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Michael Challiner -'s Articles

  • Adverse Credit – We've All Heard Of It, But What Does It Mean?
    If you're one of those lucky people who have never missed a single credit card or loan repayment, then you don't need to worry about the term ‘adverse credit'. In this article, we are discussing the ins and outs of the term ‘adverse credit', something that describes people who have defaulted on credit repayments to a significant extent. The terms ‘sub-prime and ‘poor credit' are also used to describe the same situation. What we are here to ascertain is: what do you have to do...
  • Regulations Tighten On Interest Only Mortgages
    More than 25% of homeowners are paying for their homes with an interest-only mortgage say the Abbey. The reason is obvious – their monthly payments are much less. For example, a £125,000 interest only mortgage at an interest rate of 5% and repayable in 25 years time, costs £525 per month - but on a repayment basis the monthly cost rises by £210 to £735 per month.

    Understandably, this level of cash saving has proved highly popular with first time buyers struggling to get t...
  • Should Your Life Insurance Policy Be Written In Trust?
    According to one of the largest UK life insurance companies, just 1% of life policies are written in trust. That is disgraceful and reflects poorly on the financial industry.

    Let's explain.

    If your life insurance policy is “Written in Trust” then, in the event of a claim, the insurance company pays out directly to the beneficiaries you name on the policy. The significance of this is easily missed.

    It means that if the policy is “Written in Trust”, the proceeds fro...
  • Millions Forced To Opt For Private Dental Treatment
    This April the Government is forcing a new service contract on dentists that includes a new pay scale, changes to their working hours and surgery arrangements. Now dentists are not a cantankerous profession, but there's widespread irritation and disillusionment amongst them at the Governments seemingly heavy-handed action. And they're determined not to be pushed around.

    As a result thousands of dentists are registering their refusal to accept the new contract and have giv...
  • Are Your Home Insurance Premiums Constantly Rising?
    Last year the UK's average premium for Buildings Insurance increased by 1% to just over £205 and the average for Contents Insurance rose to £151, up 2%. But within the market we've seen some much bigger rises – if you're with Norwich Union you'll have seen your premium rise by around 6%.

    So what's going on? Every year we see premiums rising. Surely with so much competition in the home insurance market, you wouldn't expect to see such inexorable rises in premiums?

    Let'...
  • Tell The Insurers Everything When You Apply For Life And Critical Illness Insurance.
    The failure to disclose information, especially medical information, is the most common reason why an insurer will reject a claim on a life or critical illness policy. To help underline some issues, we want to tell you a true story - but we've concealed the policyholders' name and a few other aspects to preserve anonymity.

    Mrs A was fighting a secondary infection following surgery to remove cancerous lymph nodes in her groin when she received further bad news. Her critica...
  • Keyman Insurance – A Business Essential
    If you own your own business, you'll have insurance in place for your buildings, stock and vehicles, and you will be likely to have public liability insurance. You may also be insured for professional indemnity and legal costs – but have you considered insuring your most important assets – your key staff?

    In the UK there are 3.9 million small, often family, businesses with up to four employees – if one of those key staff were to die or fall seriously ill, it could mean th...
  • The Offset Mortgage – Why Is It Growing In Popularity?
    The biggest innovation in the mortgage market in recent years, the offset mortgage, is now starting to take a significant share of the market. Now, only six years after they were introduced, the offset and the current account mortgage account for 10% of all borrowed mortgage capital.

    According to one of the UK's largest mortgage lenders, as many as 25% of existing mortgage holders could save money in the long run by choosing an offset mortgage. If you're one of those poss...
  • Payment Protection Insurance – Is It Worthwhile?
    The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has been looking into the issue of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) and the way that it is sold to people taking out loans in the UK. The list includes many of the UK's biggest banks and building societies, and it is single-handedly earning lenders over £1 billion a year.

    The point of PPI is that if a loan borrower becomes unemployed or unable to work though accident or illness, the loan provider will cover their payments until the...
  • Mortgage Protection Insurance – The Essentials
    It's tempting to sit back and relax once you've moved into your new home – but hang on, have you made sure that you're insured against all the risks that could stop you from paying your mortgage? Many things could go wrong and make it impossible for you to work, and in this article we go through each risk, and assess how important it is that you take that into account. If you are responsible for a family, then it is particularly important that you take heed of the following f...
  • Life Insurance – 66% Of Applicants Face Loaded Premiums
    If you're lucky, you'll get a life insurance quotation that you are happy with, progress to application, and get yourself insured within 48 hours at the original price quoted. Unfortunately this isn't the case for 66% of applicants - who face delays and loaded premiums.

    So why is this happening? Well, life insurance companies provide quotes based on the ‘perfect person' – which basically means you must be 45 or under and in excellent health, have no hereditary illness in ...
  • Health Insurance – Not As Straightforward As It Would Seem
    Most of the seven million people covered by health insurance in the UK have a policy provided by their company. As such it is a useful benefit, but many of us assume that it will cover any kind of health issue and this is definitely not the case. The insurers exclude a wide variety of possible claims, and this article will explain those in detail.

