Insurance with a policy which is organised by British Insurance, one of the market leaders.

Recently Norwich Union has written to all its clients on its Hospital Cash Insurance Plan telling them that they are lowering the upper age limit from 71 to 65. This has lead to a storm of protest. But consider the facts.

The Hospital Cash Insurance Plan provides cover of up to £50 per day if the policyholder is hospitalised due to an accident and £25 if hospitalisation is due to illness. In this plan all policyholders are charged the same premium irrespective of their age. The problem has been that someone in the 65 to 71 age group is six and a half times more likely to be hospitalised than someone who is 35. That inevitably means that as everyone in the scheme pays the same premium, the younger members must be subsidising the older ones.

Norwich Union says that if they had not made the decision to reduce the upper age limit, then premiums across the whole scheme would have increased. As it is, with this change, premiums remain at their current level.

Some commentators have claimed that this is age discrimination. But is it? Surely it is a commercial decision which benefits the majority of people in the scheme who are under 65. Without the age change, they would be faced with paying more.

This highlights the issues involved in the Governments Equalities Bill which is currently being pushed through. As its name implies, this Bill is trying to outlaw discrimination but the insurance industry is trying to resist the Bill. It would seem that one of the results of the Bill would be that under the proposed law, insurers would be banned from using age as a basis for pricing insurance. As the Association of British Insurers point out, age is a relevant risk factor that insurance underwriters should be able to take into account when pricing a policy.

If this Bill goes ahead, I wonder how it will affect the pricing of life insurance policies? If anyone out there knows, please let me know.

If you’re anything like me, probably not. In fact I may at one time have known what an EHIC card was, but the details have long been forgotten.
They’re the cards given to us by the UK government which entitle us to free medical care within Europe. It seems that over half or us were totally unaware that they had expiry dates – or at least we’d forgotten the fact.

The result of this is that many of us travelling abroad are at risk of healthcare costs should we become ill or have an accident.

It’s important to realise that the EHIC is not meant to be an alternative to travel insurance. It will not cover any private medical healthcare or the cost of repatriation to the UK. What it will provide is access to the same state-provided healthcare as a resident of the country you are visiting
For these reasons and others, it is important to have both an EHIC and a valid private travel insurance policy. Some insurers now insist you hold an EHIC and many will waive the excess if you have one.

Applying for an EHIC card is simple and free and it’s valid for up to five years. You can apply on-line to the NHS or collect an application pack at the post office. For phone enquiries call 0845 606 2030.

The government is keen that everyone should have an up to date EHIC. Check yours now.

Vauxhall have proudly and hopefully introduced a new car at the Geneva car show. They claim that the Ampera, which runs off electricity, could go a long way to fulfilling Gordon Brown’s ambition of making the UK the ‘electric car capital of Europe’.

The car is charged from the mains and stored in a 16 kilowatt lithium-ion battery. An overnight charge from the mains, which will cost just one pound, is sufficient to take you 40 miles using just the battery power.

For longer trips you can achieve a further 260 miles by using the petrol-driven generator which is under the bonnet. Whilst driving on electricity from the battery, there is zero carbon dioxide emission. It is predicted that the Ampera will cost around a fifth the current cost per mile of a comparable petrol-engined car.

Vauxhall has plans to put the car into production at plant in Ellesmere Port, which employs 5,000 staff. They would switch from a short working week to 3 full shifts, 5 days a week.

Vauxhall’s owners, GM, are asking ministers to back a network of plug-in charging points to help the push for electric cars.
Business Secretary Peter Mandelson gave a positive response on a visit to the show, saying he though Ellesmere Port is a brilliant plant, as does GM, and offered assurance that the Government would stand behind it.

Some facts and figures show that the 40 miles of zero carbon driving, at all speeds, is around 10 miles more than 80 per cent of drivers travel in a day.

