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What is Business Loan Protection? How Much Does It Cost?
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21-10-2020
Business Loan Insurance is a form of Life Insurance which provides a cash lump sum to pay off outstanding business debts if a person in the company who’s key to the repayment of that debt dies or suffers a critical illness. Debts might include company overdrafts, commercial loans / mortgages, directors loans, venture capital funding etc.
- Life Insurance
Pays out a lump sum if the business owner dies or becomes terminally ill (i.e. a doctor diagnoses them as having less than 12 months to live). - Critical Illness Insurance
Pays out if the insured develops one of a number of serious illnesses — for example, cancer, heart attack or stroke — listed in the policy terms.
In this guide, we’ll cover:
- What it is
- Whether you need it
- How much it costs
- How HMRC taxes it.
You will also be able to compare instant online quotes from Aviva, Vitality and other top UK insurers →
Do We Need Corporate Loan Insurance?
Protecting a business loan is not a legal requirement. However, many lenders and venture capital firms now insist on you having some form of protection in place when you arrange business loans.
Often, if a person responsible for repaying the loan passes away or becomes critically ill, a lender will demand that any outstanding debt is repaid there and then.
BUSINESS STATISTIC 🤓
According to Legal & General, 52% of company directors expect their company to fail within a year of a key person dying / becoming seriously ill — how would your business cope?
An unprotected business runs the risk of being declared insolvent in the event of the death of a key person if they can’t repay a loan.
What’s The Risk Of Death?
We’ve used Office for National Statistics data for the table below detailing the risk of death in the next 10 years for a range of ages.
We’ve used the same data to build a Life Expectancy Calculator where you can work out your own personal risk of death 😵.
|
Risk of Death in 10 Years |
|
|---|---|
|
35 Years Old |
1 in 62 |
|
45 Years Old |
1 in 29 |
|
55 Years Old |
1 in 12 |
What’s The Risk Of Suffering A Critical Illness?
The ‘big three’ illnesses make up around 80% of Critical Illness claims: cancer, heart attacks and strokes.
- Around a quarter of new cancer diagnoses each year are in people aged under 60 (Cancer Research UK).
- Meanwhile, almost 1 million people in the UK have survived a heart attack and more than 1.2 million people in the UK have survived a stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Almost half of these are under the age of 75. (British Heart Foundation).
IMPORTANT NOTICE 🧐
Not every case of the above conditions is covered by Critical Illness Cover. Less severe cases may not be included in your business loan protection or may only trigger a partial payout. It’s essential you check the policy wording or ask your adviser for assistance.
While Critical Illness Insurance covers serious illnesses, it doesn’t cover less serious conditions, even if they stop you working. This could include, for example, mental health conditions or musculoskeletal problems.
For protection against a greater range of illnesses, many directors and small companies turn to Exectuive Income Protection. This offers a continuation of income if you are unable to work due to accident or sickness. What’s more, it can also protect your personal finances as well as covering a business loan if you fall ill.
How Much Cover Do I Need?
You’ll want to match the outstanding loan balance to the sum assured so you’ll receive a lump sum to cover your debts.
Level Or Decreasing Business Loan Protection?
Whether you need level or decreasing cover will depend on your loan.
- Decreasing cover
Falls alongside a capital repayment loan, reaching zero just like the loan balance by the time you repay the loan. - Level cover
The benefit stays fixed and is usually used for an interest-only loan, where you don’t repay the principal capital until the end of the loan. Level cover ensures the insurance always covers the outstanding debt, right until the end of the loan.
How Much Does Business Loan Protection Cost?
The cost depends largely on the amount of cover you need and whether it needs to be level or decreasing.
The insurer will determine your premiums by asking questions about your:
- Health and medical conditions
- Age
- Lifestyle (e.g. smoking and drinking habits)
- Job (riskier occupations tend to cost more to insure).
We have calculated the monthly cost for a £150,000 commercial loan which decreases over a period of 5, 10 and 15 years. The person in question is a healthy non-smoker aged 35, 45 and 55.
Age | 10 Year Loan
|
|---|---|
35
| £5.65 per month
|
45
| £9.23 per month
|
55
| £26.78 per month
|
Premiums calculated on August 8th, 2020
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How Does HMRC Tax It?
Business Loan Protection premiums are not typically a tax-deductible business expense. This is because HMRC does not class the payout as ‘wholly and exclusively’ for the benefit of the business as the payout goes to the lender. Rather, HMRC treats premiums as part of the cost of raising capital.
So, in brief, while you usually have to pay tax on insurance premiums, the payout is typically received tax-free because it benefits the lender, not the business.
Do I Need To Write It Into Trust?
A trust is a separate legal entity from your business. You might use a trust to receive funds from certain insurance policies to keep a payout separate from your company for tax or other purposes.
However, generally speaking, you don’t need to write Business Loan Protection into trust. This is because a trust would actually complicate matters in the event of a claim.
You want the payout to go straight to the lender to settle your outstanding debt, not to be held up in a trust. Moreover, as there’s not usually any tax due on a payout from such a policy, writing it into trust is of little use.
Who Are The Best UK Business Loan Insurance Companies
At Drewberry, we work with every single leading UK insurer offering this type of cover. When undertaking a market review we’ll source quotes from:
- Aegon
- AIG
- Aviva
- Legal & General
- Liverpool Victoria
- Royal London
- Scottish Widows
- Vitality
- Zurich
It’s really important to compare quotes from all the leading insurers. If you simply take the quote offered by your bank / lender, you may not get the benefit of whole-of-market research and therefore pay more in premiums than necessary.
Additional Insurance Benefits
Insurers often include additional benefits alongside the core cover. These can include:
- 24 / 7 virtual GP service
- Physiotherapy sessions
- Counselling and stress helplines
- High street discounts and rewards for healthy living.
Compare Business Quotes & Get Expert Advice
Setting up this cover can be complicated. This is especially the case when looking at the level of cover you need and the tax position.
Why Speak to Us?
We started Drewberry™ because we were tired of being treated like a number.
We all deserve a first class service when it comes to things as important as protecting our companies and our finances. Below are just a few reasons why it makes sense to talk to us:
- There is no fee for our service.
- We are independent and work with all the leading UK insurers.
- You’ll speak to a dedicated expert from start to finish.
- We are very proud of the 2872 and growing independent client reviews rating us at 4.92 / 5.
- Benefit from the protection of regulated advice.
- Claims support when you need it most.
If you need help setting up Business Loan Protection give us a call on 02074425880 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.
The staff has been very knowledgeable and I have enjoyed working with Nadeem on setting up our plan.
Kim S
22/06/2020
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