4 in 10 Mortgage-Holders Lack Life Insurance Payment Protection

Any financial adviser worth their salt will tell you that one of the major reasons for life insurance is to ensure your dependants are not left high and dry in the event of your death. Being able to maintain payments on one’s home is a large part of their continuing welfare and comfort. However, a survey carried out on behalf of Sainsbury’s Life Insurance found strong evidence that up to 7 million mortgage-holders with a collective outstanding balance of £245 billion had made no provision with their insurance providers to have their payments covered if the worst was to happen to them. On average across all age ranges, some 41 per cent of people with a home loan were not covered by their policy. The researchers found that those who were subject to a mortgage agreement but whose payments were not covered by the policy tended to have an outstanding mortgage balance of over £36,000. Sainsbury’s life insurance head Helen Williams said: “Mortgage repayments are one of the biggest financial commitments in many people’s lives but, as our research shows, unfortunately it is not something that enough mortgage holders have taken steps to protect.” Other findings by the researchers included the revelation that a third of 35- to 44-year-olds had no mortgage payment protection as part of their life insurance, with 30 per cent of 45- to 54-year-olds and 38 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds.

Published on 24 March 2020

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