A full charge from a domestic socket will take 3 hours. Performance is 0-60 in 9 seconds with a top speed of 100mph
This is the vehicle being billed as one which could rescue the British car industry from the brink of disaster. At a cost of 20,000 pounds it’s hoped that it’ll be a leader for electric cars and a saviour for thousands of jobs.

The Ampera is scheduled to go into production this September and should be in the showrooms in 2012.

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I spent most of last Sunday at a horse jumping competition, as is often the case since my niece took up horse-riding. For “niece” read “the whole family” as everyone tends to get roped in. The first event started at something like 8.30 and luckily she wasn’t in the first couple of them, so we arrived at around 10am and even had time for bacon butties in the horsebox whilst she warmed up her pony.

The show was aimed at youngsters and far from being the children of the wealthy, which many people expect, they’re offspring of hard working parents, keen to see their children do well in their chosen hobby. They’re well turned out (ponies and riders, that is) and arrive in an assortment of horse boxes and trailers – some of them quite smart, some looking decidedly on their last legs but they must have an MOT and the associated costs – or whatever the equivalent is in horse boxes.

Talking amongst the parents, many of them are finding it a real struggle at present to keep up with stabling and feeding costs and the sheer expense of everything horse-related but they’re a friendly bunch and it’s good to see children who are keen to do well and who behave like kids should. Friendly competition (usually), a few tears, lots of encouragement. They learn to mix with and support other riders and care for their animals.

Lots of the Mums are doing two or more jobs to support the hobby and there’s quite a lot of make-do-and-mend with all the gear. With the effect of the credit crunch, it’s very likely there won’t be so many of them at the next event – there are a record number of ponies and gear up for sale. We’d not been to this particular venue for a few months and the tack shop has closed already. The café has been scaled down – but many families take food with them and eat in the horse boxes anyway.

My thoughts turned to the insurance issue, as it tends to. The horses and riders are insured – they have to be, to enter the events. All the boxes are insured and obviously the venue is – that’s a lot of money laid out for just one Sunday event out of hundreds going on throughout the UK. No wonder lots of these shows have been sponsored in the past by insurance companies.

The credit crunch is producing losses for everyone. For these lucky kids, for family life and for the insurance industry.

But how did she do? Two events, two refusals and one jump down. Still, you can’t win ‘em all. Jess had a good day.

Below is an article posted on Thisismoney today. To summarise Gordon is putting together a scheme which will allow struggling homeowners to effectively stop paying their mortgages for a period of upto two years. There will be a ceiling of £400,000 on the defferable mortgages and so far eight of the major lenders have agreed to the scheme.

OK lets pull this apart then and ask ourselves what Gordon will achieve with this.

1) Repossesions will fall.

2) Gratitude for the Labour party will increase.

3) A greater percentage of uk mortgages will be Interest Only.

Righty ho then I’m sure there are plenty more outcomes but lets leave it there and have a look at what worries me about all this ( although the scheme recieves grudging aproval from me for the most part ).

1) How can the lenders affoard to do this when they have just borrowed billions from the government. - This is a major concern for me if the mortgage borrowers do not make payments on their mortgage for a couple of years this could put even more pressure on the embattled banks.

This is particularly worrying if the bank has severely underestimated how many people are likely to need this help.

2) Being a Tory Boy I think thats ’nuff said!

3) To be honest giving the borrower a 2 year holiday is a great idea - However by converting them to a interest only mortgage at the same time all we are doing is storing a bigger problem up for later down the line. An interest Only mortgage expects the borrow to only pay the interest on the loan not the capital borrowed. The effect of this is that at the end of the mortgage the full capital sum becomes payable this relies upon the borrower putting some form of savings vehicle in place during that period to make repayment at the end of the term. However please remember that the people entering the scheme will be those who are struggling most asking them to effectively save money up for an event many years in the future, is in my opinion, playing with fire.

Lets hope this turns out to be a possitive move - In this case i think it actually might!

