Do you need Life Insurance to get a Mortgage?

No, you don’t need Mortgage Life Insurance to get a mortgage. It’s not a legal or regulatory requirement. However, you need to consider what would happen to that mortgage if you were to pass away before repaying the debt. Could your family take on the debt and meet the mortgage repayments if they wanted to continue living in the property? If not, would they have to uproot themselves and downsize to something more affordable? Life Insurance will repay the mortgage should you pass away, meaning your loved ones don’t have to worry about how to afford housing costs after you’re gone.

What does it mean to put Life Insurance in Trust?

Writing Life Insurance policies into trust sounds complicated, but it’s something that we handle every day here at Drewberry and we’re more than happy to help with the process. Essentially, putting Life Insurance into trust means that you’re ring-fencing the benefit outside of your estate so that should a claim arise the payout goes into the trust rather than to you. This can help avoid probate and ensure the benefit is paid swiftly whilst removing the worry of inheritance tax on the payout ensuring your family gets the full benefit you were intending. Should you pass away, the money is paid into the trust. It’s then up to the trustees — trusted people you designated to run the trust when you set it up — to distribute the funds to your beneficiaries. Writing your Life Insurance into trust can also be useful where your children might be minors when they receive the policy payout, as it gives supervision and oversight over their finances after you’re gone.

How much Life Insurance do I need?

This is a very subjective question and something we’d always recommend you discuss with one of our experts to make sure you get it right. If you have a mortgage, you may want at least enough to repay that debt should you die before managing to do so yourself. Then there’s family protection to consider. Many people want to leave some kind of legacy for their loved ones after they’re gone but aren’t sure how much they’d need. For this reason, it may be helpful to consider Family Income Benefit , an often-overlooked type of Life Insurance that breaks down the payout into more manageable chunks rather than paying it out all at once. That way your family could have a monthly or annual income from the policy for a set term after you pass away rather than just having a much larger lump sum and being unsure regarding the best thing to do with it.

What is Terminal Illness Cover?

Terminal Illness Insurance comes as a free rider on Life Insurance policies. You don’t have to pay any extra for having it. It triggers a payout on the policy early if you’re diagnosed as terminally ill, with a doctor having told you that you have less than 12 months to live. This allows you to receive the benefit early, relieving you of financial worries during such a difficult time. It is important to recognise Terminal Illness Benefit is very different to Critical Illness Insurance .

Which is Better: Term or Whole of Life Insurance?

Whole of Life Insurance is designed to cover you for your whole life and pay out on your death, whenever that may be. The payment is assured so long as you keep paying your premiums and will pay out on your eventual death. For this reason, Whole of Life Insurance is typically much more expensive than Term Insurance and is therefore usually used to cover smaller amounts, such as funeral costs or small debts. While it may seem ‘better’ that you’re guaranteed a payout with Whole of Life Insurance, this guarantee would make insuring any significant sum prohibitively expensive for many. Term Insurance, on the other hand, lasts for a set term, say 25 years, and then ends. It’s commonly used alongside a mortgage to repay the debt should you pass away before doing so, or for other family protection purposes, such as ensuring children will be financially secure until they’re independent. It’s much more cost-effective than Whole of Life Insurance because the payout only occurs if you die within a set period, rather than on your certain death.

What is the Best Life Insurance?

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Tom ConnerDirector

30-07-2020

Life Insurance is there to pay out a sum of money – either as a lump sum or a regular income – if you pass away while the policy is in force.

There are different types of policy and, as such, which Life Insurance is best for you will depend on your individual circumstances and what you require the policy for.

Although no single answer can be given, there are a number of factors you can look at to help you judge the quality of a Life Insurance policy. These include:

Clarity of policy wording
The number and range of exclusions
If premiums are guaranteed
Optional extra areas of cover
Percentage of claims paid.

The size of payouts can’t really be used to determine the quality of a Life Insurance policy, as this will depend on the amount that each individual client has chosen to cover themselves for.

You also need to think about value for money, as simply paying the most expensive premium won’t necessarily guarantee you the best life cover. You’re looking for the right policy at the right price, so think about a product:

Covering you for an appropriate period of time
Offering the payout level you need
From a trusted provider
Giving the level of flexibility you’re comfortable with
At the cheapest price you can find (providing the above criteria have been met).

Which Life Insurance is Best for Me?

Before thinking about any detailed consideration of the best Life Insurance, you need to decide what type of life protection policy is right for you and your circumstances.

For example, a Decreasing Term Life Insurance policy may be right if you want to protect your loved ones until your repayment mortgage is paid off as the amount insured will fall alongside your outstanding mortgage balance.

