If you want cheap payment protection then a specialist is the place to find it
- 2ND NOVEMBER 2007
Despite the bad reputation that precedes it due to the highly publicised mis-selling of the product, payment protection insurance can still be a very valuable product to have in case you should find yourself out of work after suffering from an illness, an accident or if you were to become unemployed through no fault of your own. However if you don’t want to pay over the odds for the cover then you have to shop with a specialist standalone provider to snap up cheap payment protection.
There are many other reasons why you should go with the standalone provider for the cheap payment protection insurance other than making huge savings on the cover and one of the best is getting the information you need to ensure that the product is suitable for your circumstances before you buy the cover. A lack of information when it comes to the product is what has caused the majority of mis-selling which the Financial Services Authority has been investigating since 2005 when the Office of Fair Trading received a super complaint from the Citizens Advice.
When bought correctly cheap payment protection insurance can give you an income if you come out of work through suffering from an accident, sickness or through unemployment. Cover begins to pay out once you have been out of work for a specific amount of time. The amount of time you have to wait before claiming depends of the provider. Ethical standalone provider British Insurance offer cheap payment protection that will begin to payout once you have been out of work for at least 30 days and would then carry on giving you an income for up to 12 months. Other providers ask that you are out of work for anywhere up to 90 days and some policies could continue to give a tax free income for up to 24 months.
While some changes for the better have been made when it comes to the selling techniques of providers, and despite warnings and fines being handed out, complaints regarding the insurance have been doubling and trebling. The Financial Services Authority have said that they will continue to review and watch over the sector and make recommendations along with urging providers to review their PPI sales and ensure that they give the consumer the advice they need at the time of selling the cover.
While some high street banks are now making the consumer aware that they do have options when it comes to taking out the cover others are still doing their very best to sell it alongside their loans for the huge profits it makes, with some of the more unscrupulous lenders all but insisting that taking payment protection with them is essential. This isn’t surprising when it has been reported that the industry brings in more than £5 billion a year in profits which brings in three times more than bank charges do.
Luckily there are ethical specialist lenders that put the consumer ahead of huge profits and British Insurance is one of them, offering cheap payment protection. They can save you up to 80% on loan payment protection and 40% on mortgage insurance and give you all the information you need before you take out the cover to ensure that the product is suitable for your circumstances.
