The majority of individuals have a credit card and the use of the card can vary considerably. Some reply heavily on their card simply to make ends meet from month to month. Others use it for the unexpected financial outgoings that can crop up from time to time. However you use your credit card you have to pay back what you have borrowed on it each month when the bill drops through the door. This means you have to pay the balance off or at very least the minimum payment asked for by the provider.

If you lose your income you would still be expected to find the money each month. If you suffer incapacity or unemployment and have credit card cover behind you it would provide an income.

To take out credit card cover you would have to choose the percentage of the monthly outstanding balance on your credit that you want to protect. This amount would need to be pre-agreed by your chosen provider and is then the sum you get back tax free each month should you suffer one of the events you had taken out insurance for. This income would be welcomed as you would then out it towards the repayment of your credit card and would not have to struggle to find the whole of the repayment.

Your provider might pay out once the 30th day had passed but with others it could be 90 days. Your benefit might continue for 12 months or it could continue for 24 months depending on the terms offered.

When considering a policy you should be able to choose what events you want protection against. You might want protection against unemployment and incapacity together. You could also just choose to protect your repayments against the chance of incapacity alone or redundancy alone whichever would suit your lifestyle better. Also check with the provider to find out if the provider included carer cover in with your policy. If this form of protection is included then you would be able to stop at home and take care of a family member if they should become incapacitated. This means you would not have to pay out for carer costs and both you and your family member would feel more secure.

If you do not have credit card cover behind you then life could become very difficult. You could use savings to see you through your unemployment or incapacity. However these could run dry well before you had recovered or had found work. You might try and claim an income from the State but you would have to prove you are eligible for protection. Even if you are you might find that the income you might be entitled to receive may fall short of the regular income you were used to bringing home. At least with a payment protection policy to fall back onto you would know exactly how much would be coming into the home and for how long those benefits would continue.

Credit card cover could stop financial worry if you lost your income. You might be unable to work due to being involved in an accident, or you could become ill or you might suffer from redundancy. In any of these cases you would still have to find the money needed each month to continue servicing your credit card repayments. If you have a policy behind you to fall back onto then of course this would provide you with the much needed income. Without it and you would struggle to find the income which could lead to severe debt problems and the possibility of a court appearance.

To take out credit card cover with an independent provider you choose the percentage of the monthly outstanding balance you want to protect. This income is then claimed if you lose your income to the events chosen to insure against once the period of deferment had passed and would last for the policies term. Usually you would be eligible to put in a claim between 30 and 90 days with some providers backdating the protection to the first day. Payments could last for a period of 12 months with one payment each month or some providers offer 24 monthly payments so you need to find this out before you take on the policy.

12 months can be more time than is needed when taking out cover and 24 months of protection would cost more, however you do need to weigh up that the cover would cease when it reaches its term regardless of your circumstances. You also need to think how you would manage if you were unable to claim on the insurance until 90 days. By this time you could have incurred 3 months of debt from missed credit card bills. In this case a policy paying out from the 30th day could provide more security and peace of mind.

The protection would provide a substantial amount of income each month, at least for its term, which you would use towards paying your credit card bill when it arrived each month. You would not have to worry about turning to your savings as a means of maintaining your bill. Savings might not last for the duration of your unemployment or incapacity and even if they did you could make a substantial hole in many years of savings and be left with little left.

To help keep down the cost of credit card cover and to ensure that you were only paying out for cover that you needed you could choose what you wanted protection against. Redundancy and incapacity could be protected in the same policy if this suited your lifestyle. However if you were to get a good sick pay plan then you might just want to protect against redundancy alone. However you might just need protection for incapacity on its own and with the standalone provider you could just choose to protect against this too. Age is also taken into account so the younger you are when applying the cheaper the protection would be.

Credit card cover to fall back onto if you lose your income to redundancy or incapacity could make your life a great deal easier while you searched around for work or concentrated on your recovery. The payment supplied from the protection would be used towards meeting your monthly credit card balance which would greatly ease any financial worries you would have about your repayments.

If you take your policy with an independent provider you would have total control over your policy. You could choose whether to take protection against both unemployment and incapacity together or to protect against redundancy alone or incapacity alone.

You would also be able to decide on the percentage of your monthly outstanding balance on your credit card to protect and this would need to be pre-agreed with the provider you choose as the percentage would be the amount you get back if you need to claim due to suffering one of the events. You would need to check how long you would have to be unemployed or incapacitated before being eligible to claim and also how long the benefit from your policy would last. Some providers might pay out on the credit card cover once you have been unemployed or unable to work for a mere 30 days and some date back to the first day of these events. Some providers could ask that wait until the 90th day before making your claim. Following the onset you then have either 12 months or 24 months of protection to rely on and then it ceases.