    Health insurance has a very specific purpose – to get people suffering from short-term, curable health problems straight throu...
  • Life Insurers Use The Body Mass Index To Tighten The Belt On Fat People
    Overweight people are in the firing line again. Life insurance companies are increasing premiums up to four fold for fat people. They've always charged more for those of us who over-eat, but during the last year the penalties have got worse.

    In moves to tighten the belts further, the life insurers are lowering the weight limits they use to categorise people. This tougher move means that those who are merely overweight and would have previously qualified for a standard pre...
  • Remortgaging – Is It Still Worthwhile?
    Mortgage lenders have a derogatory name for people who switch mortgage lenders to follow lower rates – they call them “Rate Tarts”. The author has a much more apt description – Shrewd Shoppers! After all, who spends more for exactly the same product, in this case money, when you can get it cheaper elsewhere? After all a £ from one lender as effective as a £ from another!

    The mortgage market is highly competitive and as long as lenders use price as the main weapon in their...
  • Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance The Do's And Don'ts
    When you've taken out a mortgage you've make a long-term commitment to maintain the monthly repayments for the full duration of the mortgage. That's going to be over many years but you're making that commitment without the benefit of a crystal ball – no one knows how your circumstances are going to change, for good or bad. So that must represent a big risk. Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI) is one of a range of insurances that includes life insurance and critical i...
  • Foreign Currency Mortgages – What Are They And What Are The Risks?
    99.9% of mortgage borrowers raise the money they need to buy their home in pounds sterling and pay the prevailing UK based interest rate. But it does not have to be that way……..

    Whilst by its' own historical standards, the UK's domestic interest rates are low, they are still significantly higher than in the Eurozone, America, Switzerland and indeed, Japan. Therefore, you can currently borrow the money you need in Euros, $ dollars, Swiss Francs or Yen, secure the debt agai...
  • Foreign Currency Mortgages – The Pros And Cons
    Virtually all mortgage borrowers go with a mainstream UK lender to make the biggest purchase of their lives, it’s the done thing and to be honest most people don’t realise there is a viable alternative – the foreign currency mortgage.

    Interest rates are reasonably healthy in the UK at the moment, particularly in comparison with the 1980s, however interest rates are a lot higher here than they are in the Eurozone, Switzerland, America and Japan.

    Did you know that you ca...
  • Proposed Changes Could Result In Lower Car Insurance Premiums
    At the moment, the legal system in Britain forces all personal injury claims to go through the courts and be judged on an individual basis. Many of these claims crawl through the courts at a leisurely pace, the result being expensive court costs. Even worse, for every 0„51 that is paid out in compensation, it has been estimated that the legal profession receives 40p for their legal work. This amounts to the British legal profession receiving an estimated 0„52 billion a year...
  • Life Insurance – Why Does The UK Have A £2.3 Trillion Protection Gap?
    According to Swiss Re, one of the world's largest re-insurance companies, less than half of the UK population has any form of life insurance protection. They then go on to put a figure on the value of this protection gap. Using an average income of £20,000 and assuming that the value of protection needed ranges between 5 and 10 times income, they put a value on the protection gap at £2.3 trillion.

    But in all probability, whilst the gap is huge, £2.3 trillion is likely to ...
  • Adverse Credit – When Is A Credit History Labelled As Being “Adverse”?
    If you are a borrower with a history of unsatisfactory credit transactions, the lenders will describe your credit history as “adverse”. The expressions “poor credit”, “bad credit” and “sub-prime” all describe exactly the same situation. This leads to a number of questions; what credit information is collected about you, where does it come from and how bad must your credit history be for it to be labelled as “adverse”?

    It's the credit agencies like Equifax and Experian whi...
  • Buying A Second Hand Car? 19 Tips To Avoid Getting Your Fingers Burnt.
    • Do your homework. Read up about the model of car you're thinking about. Will it perform as you will want? Be aware of any known mechanical problems with that particular model and remember to check them out when you take it for a test drive (see tip 15).

    • Look up the current second hand values for the car. Try starting at www.what car .com. Also get some of the second hand car magazines and your local paper. Check out the prices being asked for similar cars.

    • Car I...
  • Critical Illness Insurance – The Press Are Giving Insurers A Hard Time.
    Recent stories in the press have again lambasted the insurers over critical illness insurance. The core problem is that a critical illness claim is not as straightforward as, for example, a claim under life insurance. With life insurance it's going to be hard for the insurance company to argue that you're not dead!

    By their very nature, critical illness claims are much more complicated. The insurer will need to satisfy itself that the claim is validated in three key areas...
  • Big Changes On The Horizon For Critical Illness Insurance.
    In recent years sales of critical illness insurance have flagged. The primary cause is the huge 70% increase in premiums experienced during recent years. For many, critical illness insurance has simply priced itself out of the market.

    It's not that critical illness insurance is a bad idea. After all it pays out a lump sum if the policyholder is diagnosed with one of the many critical illnesses listed on the policy and the policyholder survives at least 28 days from diagno...

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