Facing a long stay in hospital or a long period at home recovering due to an injury are both stressful enough circumstances without worrying how things like bills and other commitments might be paid. But sadly, creditors often still expect that you will repay debts even when you fall on a difficult set of circumstances. For this reason some people look to cover themselves with a safety net such as income payment protection, a form of financial insurance.
Different levels of cover are available but in general this sort of policy will give someone a lump sum tax-free for each month they are stripped of their income. Policies normally cover illness, injury following an accident, or involuntary redundancy.
The cash can be used for things like credit card bills, unsecured and secured loans, and other regular outgoings. Many policies insure around 50 per cent of someone’s regular income, meaning each payment following a successful claim will be for half of what they would normally get from their job. Say someone takes home £1,400 a month, their insurer might provide them with £700 per month following a successful claim.
The idea it is to keep someone ticking over until they are able to get back into work. It can be used for life’s essentials and could potentially protect someone’s credit rating and keep debt collection agencies at arms length. To qualify most companies ask that a policyholder is at least 18 years of age, is a full UK resident, and has held down a full-time job for at least six months.
Payments will normally continue for around 12 to 24 months or until someone is back at work, which ever arrives sooner. Income payment protection should not be confused with income protection, which is a longer policy covering someone’s income and replacing it for far longer than the 12 to 24 month periods often available with income payment protection.
A person can normally expect the first payment to arrive at around a month after their successful claim, although many firms will backdate payments until the first day someone was without their income. A lot of companies are also quite flexible about the type of cover they offer. For example, some people may be more worried about redundancy than they are about anything else. This means that some firms offer policies which merely pay out if someone is told their services are no longer required by their employer.
Income payment protection, while available from lenders themselves and high street banks and insurance firms, can also be bought from more independent companies like payment protection specialists British Insurance. The company’s managing director, Simon Burgess said: “Peace of mind can be a bargain at any price, but our policies are highly competitive, and in many cases cheaper than big-name lenders.”
For many years I have been a staunch campaigner against the major names in finance who, I believe, rip-off their customers by selling over priced, often unsuitable payment protection insurance (PPI) cover.