Insurance Tracker

President insured against croc attack

Even the most powerful man in the world can benefit from insurance, though Barack Obama's latest policy was particularly unusual.

While visiting Australia, the US President received a £6.40 gift from the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory: a crocodile insurance policy. In the unlikely event that Obama was attacked and eaten by a crocodile, the policy would have paid out around $30,000 to his wife and children. Fortunately that didn't happen and the policy certificate will now reside in the Presidential library.

Obama told a gathering of US and Australian troops that "I have to admit when we reformed health care in America, crocodile insurance is one thing we left out."

On average only one or two people a year are killed each year in Australia by crocodiles, which can grow up to five metres

Posted on 18 November 2011 | 9:05 am

Life insurance scammer foiled

A British man has been arrested for allegedly faking his own death in a life insurance scam. Hugo Sanchez's claim fell apart when police reportedly found his fingerprints on his own death certificate.

Sanchez's wife reported his death in 2005, supposedly as the result of a heart attack while on holiday in Ecuador; the story was that as he had been born in the country, she chose to bury him there.

Sanchez had several life insurance policies, one of which paid out £112,000, but some of which were later turned down amid suspicion he was still alive. His former employers HMV had paid for his wife to attend the funeral and requested this money back. When they didn't get a response, they called police.

The wife is serving a two-year sentence after being arrested last December. Sanchez himself has now been arrested in Australia and is subject to an extradition treaty for trial in the

Posted on 5 November 2011 | 1:19 pm

The Co-op pulls out of life insurance

The Co-operative is to stop selling life insurance, blaming the move on increased regulation.

The group, which has been selling the product since the 19th century, has an estimated two million policyholders. It's looking to sell those policies to a new provider, with Royal London reported to be the main bidder.

The Co-op will continue to offer other insurance products and run banking services. However, it will no longer offer financial advice and has done a deal with AXA to provide advice to customers. The move will mean 670 job losses among Co-op staff who were employed to offer advice in customer homes.

The head of the Co-op's financial services told the Guardian that "we were faced with rising regulatory costs in a business which was increasingly becoming

Posted on 15 July 2011 | 12:30 pm

African firm offer mobile phone life insurance

An African multinational mobile phone provider has launched a service that lets people in Ghana without bank accounts buy life insurance using their mobile phone.

The service doesn't simply involve setting up the deal, which can be done by a text-message menu system or by phoning a call center. Instead the premiums for the policy are charged to the mobile phone account itself.

MTN, which is operating the mi-Life service, says the policy is specifically aimed at people on very low incomes who rely on mobile phones as a lifeline for handling financial affairs. It noted that in Ghana just 34% of people have a bank account, and only 22% have some form of insurance.

The initial policies on offer are simply designed to cover funeral costs, traditionally an elaborate and expensive affair in Ghana's culture. There are plans for more specialised policies in future such as covering school

Posted on 25 March 2011 | 3:34 pm

Seven percent of Brit's spend more on coffee than on life insurance

A price comparison site says seven percent of people spend more on coffee than on life insurance. It's a creative way of highlighting an issue, though not necessarily representative.

According to Confused.com life insurance, only 40% of adults have life cover, while 30% specifically say they consider it too expensive. Confused.com noted that life cover can start at 17p a day which is less than a tenth of the price of a coffee at a leading chain.

Other spending the firm highlighted included mobile phone tariffs (76% spend money this way), music and DVDs (27%), gym fees (17%) and bought lunches at work rather than a packed lunch (17%): all of these cost significantly more than life insurance.

To be fair, the stat about the 7% of people who buy a coffee every day isn't an entirely fair comparison: the chances are these people are much more likely to be younger people without financial dependents.

However, 35% of those without life insurance say they have children, while 69% are in a relationship. That does raise some concerns, though the stats don't say how many of those concerned are sole or primary breadwinners in a

Posted on 12 November 2010 | 12:00 pm

Seven million without life cover for mortgage

Almost half of mortgage-holders do not have a life insurance policy to cover their contributions in the event of their death. It appears to be the result of tightened wallets, but may be a false economy.

Sainsbury's Life Insurance estimates that 7.1 million people are in such a position. Between them they owe a total of £320 billion, a figure that's up 47% since 2006. One possible explanation is that people are considering such insurance an avoidable expense as they cope with constrained budgets.

Clearly a proportion of the people without cover will be single householders who don't have to worry about dependants. (The ratio of people without life cover is highest among younger owners.) But that still leaves a lot of people whose spouse, partner or children could be left in the lurch.

Covering mortgage costs is one the main reasons for taking out a life insurance policy. Although there are more homes today where both partners work full-time, that's led to many couples getting homes that they couldn't afford on a single

Posted on 5 November 2010 | 12:49 pm

Quitting smoking could save you thousands in insurance costs

Giving up smoking certainly saves money on buying cigarettes, but the potential savings are even greater when it comes to insurance, one company claims.

Moneysupermarket.com calculated the potential savings to mark the third anniversary of the ban on smoking in indoor public places. It found that a typical 30 year old man would have saved more £10,000 having quit smoking at that point: £4,190 in cigarettes but £4,950 on critical illness insurance premiums, with a further £1,212 savings on life insurance.

The comparison is slightly misleading as while the cigarette savings are based on the three-year period, the insurance savings are based on reduced premiums over the next 25 years. That said, somebody considering giving up is certainly better off financially doing so earlier than later.

The company noted that life insurance firms will usually lower premiums once a policyholder has been smoke-free for a year (which starts only once they finish using replacement products such as nicotine patches) and urged people to contact their insurers as soon as they reach this

Posted on 9 July 2010 | 1:08 pm

Instant cover with Post Office over 50s life insurance

The Post Office over 50s life insurance policy is now available with instant cover over the counter at all UK Post Office branches without needing to wait for an application to be processed.