A Level Term Life Insurance policy, meanwhile, is generally more suited to family protection or ensuring an interest-only mortgage, where the capital balance doesn’t fall over time, remains protected throughout your mortgage term.

Where do I find the best life insurance?

Family Income Benefit is a type of Life Insurance which, rather than paying out a lump sum, pays out a regular income (either monthly or annually) to your dependents after your death.

This provides a much more manageable payout than a single lump sum and tends to be best for ensuring your loved ones can maintain their lifestyle should you pass away.

Whole of Life Insurance could be the right option if you want to ensure your loved ones have a lump sum after you’ve gone, possibly to pay funeral costs or meet an inheritance tax bill, as there is no set term – the policy lasts until your death providing you keep paying the premiums.

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Do I Really Need Life Insurance?

Before asking the question which is the best Life Insurance it is important to make sure it is appropriate. Life Insurance is really only valuable if you would be leaving loved ones or an outstanding debt behind.

For many of us there are families who would be left in financial difficulty or mortgages that need repaying. That’s where Life Insurance can step in to provide invaluable financial support should the worst happen.

What are the chances of dying…

Unfortunately death is a risk we often shy away from thinking about, underestimating the chances of it happening and the impact it would have on those around us.

The Drewberry™ Health & Protection Survey found we are SIX times more likely to pass away before retirement than most people think.
The survey also found 2 in every 5 households have no more than £1,000 in cash savings to see them through should they fall on hard times, such as after the death of a breadwinner.

Below is data taken from our Life Expectancy Calculator which is powered by ONS Data showing the likelihood of passing away at various ages.

Age 30	Age 40	Age 50
1 in 112	1 in 53	1 in 23

Insurer Liverpool Victoria are very transparent with their claims data publishing the following statistics with regards to their Life Insurance policyholders.

63 was the average age for a female life insurance claim
47 for a female critical illness claim
The youngest life cover claimant was 24 years old
The average person had had their policy for just 9 years upon sadly passing away and leaving their family needing to claim.

What Is Not Covered By Life Insurance?

Life Insurance has few standard exclusions however most policies tend to exclude the following.

If the death is self-inflicted
If the death is caused by misuse of drugs or alcohol
If the death is due to involvement in terrorist activity or war
If the death is caused by reckless activity or gross negligence

Suicide is excluded with most insurers however it is often only excluded for a set period of time after taking out the policy – typically 12 months.

Will Life Insurance Payout A Claim?

If you are going to spend your hard earned money on a Life Insurance policy you want to know if the worst did happen that it would pay out.

In 2017, the Association of British Insurers collated the industries claims statistics and published results showing 98% of term insurance claims were successful, as were 99.99% of whole of life claims.

For the small proportion of claims that weren’t paid, the ABI cites that this was largely due to clients not disclosing important information when taking out the policy, or claiming for a condition that is not covered by the policy.

When setting up your policy it is important to be as open and honest as possible with regards to existing health conditions and any hazardous pursuits you may undertake. It can be really valuable speaking to an adviser to make sure you have done everything you can to submit an accurate application.

If you need any help them please do not hesitate to pop us a call on 02084327333, our advisers are here to make sure you have everything set-up correctly.

How Much Does Life Insurance Cost?

The cost of Life Insurance will depend on various different factors, with the main five being:

How much you choose to insure your life for
How long you want to insure your life for
The sort of life insurance policy you choose (e.g. Level / Decreasing Term Assurance, Family Income Benefit or Whole of Life Insurance)
Your current state of health and any pre-existing medical conditions
Your smoker status.

In the below table, we’ve laid out the monthly cost of Life Insurance for a smoker and non-smoker of various ages. They’re all looking for £250,000 worth of Level Life Insurance over 25 years and have no untoward medical history that would impact their premiums.

The quotes shown represent the best Life Insurance quotes from across the entire UK market, as of February 20th, 2019.

Age	🚭	🚬
30 Years Old	£9.55	£16.16
40 Years Old	£18.14	£37.85
50 Years Old	£44.63	£100.59

Additional Life Insurance Cover Options

Many of the best Life Insurance policies will have additional benefits above and beyond offering a payout on the policyholder’s death. These may be included as standard or offered for an additional premium.

It may seem natural to assume that the ‘best’ policy has the widest range of such additional cover areas, but consider what it is that you actually need and want.