If you should become unlucky enough to have to make a claim due to your chosen events you would at least not be worrying where you would get a substantial amount of the outstanding balance on your credit card each month. This would at least provide some peace of mind which could allow a lot faster recovery or would allow you to be able to concentrate on attending interviews and finding work. If you did not have cover to rely on as your safety net then you could have to make drastic cutbacks in order to try and find the money needed for your credit card bill each month. Life could become very uncomfortable for not only you but also any family members in the home during this time and even when making cutbacks you could still be unable to come up with the money needed.

You would at the very least have to meet the minimum repayment each month on your credit card otherwise the lender could take court proceedings against you. If a judge believes that the only way you could pay off your credit card bill is through seizing and selling your possessions the he could send bailiffs into your home. Again your life and that of family members would be altered as such as your TV, DVD player, computer and any other expensive pieces of electrical items could be removed from your home. A small monthly premium for credit card cover could help to stop any of this becoming a reality which would have to be faced.

There are millions of credit cards out there with individuals turning to them for many reasons and while working paying off the monthly outstanding balance is generally not a problem. However where would you get the money from each month to pay off your balance, which of course would vary depending on how much you use your card, if you lose the income you rely on each month. You could lose your income as the result of suffering from an accident; you might also lose it if you were to become a victim of unemployment by redundancy. Whichever event caused you to suffer a loss of income you could have a struggle to pay off your credit card balance or even manage to pay the minimum sum each month. Your financial struggles at least when it comes to your credit card could be avoided if you had chosen to take out credit card cover.

When you take on the credit card the lender might ask if you want credit card cover to safeguard your monthly balance against these events. While protection can be a lifeline, taking it with the lender can be the dearest way of getting protection for your card. You can however at anytime choose to search and compare the cost of a policy with an independent payment protection provider. By doing so you could save a great deal of money on your card protection. The independent provider will quote you a monthly premium which is based on your age, the level of protection and the amount of your monthly outstanding balance that you choose to protect. The sum chosen to cover needs to be pre-agreed by the provider as it is the amount of money you would receive back if you were to have to claim due to one of the insured events. Most providers will begin to pay your sum of money once you have been unemployed or incapacitated for a certain period of time. This is generally in the region of between 30 and 90 days, with some providers offering to backdate your policy to the first date that you become incapacitated or unemployed.

Payments would then continue for either a period of 12 months or 24 months and they then cease regardless of your circumstances.

The standalone provider offers you the chance to tailor your credit card cover to your specific needs. While you might be able to benefit from taking out unemployment and incapacity protection together you might just choose to take your cover for unemployment alone if your employer pays a generous sick pay plan. You might however just need to protect against the chance that you might become incapacitated. Covering your monthly outstanding balance does not have to cost a fortune if you shop around for the policy and it can save you a great deal of added worry about where to get the money from each month to keep your head above water.

Credit card cover could help you to maintain the repayments of your credit card if you were to suffer unemployment due to redundancy or be unable to work due to incapacity. If you suffered from any of these events your life could be thrown into turmoil. You would have a struggle on your hands to find the money and could have to make some drastic cutbacks, however you might still fall short and be unable to service your monthly bill. With protection behind you there would at least be some money coming in towards you being able to continue meeting your credit card outgoing.

The income you would be able to rely on would be the percentage of the monthly outstanding balance on your card that you chose to insure and which the provider would pre-agree upon. This would come as a welcome relief and of course would go a long way towards you managing to service your credit card bill when it was due. You would receive the income between the 30th and the 90th day of your unemployment or incapacity and then continue to benefit for either 12 or 24 months depending on the provider of your choice.

You could of course take a credit card cover policy that is offered at the time of you taking out your credit card. However if you were to choose this way to protect your repayments you could pay way more over the odds for the protection than if you choose to search and compare premiums. With the standalone provider you would be quoted a premium based on your age, the percentage you choose to insure of your balance and the level of cover you chose to take.

You could decide you do not need cover for unemployment and incapacity together. You can therefore tailor your protection as you need it. If you only need cover for incapacity you could choose just to protect against this. You could also just choose to take out protection for unemployment if this would suit your needs better. If the policy is based on age this would mean the younger you are when you apply for the protection, the cheaper you get the protection.

In the past credit card cover along with the rest of the payment protection family has been mis-sold. This was due to the lack of information about the exclusions that can be found in the protection. The amount of exclusions would depend on the provider and you do need to check these against your lifestyle in order to ensure that you would be eligible to make a claim on the policy.

Changes will soon be made to the way that all types of payment protection will be sold, including credit card protection. The lender will not be able to sell the policy alongside the credit agreement but would instead have to wait a period of 7 days before then being able to contact the consumer and ask if they want cover. Lenders will also have to make the consumer aware that they do have the option of being able to shop around and compare the cost of the protection themselves with standalone providers.

