Is Life Cover known under different names?

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Because Life Assurance is such a varied and flexible product, it can come under a number of different names. Each generally describes the covers aims however some are simply interchangeable with Life Assurance:

 

Life Insurance

A general term used to mean the same as Life Assurance. The difference is that in the insurance world they insure against something which might happen but they assure against some they know definitely will happen at some stage, i.e., death.

Mortgage Life Assurance / Mortgage Life Insurance

Mortgage Life Assurance is used to protect your mortgage against the risk of you dying and leaving it behind for your family to continue paying.

Mortgage Life Assurance is only suitable for mortgages which are Capital and Repayment because the level of cover is designed to reduce as your mortgage reduces over the years.

The reduction ensures that there is always enough in the 'pot' to pay off the mortgage if the worst happens but there will be very little surplus remaining.

 

Decreasing Life Assurance / Decreasing Life Insurance

Decreasing Life Assurance is a term used to mean the same as Mortgage Life Assurance. The 'decreasing' refers to the reduction in cover over the years.

 

Term Life Assurance / Term Life Insurance

Term Life Assurance is the opposite of Mortgage Life Assurance in that the amount of cover remains the same throughout the term of the policy and does not reduce. This type of Life Assurance is suitable for those people with Interest Only mortgages, those wishing to cover funeral expenses and people wanting to leave a sum of money behind to ensure their families standard of living.

Level Life Assurance / Level Life Insurance

Level Life Assurance or Level Term Life Assurance is another term which is used to refer to Term Life Assurance.

Increasing Life Assurance / Increasing Life Insurance

Increasing Life Assurance is an extra option offered by most insurance companies which allows you to protect your Term Life Assurance policy from the effects of inflation. Each year you will be offered the opportunity to increase your amount of cover inline with the retail price index without any further need for medical information.

This allows your policy to retain its real value over the years so your family receive a payout of equivalent value in years to come.

Index Linked Life Assurance / Index Linked Life Insurance

Another term used to refer to the increasing life assurance option offered on term life assurance policies.

 

Critical Illness Cover

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Critical illness cover is an important financial safety net. It's designed to to pay out a fixed cash amount if you're diagnosed with one of the critical illnesses covered in the individual insurer's policy.

Critical Illness Cover is designed to pay out in most circumstances including cancer, heart attack and stroke. However because of advances in medicine, not every type of cancer will have a severe impact on your lifestyle if discovered and treated early enough, for example, a cancer needs to have spread or reached a specified severity to be covered.  

 

Income Protection

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How would you and your family cope financially if you were unable to work because of illness or accidental injury?  You might think it won't happen to you, but if you were in this situation how long could you afford to pay your mortgage/rent payments, household bills, children's school fees, mobile phone and satellite TV payments, or save for those luxuries in life? Bills continue to arrive, even when we are very sick and have lost our income. 

 

Even those of us who have savings to call on may struggle, as they might not last long when surviving on Government benefits. The money you maybe entitled to from the Government may not be as much as you might expect.  Following Government reform of the State Welfare system, claimants now undergo a much stricter and comprehensive medical test to determine if they are eligible to receive any benefits, and if so how much. Income Protection can provide you with a regular monthly income if you are off work because of illness or accidental injury during the cover term.

 

Family Protection

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A death in the family can be an extremely traumatic and painful time, particularly for remaining family and loved-ones.The financial pressures can be heightened when children are remaining. The loss of this person and the income they bring into the household can severely affect the future of remaining family.

 

For this reason family protection in the form of life insurance is essential to ensure their future is protected. The remaining family has the continued financial resources to maintain their standard of living and continue life the best they can. Family Income Benefit, is designed to pay out a regular benefit over a set period of time in the event of the assured's death. For example, Mr. Jones is insured with a family income benefit of £10,000 per annum over ten years but dies after 2 years of the policy being in force. The policy will continue to payout £10,000 a year for a further 8 years to his remaining family.​