Home Contents Insurance

Home contents insurance is insurance that covers your belongings, other than your house, in the case of fire, theft or damage (depending on your particular policy - of course). If you think you don't need home contents insurance, then take a walk through your living room and just add up all those items that make your life good and then calculate how much it would cost you to replace them.
It's amazing what one can collect over a period of a few years. Now that you know how much it will cost to replace them, you can decide for yourself - can you afford not to take out home contents insurance.

If you already have home contents insurance, then just for laughs, do the same exercise - walk around your living room and take a quick inventory of what you have. Unless you've done a home contents list within the past year or so, you'll be alarmed at how much you've actually acquired.

Whether you're a new insurer or an old hand, the fact is that should something happen to your home, you'll need to give the insurance company a list of all the things that are missing or damaged. At such stressful times, unless you have an inventory, you're bound to forget half of the items you need to replace.

One of the easiest ways to take a full inventory of your home for home contents insurance purposes, is to take a video of the inventory. And remember, once you have the inventory, whether in the form of a list or in the form of a tape, always keep a copy of that inventory at some other location, other than at your house. It won't help you if the list goes up in flames when your house does.

Its also best to specifically indicate expensive items in your policy and keep the values of those items up to date.

As far as rates for home contents insurance, be sure to shop around for quotes to make sure you get the very best deal. A great way of comparing insurance rates and quotes is to get a quote online from a company like Insure.com or Insweb. They get some basic information from you and then present you with a number of comparative quotes.

Brigitta has two Bachelors degrees. One in commerce and one in law.

She currently practices as an advocate
For more information visit my website

By Brigitta Schwulst

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Home mortgage insurance

Mortgage insurance can be taken out for a premium each month which you can find cheaply if you look with specialist providers. This is one of the best ways to protect your monthly mortgage repayment each month and so protect the roof over your head against repossession. While the majority of lenders are willing to give you some lee-way with your mortgage repayments, of course this is only for the short term. If you cannot show your lender that you can catch up with missed repayments while also being able to carry on paying your mortgage then repossession could be imminent.

If your lender takes you to court to seek repossession then it can be as little as 28 days before you would have to find alternative accommodation and leave your home. You would have to remember that during this time you could be also recovering from illness or an accident or you might be looking for work. Can you imagine the stress that would be added onto this and at a time when you need to be thinking of yourself? As if you hadn't suffered enough, the stigma of being associated with being repossessed would follow you and affect your credit rating for the future. Now considering paying a small monthly premium suddenly does not seem so unaffordable, does it?

The majority of mortgage insurance policies would begin to provide benefit after 30 days; however some providers ask you are out of work for 90 days at least. Providers can give you benefit for 12 months or some policies will provide for 24 months so also check the terms and conditions before buying. Some will also backdate the cover to the first day of unemployment or incapacity.

The cost of the premium for a policy varies so it is worth shopping around for the cheapest. While you can take out mortgage payment protection insurance when taking on the mortgage, this can be the costliest choice for covering your mortgage repayments. Do not be forced into believing that you have to take cover this way. Some lenders have, in the past, made consumers believe that mortgage protection does have to be taken this way and that the borrowing depends on it. This is nothing short of blackmail and is just a way of grabbing money from the consumer. Of course you can be forgiven for thinking you would get the cheapest premium this way, especially if you got your mortgage for an excellent rate of interest. However standalone specialist providers in the majority of instances will provide a lower cost quote.

Another big plus for choosing to take cover with a specialist is that they will back up their mortgage insurance with advice and information. A lack of information is what led to the majority of problems within the sector and is what gave payment protection overall a bad name. Ethical providers will ensure that the key facts are given before the consumer buys. Protecting the roof over your head with cover from an independent provider can give you the peace of mind you need when suffering from illness or accident. You can concentrate on recovering and getting back to work or if you are a victim of unemployment then it would give you time to look round for another job.

Simon Burgess is Managing Director of the award-winning British Insurance, a specialist provider of mortgage insurance.

By Simon Lance Burgess
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Your Guide To UK Home Insurance

Home owner insurance is and essential form of protection for every homeowner around the world, regardless of where they happen to live. Some countries’ insurance provisions are far stronger than others though. The UK home insurance standard is higher than most and provides individuals with great property protection from the moment the home building and contents insurance UK policies come into force. There are some key pieces of information that you need to know before you take out a UK home insurance policy though.

In this day and age, high street lenders and banks have to diversify in order to keep profit margins high and ensure that they retain customers year after year. As a result, both banks and specialist insurance companies routinely provide UK home insurance. Banks that provide UK home insurance actually sell it as their own product but have specialist insurance companies behind the cover so that your bank based home owner insurance policy is just as good as those offered by said companies.

Unlike some other countries that require you to undergo a credit check before they approve your home owner insurance application, UK home insurance and finance regulations state that this is not necessary to obtain a basic home insurance policy in the UK. The Financial Services Authority, the regulating body of UK home insurance, has stated that treating customers fairly is a must for all financial institutions and that discriminating on the basis of credit history is unfair. Everyone should have the right to basic protection and therefore home building and contents insurance UK companies only take the actual address into consideration.

An address can reveal so much about the house. It is actually run through a database packed full of information about every location in the UK. The database can reveal the housing band, type of area, surrounding environmental elements and so on. Your quote is then based on that information as well as any other questions that you may be asked.

UK home insurance providers do not usually insure properties outside of the UK as a matter of principle. They cannot control factors outside of their own company and would have no way of monitoring and verifying claims. If you are purchasing property in the UK but currently reside abroad then it is possible to set up home owner insurance to commence on your arrival in your new home though. However, this does require special provisions that an insurance company can discuss further with you.

UK home insurance is a lot more comprehensive and simpler in nature than a lot of other countries’ insurance. The system and its regulating body have been designed specifically to benefit the consumer as well as make a profit. The claims process is generally simpler too so there can be no excuse for not protecting your property there!

You can also find more info on file home insurance claim and Home Contents Insurance. Homeowners-insurance-help.com is a comprehensive resource to get help about home insurance.

By David Faulkner

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Top Tips to Save on Home Insurance

New research from Legal & General reveals that 93 per cent of Brits are planning to make major financial cutbacks in the home as a result of the economic turmoil.

One of the top ten ways homeowners plan to beat the downturn is to shop around for cheaper home insurance. Indeed this action is to be encouraged as most homeowners could enjoy equally comprehensive coverage for considerably less if they take advantage of introductory offers and use a comparison website to gain a complete overview of the market.

However, shopping around for cheap home insurance isn't the only way to cut your insurance costs. Here are some more top tips:

- Fit a house alarm - Discounts are available for as much as 7.5 per cent if you fit an insurer approved burglar alarm.

- Other security devices - Security lights, time-switch lights, cameras and more could all earn a discount.

- Age - You can't control your age, but living with an older person could reduce your premiums as older people tend to be at home more often.

- Fit a smoke alarm - Many insurers will offer discounts for smoke alarms that offer fast alerts to home fires.

- Join a Neighbourhood Watch scheme - Get to know your community better and potentially save on home insurance by joining a watch scheme.

- Build up a no-claims discount - Try to avoid making claims for minor incidents as there are massive discounts to be enjoyed if you are claims-free.

- Pay annually - Paying your home insurance premiums in one chunk will cut out monthly interest charges.

- Increase voluntary excess - Set it at a level you can comfortably afford, but high enough to keep your premiums low.

The key however, is to shop online for home insurance. Most providers offer cheap home insurance through their websites because of the reduced overheads involved in arranging a policy.

By Alex Gregory

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