Instead of stuffing those credit card statements straight in a drawer, put aside the denial for a few minutes and take a long, hard look at how your debt is more than you thought but your credit card cover is non-existent or much less than you thought.

The interesting thing about debt is if you don’t control it, it grows to control you.

Now you’ve added up those figures and come up with a mind boggling total think about how you would keep up your repayments if you lost your job tomorrow.

Your probably in the same boat as most of us – you couldn’t.

So unless you grab a new job quickly that has at least the same pay as the one you lose, you’re on a downward spiral of missed payments, credit charges and black blots on your credit record.

It’s time to think seriously about shopping for credit card cover.

This cover is a payment protection insurance that looks after your credit card repayments if you lose your job through no fault of your own or can’t work for a prolonged period due to accident or illness.

You can take out this protection at any time – either when you take on a new card or if you have a handful of existing cards, right now.

Credit card cover offers temporary financial support in times of hardship to close the gap between what should be coming in and what’s going out when you can’t work.

The cover buys you time to regroup, find a new job or recuperate fully from your illness or injury without having to worry about your credit card bills.

Typically, a policy will pay out for between 12 and 24 months, depending on the terms and conditions of the insurer.
You don’t have to take the cover offered by your credit card provider, it’s optional and you are free to shop wherever you like – and you might find good credit card cover at a reasonable price away from the big name lenders.

If you are considering shopping for cover, then here are a few tips to bear in mind:

• You must be in work (for at least 16 hours a week) to apply
• You must be aged between 18 and 65 years old
• Different terms may apply to salaried employees than to contract workers or the self-employed.
• Any pre-existing medical conditions must be disclosed to the insurer on application
• If you know you are facing redundancy, your application will be rejected
• Many insurers exclude cover for medical conditions like pregnancy, back ache and stress
• No claims will be paid out in the policy qualifying period, which varies from 30 days to 120 days with different insurers.
• If you can afford to extend the deferment period – the time between your claim and when the policy starts paying out – you may find your premium is reduced.

Credit card cover is worth considering as a flexible, short-term aid for managing debt in the event of redundancy, long-term illness or injury.

Most people will remember their first credit card, as it is often available when people reach 18 years of age and match a certain level of criteria. While a useful tool and an integral part of modern personal finance, the credit card can also pose problems for people who suddenly find themselves unable to manage the repayments. Credit card cover is a term most people immediately associate with insurance against theft or fraud, but it can also be bought as a protection against being unable to pay through no fault of your own.

Anyone who has fallen behind knows how quickly interest and fees can turn a small concern into a big problem on a credit card. This can be even more frustrating if you are running out of cash because you have been stripped of your main income due to accident, injury, or illness. Credit card cover with a payment protection element can take away this concern by simply paying a proportion of your outstanding balance on your behalf for a set period of time. This continues either until the timeframe expires or you are back in work earning again.

This type of policy will start to pay out around a month after a successful claim, and the insurer will normally begin paying back a percentage of someone’s outstanding balance. This can often be more than the minimum repayment required, and what someone can expect to see paid off is often worked out via a percentage. So someone with 10 per cent protection can expect a first payout of £200 if they had a balance outstanding of £2,000.

As a form of payment protection insurance, credit card cover might be something some people choose to avoid because of bad publicity the market has received recently. This is because the Competition Commission has investigated the sector following the mis-selling of some policies by high street firms.

Most of the concern related to insurance sold to someone as they took out the credit card by the provider themselves. It is important to stress that you do not have to take any cover offered to you by a provider in order to qualify for the card. You’re entitled to turn down their offer and seek a possibly cheaper policy from a different company.

An example of a standalone credit card cover insurer is payment protection specialists British Insurance. They only offer protection and do not deal in other types of financial product. They may therefore be able to get someone a far cheaper deal. Company managing Director Simon Burgess said: “This type of policy can be particularly useful in more uncertain financial times. It protects someone if they are diagnosed with an illness which sees them end up without an income, or even if they simply have an accident which means they are off work for a long period. Involuntary redundancy is also covered.”

Credit card cover could stop you from falling behind on the repayments if you lost your income. A policy would cover against the possibility of unemployment caused by redundancy or incapacity caused by accident or sickness. A policy is usually offered when you take out the card with the lender on the high street but you can choose to search and compare for cover with an independent provider.

One of the leaders in payment protection products which credit card cover is just one form, is British Insurance. They offer one of the most competitive quotes for a policy and provide the information you need to determine whether cover would be suitable. With British Insurance you can protect a percentage of the monthly outstanding balance on your credit card and then claim it back if you become a victim to one of the events insured against. You would need to stand to a certain amount of time before claiming on the insurance and the policy would only payout for so many months before ceasing. In the case of ethical specialist British Insurance this would be from the 30th day with payments up to the 12th month.