Here’s that article

Struggling borrowers will get mortgage paid

Gordon Brown has thrown the housing market a lifeline by offering homeowners facing repossession a mortgage interest holiday. Families with a loan up to £400,000 can defer payments for up to two years if they suffer a sudden loss of income.

Mr Brown said his offer was aimed at 10m middle income families who live in fear of losing their jobs and their homes.
It covers more than 90% of home loans and the Treasury is praying it will put a floor under a market in freefall by restoring desperately-needed confidence.

Eight major lenders covering 70% of mortgages have signed up to the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme even though details are still sketchy.

And last night doubts were already growing about the practicality of the scheme. Housing Minister Margaret Beckett suggested only 9,000 families could benefit from the initiative. Those who qualify will effectively be allowed to reschedule their loan with their bank, but in exchange for a payment holiday will have to repay the money at a later date. The Government will guarantee the banks against default.

Although the potential liabilities to the taxpayer could reach £1bn, the Treasury estimates the actual cost of defaults will be £100m.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders welcomed the move and insisted it was not a charter for ‘won’t pay’ borrowers to avoid their responsibilities.

But director general Michael Coogan said: ‘The devil will be in the detail.’ The scheme was announced amid alarming predictions that repossessions could hit 75,000 next year - near the record peak of the crippling 1991 recession and far higher than the 45,000 expected this year.

However, speaking on BBC Radio Five Live last night, Mrs Beckett claimed the problem was more that people were ‘fearful’ of repossession rather than actually facing the loss of their home.

After mentioning that 9,000 families could benefit, she realised she had played down the extent of help announced by Mr Brown and added quickly: ‘I almost wish I hadn’t given you that number because no one really knows.’

The Prime Minister used his speech to surprise MPs with his mortgage rescue scheme, which had not been included in the Queen’s Speech because it does not require legislation.

Downing Street said the scheme would allow a mortgage holder to defer up to 100% of interest payments for up to two years. To qualify, applicants will have to show their income has dropped significantly and they are unable to pay their mortgage. Those with a repayment mortgage will be expected to switch to an interest-only loan.

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Reading the Dail Mail this morning there is an article on the second page titled ‘Mortgages are being rationed’.

It appears that the CML or Council of Mortgage Lenders Director General has stated that the UK is in a state of mortgage rationing. This means that the UK mortgage lenders are simply unable to raise sufficient funds to offer mortgages to even the qualifing borrowers.

But how can this be you may ask ( quite rightly so ) ? Good Ol’ Gordon came charging in on his white horse and created a £37 billion rescue package to restore the UK financial market to a satae of improved liquidity surely that has solved the problem!

AHAA say economists but this problem has now emerged and that problem and what about this here >!

WHEN WILL IT END I hear you scream

It seems that right now everyone has a different answer and the little people like you and me wont know the answer till we get reach the end.

Buckle your seat belts people we are in for a rocky ride!

Click here > Mortgage Quotes < to see if anyone will give you a mortgage
Click here > Mortgage Insurance < to protect you exisiting mortgage payments in the event of unemployment or sickness

As the financial markets in the UK continue to be hit by the Credit Crunch - Brokers Online has dcide to restart its finance Blog.

Here you will be able to read information on whats hapening and what is likely to happen to the UK economy in the next few months and years.

During such a difficult time I guess the best advice anyone can give you is to try not to worry unduely. Panic cause people to make silly snap decisions, try not to fall in to that trap!

Some financial products such as life insurance may feel life they are a luxury but in reality if you are finding hard to pay your bills now imagine how hard it could be without the correct forms of protection insurance.

You must also consider products such as Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance and Income Protection these products can be particularly helpful in times such as these.

Investigate your options clearly and carefully - please remember getting quotations for products is not the same as actually buying them - find out how much additional protection could cost you before you dismiss it out of hand.