Paying for more cover than you need is not the way to find the best Life Insurance, but some of the cover areas to think about include:

Life Insurance with Critical Illness Cover

Most Life Insurance policies will offer Critical Illness Insurance as an add-on. If you choose this cover, it will increase the price of your premium; however, this is likely to be a better choice in terms of price than taking out Life Insurance plus a separate critical illness cover (CIC) policy.

If you add CIC to Life Insurance, the main thing to be aware of is whether you’re buying an independent policy or an integrated one.

With an integrated policy there can be only one payout, meaning that – should you make a successful critical illness claim for the full sum assured – there will be no further payout from the Life Insurance after you die.

Independent critical illness cover allows the Life Insurance element of the policy to continue after a successful critical illness claim.

Terminal Illness Cover

Terminal illness cover is usually a standard feature of Life Insurance policies, allowing for a payout to be made before the policyholder’s death if they’re diagnosed with a terminal condition (having less than 12 months to live).

If the prognosis is that you’ll survive for less than 12 months, most Life Insurance policies will pay out early on Terminal Illness Benefit, meaning you have some financial support for you and your loved ones during this difficult time.

Michael Barrow
Independent Protection Expert at Drewberry

What Are The Best Life Insurance Premiums?

Generally, guaranteed Life Insurance premiums – where the monthly sum you pay doesn’t change through the life of the policy – are seen as ‘better’ than reviewable Life Insurance premiums.

This is because the insurer can’t change the amount they charge you

Reviewable premiums may be cheaper at the outset of the policy, but could prove significantly more expensive in the longer term as insurers are free to raise premiums over time.

This may happen if, for example, the provider experiences higher claim levels than it had anticipated, or if a major change in interest rates increases its cost base.

Waiver of Premium

This option can mean that, if you find yourself in unfortunate circumstances, your Life Insurance policy remains in place without you having to continue to make premium payments; this may be, for example, if you can’t work because you’ve become seriously ill.

Flexible Options

Policies can come with an enormous range of flexible options that can seem great to cope with changing, unpredictable circumstances. But you also need to remember that the more flexibility you build into a product, the more you’re likely to pay in premiums.

Some common options include:

Guaranteed insurability
Allows you to increase your level of cover without a further medical assessment
Benefit indexation
The level of your potential payout will increase in line with inflation
Renewable term Life Insurance
Gives the option to renew at the end of the policy without a further medical assessment
Convertible term Life Insurance
Can be turned into a whole of life policy without a further medical assessment
Renewable and convertible hybrid Life Insurance
A term policy with the potential for renewal and/or to be turned into Whole of Life cover

Is it Best to Write Life Insurance Into Trust?

It’s often best to write a Life Insurance policy into trust, but there are times when it may not be needed.

If you’re married and taking out a joint Life Insurance policy, for example, the payout usually goes directly to the remaining policyholder (your husband / wife / civil partner), so a writing your joint Life Insurance policy into trust isn’t usually needed.

However, if you were both to die at the same time, or the joint life policy is written on a second life basis, then writing the policy into trust would be of benefit. Writing your Life Insurance policy in trust costs nothing and can cut delays with probate, so it’s often worth it.

A discretionary trust is probably the best answer for joint Life Insurance policies, as these can be specifically designed to pay out to the second partner on request, if they survive at least 30 days after the first death occurs.

Common Life Insurance Questions...

Do you need Life Insurance to get a Mortgage?
No, you don’t need Mortgage Life Insurance to get a mortgage. It’s not a legal or regulatory requirement.

However, you need to consider what would happen to that mortgage if you were to pass away before repaying the debt.

Could your family take on the debt and meet the mortgage repayments if they wanted to continue living in the property? If not, would they have to uproot themselves and downsize to something more affordable?

Life Insurance will repay the mortgage should you pass away, meaning your loved ones don’t have to worry about how to afford housing costs after you’re gone.
What does it mean to put Life Insurance in Trust?
Writing Life Insurance policies into trust sounds complicated, but it’s something that we handle every day here at Drewberry and we’re more than happy to help with the process.

Essentially, putting Life Insurance into trust means that you’re ring-fencing the benefit outside of your estate so that should a claim arise the payout goes into the trust rather than to you. This can help avoid probate and ensure the benefit is paid swiftly whilst removing the worry of inheritance tax on the payout ensuring your family gets the full benefit you were intending.

Should you pass away, the money is paid into the trust. It’s then up to the trustees — trusted people you designated to run the trust when you set it up — to distribute the funds to your beneficiaries.

Writing your Life Insurance into trust can also be useful where your children might be minors when they receive the policy payout, as it gives supervision and oversight over their finances after you’re gone.
How much Life Insurance do I need?
This is a very subjective question and something we’d always recommend you discuss with one of our experts to make sure you get it right.