Shopping around and comparing credit card cover with other providers could lead to cover that pays out for 24 months but you would have to check the details of the cover. You would also have to check the small print to find out the starting date on the policy as with some providers you could have to wait for up to 90 days. Exclusions would also need checking and comparing as these too can differ with providers and it is essential that you check these against your circumstances before buying cover.

A policy could stop you from having to worry about where you would get the bulk of the money to service your credit card bill each month. Without a policy to rely on you could have to make some drastic cutbacks with the hope you would have money to meet the repayments.

Credit card cover may be another payment that would have to be paid out each month, but when you consider the consequences that you could be faced with it can be well worth it. The first thing that would happen if you were to fall behind with your repayments is that your credit file would be affected. Your credit file tells lenders all about your previous financial history and if it is marked with missed or late payments it can ruin any future chance of borrowing. You will of course still have to repay what you owe and without being able to make an agreement with the lender they could take you to court. This could result in you being given a County Court Judgement and you could have bailiffs come to your home and take your belongings.

You can obtain credit card cover quite easily these days. In a matter of minutes you can complete the transaction and the next thing you will receive is an agreement in the post for you to sign and return….if you’re lucky.

Some providers can add this on to your credit card account automatically. But is the policy worth it?

To answer this question, let’s look at what the cover can do for you. Firstly, it will pay a monthly benefit in the form of a payment towards your credit card balance. This payment can last for 12 or 24 months depending on the individual policy terms or until you return to work, whichever is sooner.

Premiums can be charged per £100 so for example the cover could cost you £0.60 per £100. This means if you don’t have an outstanding balance on your card you will not have to pay a premium.

Other policies could charge a premium whether or not you have a balance it all depends on the type of credit card cover you select.

The policy will only pay out in cases such as unforeseen redundancy, sickness or accident. This payment could be vital especially if you have no other source of income or no access to public funds.

Using credit cards is a part of day to day life; you can use it to pay for almost any and everything. Just when you think your card limit will be maxed out, your generous card provider will increase your credit limit and the spending cycle continues.

It is in cases like these that you have to consider how your payments will be maintained if you were to lose your salaried income.

Choosing A Provider

Selecting a provider often comes down to the cost of the premiums. Most providers offer the same benefits in that a percentage of your credit card balance will be paid each month although you could have online fraud protection with some providers.

If you obtained a quote from an independent provider then you will more than likely pay lower premiums than with a high street company.

One such independent protection company is British Insurance. Managing Director, Simon Burgess comments ‘As an ethical provider of protection policies, we believe in putting our customer’s needs first. To us this means providing the best possible benefits at the lowest premiums possible. We don’t subscribe to charging higher premiums just to line the pockets of our investors’

Before signing up for your credit card cover you might want to check through the fine print. It often relates to exclusions that could affect your ability to make a claim. Ask your provider about all the eligibility rules and make sure your circumstances match the requirement of the policy.

Credit card cover can be a beneficial policy providing you do your homework and find out about the terms and conditions. It will help you maintain your credit cards until you return to work. This can be very reassuring in a very stressful time.

You could consider taking out credit card cover to protect the repayments of your credit card in the event that the unexpected happened. The policy would allow you to protect a percentage of the monthly balance that was outstanding on the card against you losing your income due to accident, sickness or unemployment. This amount would be pre-agreed with by the provider you chose to take protection with and would then allow you to continue servicing your credit card bill when it became due.

There would always be a waiting period with all providers before you could put in a claim. Ethical standalone payment protection provider British Insurance lets you claim from the 30th day. You would then have an income to maintain the repayments for up to 12 months and then cover ceases.

Credit card cover is a great way of ensuring that you would have the much needed money when your bill needed paying. Without having the income to do so you could have to make drastic lifestyle changes which could have an affect on the whole of the family. Even then you might not get the money together to pay your credit car bill. If you should fall into debt with credit card repayments you might be taken to court by the lender. If this happens you could have a County Court Judgement against you. At the very least your credit file would be affected by missed or late repayments and this could make obtaining credit of any type very hard in the future. Your credit file would be looked at whenever you apply for credit and if yours is in bad shape it would affect your application even if you were trying to obtain a monthly mobile contract.

When looking into taking out credit card cover you need to be aware that there are exclusions in all cover offered by all providers. Ethical standalone specialist in payment protection British Insurance only puts in the most common but other providers could include many more. The exclusions can be found in the small print of the policy and British Insurance supply you with them on their website. When checking exclusions also check to find out when your policy would begin supplying your income as with some providers this could be 90 days. Also, double check to find out how long protection would continue paying as some offer a 24 month policy, but at a much higher cost than a 12 month policy.

Credit card cover could be a far better form of back up plan than relying being able to claim an income from the State. Sometimes even if you are eligible to claim State benefits the amount you might be able to claim might not match your income. Savings could also let you down as it could be many months before you could return to work or find work and they could have run dry well before then.