Regards,

Editor Brokers Online

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Companies face severe funding woes By Chris Giles, Economics Editor Financial Times

Published: December 1 2008 20:44 | Last updated: December 1 2008 20:44

Company finances are facing the most severe squeeze in almost 30 years, Bank of England figures showed on Monday, as deposits in banks are falling fast and businesses struggle to raise new funds.

In October, deposits at banks and building societies by non-financial companies fell 5.2 per cent, the fastest rate since 1980. In the same month, the annual growth in lending to non-financial companies fell to 6.5 per cent, down from 17.9 per cent a year earlier.

Michael Saunders of Citi said: “With such a rapid deterioration in corporate liquidity, many companies cannot be patient and hope to sit out the downturn – they will have to cut back quickly on jobs and investment.”

Households are finding credit conditions almost as tough. The annual growth in the total amount of mortgage debt rose 4.5 per cent in October, the lowest growth rate since the mid 1990s.

But this figure is also deceptive because net mortgage lending since Lehman Brothers failed in September has ground almost to a halt.

Over the most recent quarter, the growth of secured lending by banks and building societies to households is lower than at any time since the Bank started collecting such data in 1963.

Household deposit growth into banks and building societies – a crucial measure of the health of the nation’s domestic finances – had been growing at a steady rate of about 8 per cent a year since 2002. Since September that rate dropped to 6 per cent, the lowest for eight years.

Such dramatic falls in the underlying strength of lending to companies and households will weigh heavily on the Bank’s monetary policy committee this week as it meets to decide interest rates. It expressed concern over the weakness in the growth of monetary aggregates last month when it cut rates 1.5 percentage points, and this concern has intensified over the past month.

Simon Ward of New Star said: “The monetary data confirm a grim near-term economic outlook and warrant a further cut in interest rates at this week’s MPC meeting.”

The weak credit figures come from the components of the Bank’s aggregate money supply, or M4, figures, which show both deposits in UK banks and building societies and lending by them. The aggregate growth of both M4 and M4 lending is rising at double digit rates, but most of this growth represents loans between subsidiaries of financial institutions or loans to the financial sector.

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Author: Richard Norfolk

If you see your doctor for a report on your condition, be it general or specific to particular symptoms, you would not unreasonably expect an accurate report. If you were paying for the report, this should put extra pressure on your GP to supply one which would be precise and correct, not vague and open to interpretation.

When applying for life insurance it would appear that around 40% of us have a medical condition which we feel obliged to declare on the application form. This information is then followed up by the insurance company and, provided that it is acceptable to the applicant, they will then contact the GP and ask for a medical report on the individual. This report has to be paid for so the insurance company is quite justified in expecting it to be precise and accurate; unfortunately there are times when it is not.

It is a fact that doctors are often under pressure, with a workload that fails to leave adequate time for attention to details which are apparently rather less than urgent. The result is that there are times when GPs will take the easy way out (presumably to save time) and instead of supplying a report, they will pass on to the insurance company a copy of the patient’s record from the practice computer.

In these circumstances they are not only supplying the wrong sort of information, but they could also be breaking the law by breaching patient confidentiality in supplying information about a patient which the patient had not agreed could be disclosed.

As far as the insurance company are concerned, they have paid for information relating to a specific condition or conditions about which they need full and accurate information, to enable them to assess the risk for life insurance. They are not qualified to take the whole of a patient’s records and from them deduce the risk relating to specific conditions. That is a task requiring a doctor’s skills.

Neither the Association of British Insurers nor the British Medical Association is satisfied with the current procedure. There is concern that the agreement by which insurers are allowed access to some medical information could be damaged if they are allowed open access to the whole of a patient’s medical records.

As a result of this concern an agreement has been made between both parties, whereby the fee paid by the insurance company to doctors will increase by 6% per annum over a five year period. In exchange for this commitment GPs have agreed, through the BMA, to provide the insurance companies with reports of a good quality, which will give them the information which they need. At the same time patient confidentiality will be preserved, as the only information which will be provided will be that which the patient has asked to be divulged.