The Over 50s Life Cover plan is guaranteed for all UK residents aged between 50 and 80 with no medical questions or checks required. Customers are able to choose how much cover they want with premiums starting from as little as £7 a month and can be an affordable way to provide your family with a cash sum to help with funeral expenses.

Duncan Caesar-Gordon, Post Office head of protection, commented: "In a time of such uncertainty people need peace of mind more than ever, which is why we are now offering instant protection over the counter. Thinking about the future and how a family will cope should the unexpected happen is an extra worry but a simple plan can ease those worries of those concerned about passing on funeral costs and

Posted on 22 December 2008 | 4:28 am

Post Office wins Best Life Insurance Provider award

The Post Office has scooped the 'Best Life Insurance Provider' award at the Your Money Direct Awards for 2008. The 'Best Online Life Insurance Provider' award went to Liverpool Victoria.

The awards, which are run by Your Money Magazine annually, aim to recognise and reward excellence in both online and direct financial services provision.

The Post Office launched it's term and mortgage life cover policies together with an over 50's plan in 2007 with premiums starting from just £5 per month.

Commenting at the time of the launch, Post Office director of insurance Phil Ashkuri said: "In line with our other financial services products, our new life insurance launch offers simplified insurance that fits our customers needs. We know that people buy life insurance at key stages in their lives, such as buying a home, getting married or having a child, which is why we want to make the process easy to understand and

Posted on 29 August 2008 | 8:14 am

Brits over-estimate the cost of life cover

A recent survey commissioned by Legal and General life insurance has revealed that Brit's could be neglecting to protect themselves financially because they over-estimate the cost of life cover.

Legal & General is concerned that people might avoid taking out protection because consider it is too expensive. The survey showed that 65% of thosed polled over-estimated the cost of a £150,000 life insurance policy with 35% over-estimating the cost of including critical illness cover as an option on the same plan.

According to L&G, £150,000 of level term assurance over 25 years for a healthy, non-smoking man aged 25 would cost just £8* per month. Of those surveyed by L&G, 24% expected it to cost between £11 and £20, 18% thought that it would cost £21 - £30 and 22% thought over £30 for the same policy.

Commercial Director for Housing at Legal & General, Karen Blatchford, commented: "Life cover can start from as little as £6 per month, which even families on a very tight budget may be able to afford. We’re concerned that two-thirds of people are over-estimating the costs of protection."

* Based on Legal & General Direct rates as at 15 August

Posted on 27 August 2008 | 5:41 am

Norwich Union life insurance survey reveals UK protection gap

A survey by Norwich Union has revealed that apathy is leaving 20 million UK adults at financial risk because they don't have any form of life or income-related protection.

Figures from Norwich Union Life Insurance show that of those without any life cover...

• more than 37% say this is because it's still on their 'to do' list or that they haven't thought about it
• one in seven (15%) say they have made other provisions
• one in ten (10%) haven't bothered because they have no dependents and feel no need for a life insurance policy
• 9% say they don't have it because they don't have a mortgage to insure
• 3% of people say they haven't taken out a policy because they don't understand it.

Head of protection marketing at Norwich Union, Darren Dicks commented... "These findings are cause for concern as they suggest many people are taking an 'it won't happen to me' approach to protection. Around 52% of UK adults have no life cover at all* and the remainder are either underinsured or unsure about what type of cover they hold.

"There

Posted on 20 March 2008 | 9:05 am

Premium cut for Norwich Union life insurance

Norwich Union has announced a series of rate reductions on its Mortgage Life Insurance (MLI) and Term Assurance policies.

The reprice is designed to make the cost of Norwich Union life insurance more affordable in the light of the recent credit crunch and ease the financial burden for the average home buyer. The reductions are focused on providing affordable cover for sums assured of £175,000 and above as the average house price now stands at £183,959 according to the Nationwide Building Society.

Customers buying cover with critical illness insurance included will also benefit as decreasing and level term insurance with CI cover has been cut by an average of 3% and 2% respectively.

In addition, the reprice will also include mortgage life insurance and term assurance policies with term's beyond the traditional 25 year mortgage term. This follows changes in market demand as more and more borrowers require policies to cover mortgages of 30 or 40 years.

Head of protection marketing for Norwich Union, Darren Dicks, said... "We constantly review all of our protection products to make them as competitive as we can to the widest possible audience. This latest reprice brings welcome news to the UK's 12 million mortgage holders, at a

Posted on 28 January 2008 | 8:08 am

New Post Office life insurance policy launched

The Post Office today announced the launch of a new product into the life insurance market, and is offering a £100 cash back bonus to anyone taking out a policy. A minimum premium of £10 per month is required to qualify for the £100 cash back offer which is redeemable after the 12th monthly premium is paid.

Post Office Life Insurance has the flexibility for customers to choose Level Term cover which pays out a fixed lump sum to the deceased's dependents in the event of their death or Decreasing Term which is suitable for those with a repayment mortgage as the sum assured decreases in line with the outstanding mortgage.

Both products offer up to £500,000 worth of life cover and people can get cover from as little as £5 a month and choose the amount and length of cover they require.

The new life insurance will join the Post Office's recently launched Over 50s Life Cover to create a suite of life products, offering affordable and comprehensive peace of mind to customers wanting to protect their loved ones and their home.

In line with the Post Office's other financial policies, the new life insurance product is easy to understand

Posted on 24 October 2007 | 8:10 am