Insurance Archives

Hidden Problems Renters Face with Their Credit Score

Your Credit Score May Be Costing You Thousands of Dollars

Many young people don’t realize their credit score has a big impact on their ability to rent a home or apartment. Most landlords pull renters credit and credit reports before agreeing to sign a lease, and a less than desirable FICO score can severely limit your chances of getting into a decent apartment at all, let alone at a reasonable price. 90% of top lenders use FICO® Scores. Insurance companies, too, often charge higher insurance premiums to applicants with poor credit scores. But do you have to let your negative credit score affect you in this way? Can you rebuild your credit history solely as a renter? Can paying your rent on time help you to rebuild your credit? These are … Read more

Different Types of Insurance Available

by Guest Contributor

Insurance is a financial product in which companies that offer it will take on some form of monetary risk in return for the payment of premiums. There are many types of insurance that you may want to consider purchasing to protect yourself and your family.

An individual will typically invest in it to guard against having to pay out a large sum of money for common problems that may occur. Being insured gives peace of mind that should disaster strike, the financial implications of this can be dealt with and some of the common insurance products available include the following.

Life Insurance

No one wants to think about dying although all adults need to consider the problems this can leave for family members. This is especially true for those that are breadwinners, and life insurance is designed to pay out a sum of money in the event of the insured person dying.

This is most commonly paid to a family member and is a way for someone to ensure their loved ones are provided for in the event of their death. Contacting a company that offers this is a way to get life insurance quotes that will show how much money can be obtained for different premiums.

Property Insurance

Anyone buying a home or business premises will usually have to get property insurance as part of the deal for receiving a mortgage. This type of business insurance can have a few elements to it, with the two most common being building and contents.

The building part covers for the cost of damage to the property caused by fire, flood, and other disasters. The contents part covers for the loss of the property owner’s belongings due to theft, vandalism, or damage.

How To Find A Reliable Buyer For Your Structured Settlement

by Guest Contributor

A structured settlement agreement can never be altered once it has been made, preventing you from getting a lump sum amount when required during an emergency. But the law does allow you to transfer the rights of receiving the annuity to a third person if you wish to do so; or in short, the law does not deny selling of the structured settlement and obtaining money for it.

So whether it’s a medical emergency, an opportunity to buy a high value real estate or for even funding college education, you can sell the structured settlement and obtain the appropriate money for it. Obviously here the question rises of where to sell the settlement and to whom. This article outlines everything you need to know about finding a buyer for your structured settlement, how they operate, what are the costs involved and the legal formalities involved.

The definition Of A Structured Settlement Reliable Buyer

In order to prevent the recipient of a settlement squandering money and again ending up in financial trouble, the periodic payment settlement act was established in 1982, which presented the option for defendants to pay the agreed settlement in the form of annuities. Though this was a boon in one way, it was quite restricting for the recipients as the economic condition was ever changing. To help people out in such cases, few financial companies started buying the structured settlement and paid the lump sum amount to the recipient in return.

But during the 90’s the business took off so well, that a lot of them started to make unreasonable profits out of it by charging extra fees and undervaluing the original settlement amount. Hence the reliability of the buyers became questionable and the government had to intervene to make the process more transparent.

Are You Feeling Peer Pressure To Buy Whole Life Insurance?

by Hank Coleman

A friend of mine recently complained about an old college roommate who was trying to pressure him to buy whole life insurance. He was having trouble figuring out how to tell him no, because they’d been so close back then.

This is an all-too-common occurrence for young professionals in their late 20s and 30s. This is the time when friends and family are test-driving new professions — like sales gigs, for example.

Many insurance brokers push whole-life policies because they provide them with the juiciest of commissions.

Several governmental surveys suggest that the average American will change jobs more than 11 times in his life. For many of us, it’s only a matter of time before we take a sales job that pays on commission.

Why They Peer Pressure You to Buy Whole Life Insurance?

For many people starting off in the financial services industry, the mantra is “you eat what you kill.” They have to sell their product, insurance policies, investments, brokerage services, etc., because the lion’s share of their paycheck comes from commissions on the sales they bring in.