Thus the cost to an insurer of a GPs report will rise over a five year period from £74.70 to £100. A supplementary report will increase from £19.10 to £25.50 and a medical examination from £82.20 to £110 over the same period.

The BMA have for their part made the point to GPs that life assurance is for the patients benefit and should not be treated lightly; they have asked for accuracy in the preparation of these reports which do after all have a cost benefit for the GPs.

This is a relatively small price for insurers for to pay for accurate information, which should in itself save costs for them by providing dependable facts.

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Author: Richard Norfolk

With ‘unsolicited mail’ campaigns and extensive advertising, it appears that car insurance is very popular amongst providers. The sheer variety of schemes being offered to satisfy different requirements, when multiplied by the number of companies active in the market, presents motorists with a choice of routes as complicated as a road map.

Most providers have some sort of restrictions in place to filter out the higher risk drivers. These, including the apparently accident prone and those who flirt with the law by amassing points on their licences, are not popular with most insurers. Their cover is left to specialist companies who are prepared to take them onto their books in exchange for very high premiums.

There are also what might be termed ‘specialised exclusions’, where drivers are excluded by a company because of their record. For example a driving ban will result in refusal of cover from the Halifax, whilst a drink driving offence or 12 penalty points on your licence will result in a ‘no’ from MoreThan.

If you are in the sort of category where you are penalised for misbehaviour, then it is only right that insurance companies avoid passing your hefty costs on to more conventional customers. If you are anxious to get driving again, you could find it hard work trying to shop around for a company which is prepared to take you on. In these circumstances a broker will do a lot of the ‘leg work’ for you, and than can be no easier way to set this enquiry in motion than a visit to brokers web sites.

The remainder, those run-of-the-mill motorists who manage to negotiate life’s roads with only the occasional bump, are then faced with such a variety of choice that deciding on which insurer to go with could easily occupy far more time than the decision is worth. Perhaps the best start is to decide if you fall into one of the special categories which offer advantageous terms.

Gender is perhaps as good a starting point as any. Chauvinistic male motorists should consider the fact that their female counterparts can get special terms, based on the statistically safer driving of female motorists. However, the ladies should examine the terms and costs on offer rather carefully, as it does not necessarily follow that the best deals are offered by the specialists.

With any insurer it will pay to look beyond the ‘puffing up’ of the adverts and check out the finer detail. Will your no claims bonus be protected? Will the approved repairers supply a courtesy car? Is breakdown cover included within the basic cost? There tend to be a lot of extras available which in some cases will be covered in the basic cost, but where they are not provided as standard they could really load your premium.

Amongst the questions to be answered will be what level of excess you are prepared to pay, where is the car normally parked i.e. road, drive or garage, is an alarm or immobiliser fitted, do you need cover to drive other cars, and even – are you married? Single drivers often pay a higher premium, but don’t try getting married just to cut your insurance costs!

On the other hand you need to ignore ‘benefits’ which you are unlikely to need. Free cover for motoring abroad for example, is a waste of money if your car will never leave these shores. In this case you have to remember that there is a cost factor built into the premium for any ‘free’ service, unless of course you have discovered the contradiction in terms – the totally altruistic insurance company!

Many other groupings exist, where favourable terms may be offered to drivers meeting specific criteria. These can relate to age, employment, driving experience, even the make of car to be covered.

Whilst age can be used to apply ‘penalties’ in terms of cost for older drivers, where possible loss of alertness or slower reaction times are felt to make accidents more likely, the slightly younger can have an advantage. For example, those just retired are likely to cover less miles per year, and will almost certainly do the greater part of their motoring when the roads are less busy outside the rush hours.