If you have a mortgage, you may want at least enough to repay that debt should you die before managing to do so yourself.

Then there’s family protection to consider. Many people want to leave some kind of legacy for their loved ones after they’re gone but aren’t sure how much they’d need.

For this reason, it may be helpful to consider Family Income Benefit, an often-overlooked type of Life Insurance that breaks down the payout into more manageable chunks rather than paying it out all at once.

That way your family could have a monthly or annual income from the policy for a set term after you pass away rather than just having a much larger lump sum and being unsure regarding the best thing to do with it.
What is Terminal Illness Cover?
Terminal Illness Insurance comes as a free rider on Life Insurance policies. You don’t have to pay any extra for having it.

It triggers a payout on the policy early if you’re diagnosed as terminally ill, with a doctor having told you that you have less than 12 months to live.

This allows you to receive the benefit early, relieving you of financial worries during such a difficult time. It is important to recognise Terminal Illness Benefit is very different to Critical Illness Insurance.
Which is Better: Term or Whole of Life Insurance?
Whole of Life Insurance is designed to cover you for your whole life and pay out on your death, whenever that may be. The payment is assured so long as you keep paying your premiums and will pay out on your eventual death.

For this reason, Whole of Life Insurance is typically much more expensive than Term Insurance and is therefore usually used to cover smaller amounts, such as funeral costs or small debts.

While it may seem ‘better’ that you’re guaranteed a payout with Whole of Life Insurance, this guarantee would make insuring any significant sum prohibitively expensive for many.

Term Insurance, on the other hand, lasts for a set term, say 25 years, and then ends. It’s commonly used alongside a mortgage to repay the debt should you pass away before doing so, or for other family protection purposes, such as ensuring children will be financially secure until they’re independent.

It’s much more cost-effective than Whole of Life Insurance because the payout only occurs if you die within a set period, rather than on your certain death.

What Are The Best Life Insurance Companies?

Some of the best UK Life Insurance companies on the market today include:

Aegon
AIG
Aviva
Guardian
Legal & General
Liverpool Victoria
Royal London
Scottish Widows
Vitality
Zurich

Of course, there a number of factors you should look at when comparing Life Insurance companies to find out which one is the best for you.

Most life insurers, like all insurers, publish their policy documents on their website, so you can see the level of cover you might be getting if you chose them.

Best Additional Benefits

In addition to the core reason for the Life Insurance to pay out on death, many policies now include a number of tangible everyday benefits which can include:

24/7 Virtual GP Service
Second Medical Opinion Service
Physiotherapy sessions
Telephone and online counselling
Health & nutrition programs
High street discounts

Compare Best Life Insurance Quotes & Get Expert Advice

We exist to help you find the best life insurance for your circumstances and do so at the most competitive premiums. We are completely independent so can provide you with all the advice you need to make an informed decision.

Why Speak to Us…

We started Drewberry because we were tired of being treated like a number and not getting the service we all deserve when it comes to things as important as protecting our health and our finances. Below are just a few reasons why it makes sense to let us help.

There is no fee for our service
We are independent and impartial
Drewberry isn’t tied to any insurance company, so we can provide completely impartial advice to make sure you get the most appropriate policy based solely on your needs.
We’ve got bargaining power on our side
This allows us to negotiate better premiums for you than you going direct yourself.
You’ll speak to a dedicated expert from start to finish
You will speak to a named expert with a direct telephone and email. No more automated machines and no more being sent from pillar to post – you’ll have someone to speak to who knows you.
Benefit from our 5-star service
We pride ourselves on providing a 5-star service, as can be seen from our 2850 and growing independent client reviews rating us at 4.92 / 5.
Gain the protection of regulated advice
You are protected. Where we provide a regulated advice service we are responsible for the policy we set-up for you. Doing it yourself or going direct to an insurer won’t provide this protection, so you won’t benefit from these securities.
Claims support when you need it the most
You have support should you need to make a claim. The most important thing when it comes to insurance is that claims are paid and quickly. We are here to support you during the claims process and make sure it’s as smooth and stress free as possible.

We are here to help.

If it is all getting a little confusing and you need some guidance then please do not hesitate to pop us a call on 02084327333 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.

Tom Conner
Director at Drewberry

I had a great experience with Drewberry, they have a lot of knowledge and expertise with life insurance and income protection and were able to advise me and arrange suitable products. Highly recommend.

Lachlan Mellings

12/08/2020

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