But when people take that first sales job, they’re not likely to have a big, established client base to sell to. So they turn to the contacts they do have — friends, family, and coworkers — whom they bombard with pitches to buy products that might not always be the best fit for them.

Why Whole Life Insurance Gets a Bad Rap

Most Americans are just fine with a term life insurance policy — a relatively low-cost safety net to protect the people who depend on your income and other contributions should you die prematurely.

How much you need depends on the expenses you expect it to cover — if you’re responsible for mortgage payments, or expect your income to fund your children’s college tuition, you’ll need more. But when those needs are in the past, you often don’t need much life insurance.

A whole life policy is with you for your entire life as long as you make the insurance premiums. But what do you need that money for if your kids are grown and your mortgage is paid?

A 20- or 30-year term life insurance may be a better option for many families. And it’s a whole lot cheaper. A $100,000 whole life policy for a healthy 20- or 30-something may cost about $150 per month. But the same person can often get a 30-year term life insurance policy that pays out $500,000 upon death for as little as $20 a month.

Ten Top Insurance Payouts In Recent Years

by Guest Contributor

Whether claims are due to natural disasters or man-made ones, the insurance industry has had several huge payouts to make over recent years. This list sums looks back at some of the biggest insurance payouts.

The financial collapse – Billions

There has not been a figure set in stone as to the amount lost in the 2008 banking collapse, but billions of pounds is a conservative estimate. While the exact figure may still be unknown, what is known is the knock-on effect of bailouts and unemployment has caused the insurance industry to lose out in a big way.

Hurricane Katrina – £78 billion

A natural disaster of catastrophic proportions, when Hurricane Katrina ripped through the American south in 2005 – in particular New Orleans – it was a game-changer for insurance companies. In total, they had to pay out an estimated £78 billion.

9/11 – £25 billion

The September 11 terrorist attack which occurred in 2001, in New York, and destroyed the World Trade Centre’s twin towers is a tragedy that will hopefully never be repeated. Claims for the likes of business interruption claims, property damage and life insurance amounted to £25 billion in total – making it as expensive as it was catastrophic.

Swine flu pandemic – £1.24 billion

Originating in Mexico in 2009, fears of swine flu swept the globe as the year went on. In the UK, the threat was taken seriously and millions of doses of anti-virals were produced for the epidemic. In the end, 457 people in the country died with a total cost of £1.24 billion recorded.

Affordable Home Insurance Checklist – Are You Paying too Much?

by Guest Contributor

Periodic review of our personal finances extends to many areas. Portfolio rebalancing helps your investments match changing time horizons and risk tolerances. As our families grow or coverage options change, we must review our health insurance for the best choices.

Home insurance is an essential cost that may not receive the same attention. Houses are not as dynamic in comparison to investments or healthcare. Unless moving, many homeowners rarely check their home policies.

However, checking your home insurance coverage for overlaps or excess coverage can yield instant savings. The process is also simple and time efficient with a potentially big ROI.

First time buyers and existing homeowners alike can benefit from a few practical steps.

Here is a home insurance checklist to get started:

Choose a Sensible Deductible

A sensible deductible results in month over month savings that is leverage for:

Investing
College Savings
Debt Reduction
Meeting Monthly Expenses

You can speak with an agent to discuss the impact of raising deductibles on premiums. A practical deductible protects homes yet leverages savings to improve personal finances. Even in the instance of a small claim, the time value of money may pay for itself.

The time value of money as leverage: A dollar is more valuable today than at some date in the future, which is seen in inflation or other economic concepts. The monthly savings from a higher deductible are leverage to increase investment contributions or chip away at principal on debt.

Investment Manager Elliott Broidy is among the money managers known to consider money’s time value when making portfolio decisions. The same approach has everyday value to consumers, as well.

Savings on interest expense from credit cards or compounding investment returns can exceed out of pocket costs on home insurance claims.

Each situation is unique, but you may consider working with an agent to discuss the value of each insurance rider beyond catastrophes.