Civil servants have for many years been able to get advantageous terms on a variety of insurance cover needs, with deals negotiated on their behalf on the basis of the large numbers who are likely to respond to the offers. It may be worth enquiring if your employer or your trades union has any such arrangement.

Owners clubs, comprising enthusiasts who drive a specific make or type of car, sometimes make similar arrangements for members whose choice of car could invoke insurance cost penalties. Classic cars of even recent vintage can be very costly to repair, especially when parts are difficult to obtain, and performance models have obvious dangers for drivers and insurers, including repair costs for drivers as well as cars!

It is all a bit of a minefield, so your best move has to be to go online and find a broker who will do most of the hard work for you, but first of all decide on the options which you need and which ones you can manage without.

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Author: Emma Mayo

Speed cameras are already the bane of the driver’s existence. There’s a lot of dispute as to whether they do help save lives, but one thing’s for sure, the Government is making a lot of money out of our collective inability to keep within the speed limits.

If you thought it was bad before, a new speed camera is being tested at the moment that could take the concept of being watched on the roads many steps ahead of its current format.

The new device, manufactured in South Africa, is a digital red light camera and speed camera that can be used both in mobile speed traps and fixed-camera setups. The strength of the device lies in its ability to perform more than one task – meaning double trouble for motorists. Not only can it take up to 100,000 digital images, it can also monitor three lanes of traffic at once. And it can be used as a mobile hand-held camera by police during the day shift, and then stored in stationary housing to continue its job throughout the night. It can also be controlled remotely so the camera can focus and zoom in as required.

Every picture that’s taken is accompanied by GPS time, date and location information, all thanks to WiFi and GSM systems, then the information can be downloaded to a remote base using mobile phone technology. Made by Truvelo, the ‘D-Cam’ will be ready to go on Britain’s roads just one year after it’s approved by the Home Office, which is set to happen imminently. It’s already proved popular in South Africa and Brazil.

At £30,000, the system isn’t cheap, but if you take into account the cost of a speeding fine - £60 – and then multiply that by 100,000 (the amount of pictures the camera can store) and that’s a significant profit margin for the authorities! Truvelo make around 20% of the speed cameras currently on British roads, they can only take 700 film pictures, so they need reloading on a regular basis – so the difference between the two technologies is quite significant.

So what does it mean for motorists? It means there’s even more chance of getting caught speeding. And if you receive a speeding fine, that will affect your car insurance premiums. With a quarter of British households having at least one speeding fine, which gives you three points on your driving licence, it’s a big issue, and it’s giving the car insurers an opportunity to cash in.

Recent AA research found that a driver with a speeding offence could expect to pay an average of 20% more on car insurance. Even if your record was as clean as a whistle before, you will be penalised. Don’t be tempted to withhold the information from an insurer either, as if you come to make a claim and the information is discovered, your policy will be declared null and void.

So if you get caught speeding, and the chances of that are likely to increase once the D-Cam is introduced, what can you do to keep your car insurance at an affordable level? Be extra sure to shop around. Never blindly accept a renewal from your insurer without checking out the competition, and get as many quotes as you can to make sure you’re not paying more than necessary. Many drivers pay more than they should because they fail to get a few quotes – and if you have points on your licence for speeding, it’s more important than ever to keep on top of things. Go online for the cheapest quotes, and be sure to get as many quotes as you can!

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Author: Catriona Singfield

In the UK, as with the rest of Europe, we are now living longer than at any time in the past – and the figure is rising. The average lifespan for a British man is now 76.2 years, with a woman living even longer at 80.7 years. This is excellent news, but sadly there is a downside – we may be living longer, but we’re not as healthy as our fellow Europeans.

According to an EU survey on the subject, conducted over a sample of 60,000 people, longevity is not the only index of old age we should be paying attention to. The survey made a study of age of death, sickness and overall health. Healthy life years, the amount of time we can expect to enjoy an active, able old age, are just not matching up to lifespan.

Out of a average life of 76.2 years, a British man can expect to enjoy only 61.5 years in good physical condition. In the European league table of health, we are fifth from the bottom.

However, it is important not to jump to conclusions too early because as yet, no-one is sure exactly why the study has come up with these findings. There are wide variations across Europe, with cardiovascular disease being far more of a risk the further north you live. According to action group Help the Aged, we are putting ourselves at risk because we do not take one simple factor as seriously as we should - the cold. Failure to wrap up can lead to thickening of the blood, perhaps even a fatal clot. Surely an incentive to keep warm!

The healthiest Europeans are the Italians, with an average of 70.9 healthy life years over a total lifespan of 76.8 years. It’s well known that in Italy, the national diet includes a lot of vegetables and fish, with few saturated fats, which may be one reason why the Italians are living more healthily for longer. Again according to Help the Aged, these differences could be caused by several factors: better diet, the quality of the Health Service, the weather, and prevalence of smoking.

Indeed, in a recent league table comparing healthy life years and lifespan, Italy is number one. Next come Spain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, and the UK, followed by France, Hungary, Portugal and Finland.

The figures are interesting. For example, a Finnish woman can expect to live for 81.8 years, but only 56.5 years will be free from ill health, defined in the study as a disabling condition.

Taken together, all these factors point to one conclusion: the average man or woman would be well advised to look for good critical illness cover, not only life insurance. Consider this sobering fact: the average age of retirement now comes after the average age at which ill health sets in – by between three and a half and eight and a half years. The recent rise in official retirement age is matched by many people’s expectations of being not just available, but able to work into their 70s.

So what is critical illness cover? Briefly, this is insurance that pays out if you are diagnosed with a serious condition, for example cancer, a stroke, or heart disease. Be sure to check the policy carefully, as not all policies cover the same conditions. Consider that such an illness can affect your entire lifestyle. You may need to change or even give up your work, or alter your house or car. If you have good critical illness cover in place, at least you can be sure that your needs can be met financially.

If you have a family, you may like to consider what the effect would be were you not there for them. No-one likes to think of the worst happening, but it is only sensible to take a careful look at your life insurance options.

Fortunately, it’s easy to find out good information on these types of insurance, for both cost and cover. Go online and find an Internet insurance broker, who will be able to search for you to find the most competitive quote.

Once you have your plans in place, there’s only one more thing to do – beat those tables and enjoy your old age!

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Author: Catriona Singfield

As winter draws near, around 10,000 of the UK’s motorcyclists begin to make plans for storing their bikes away for the cold season. Snow, ice and biting winds make riding a motorbike a less attractive prospect, so many savvy bikers pack their machines up and save on the tax and insurance until biking season comes around again. Unfortunately, thieves know this too and every month around 600 motorcycles are stolen from their garages.

This could be a problem if you are the unlucky victim of such a theft when you are temporarily uninsured. A useful compromise is to reduce the cover to the minimum needed, usually just fire and theft.

Compared to car insurance, motorcycle insurance has some unusual features. That old favourite, the no claims bonus, is almost unheard of for bikes and it’s only a select few insurers who offer any comparable discount.

So how does a typical motorbike policy work? As with cars, there are a variety to choose from, such as third party, specified rider policy and specified bike policy. Specified bike policies cover the machine, not the rider, which means that several riders can be insured for the same bike.

Specified rider policies apply the other way around, to a specified rider on any bike of a size agreed by the policy.

Comprehensive insurance is the most expensive type, but like the familiar car version it covers you for the repair costs for accidental damage, and may or may not include breakdown cover. If you need to make a claim, you pay a specified excess and the rest will be paid for by your insurance company.

Third party insurance covers you for the legal minimum, and is thus the least expensive. It includes any damage you may cause to property, or injury to people. It doesn’t cover you for damage to your bike or repair costs, and still includes an excess payment.

Unfortunately, the exhilaration of getting a new bike is tempered for many young riders by much higher premiums on all types of insurance. This is because the chances of a new rider being involved in an accident are so much higher, due in part to lack of experience on the road. Motorbikes are also notorious for offering little protection in the event of a crash, and such accidents can have tragic consequences.

Premiums are also calculated on how long the rider spends travelling, for example a daily journey to work, or touring. This is because the longer a biker spends on the road, the greater the likelihood of an accident occurring. If you have had the misfortune to make a claim for a driving-related accident recently, this will also affect the rate you will be offered.

So what else goes in to the complex mix of tailored bike insurance? Well, the size of the engine and the make of the machine will be factors, so owning a vintage Harley is likely to be a costly affair! Any previous convictions for speeding, dangerous driving or even a disqualification will affect it adversely too.

It seems sensible to do what you can to reduce these fees. A security device, especially an immobiliser, steering lock or alarm should also secure a discount, as may completion of a specialised motorbike training course.

With so many things to take into account, it may seem tempting to be economical with the truth to save costs. This will certainly invalidate your insurance, leaving you with an expensive payout and no claim. It’s also illegal to drive without insurance, so honesty is definitely best for your policy!

Naturally, you’ll want to find the best deal, so try an online insurance broker. They can find you a policy to suit your specific requirements, and shop around for the best quotes to match your budget. Not only do they have the experience to help out, but they often have access to special discounts only available online.

So shop around, make sure you get the right insurance for your needs and have a safe drive!

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Author: Dot Piper

There’s a new critical illness policy on the market which attempts to go some way with regard to sorting out the perplexity regarding exactly what is, and is not, covered when it comes to claiming on the policy.

Traditional critical illness policies tend to cover up to 35 listed medical conditions. Policyholders could become seriously ill with a condition that doesn’t fall into the scope of the policy and find that their illness is not covered, whilst others may be diagnosed with a listed illness with a lower “grading” which is relatively easily treated, for which they get a full payout.
Because of this inequality, the Financial Services Authority is uneasy with regard to insurers failing to fully understand that cover is restricted to certain specific illnesses.

This new product is marketed by the Prudential, under the name of the Flexible Protection Plan, and is unusual in that it claims to cover an amazing 140 medical conditions. However, cover is based on the severity of the condition which could possibly cause some uncertainty regarding the grading of these illnesses.

This is how the plan works:

Listed in the policy are practically all serious illnesses and the payout when one these is diagnosed will be graded according to the severity of the condition. The Prudential says that by tying payments to the degree of seriousness of the illness means that more payments can be offered to people with debilitating illnesses, who may otherwise get nothing at all. An example of this is that should you lose the sight of one eye; the Prudential policy will pay 25% of the sum assured. Normally, critical illness policies would only pay out when total blindness occurs. In all, 140 severe conditions are covered.

A spokesman for one of the specialist financial advisers welcomed the range of the policy, but voiced some concern regarding the implementation of these severity-based payments, saying that it would be open to argument as to what level of severity some illnesses would be graded as. It was felt that it would not be advisable to enter into this type of policy unless you had a very clear understanding of exactly how it would work. We quote “It will be up to the consumer to decide whether a guarantee of getting a smaller payment is better than possibly getting nothing.”

The cost of this new policy is approximately twice as much as conventional critical illness cover.

If your main concern regarding insurance cover should you become critically ill would be the financial outcome, it might be better to consider life insurance. Particularly, if you have a family to support, you may need something that is going to guarantee their lifestyle in the worst case scenario and with the addition of some income protection cover, which would meet outgoings in the event of you becoming unable to work due to illness. This type of cover, unlike the critical illness policy, protects you against common conditions, which result in you being unable to carry out your work.

The best course of action would be to contact a broker and check out the alternatives. The internet’s a good place to start and there are some good internet discount’s available, along with plenty of advice. A good broker will be able to compare the products available and come up with the right insurance product for you.

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