Protection Remortgaging Don’t run the risk of leaving your family in dire financial straits If you’ve remortgaged recently and not increased your life cover by the amount of any additional mortgage advance, you could run the risk of leaving your family in dire financial straits if you died prematurely. During the first half of 2006, homeowners borrowed £24bn against their properties, half as much again as during the same period during the previous year, according to mortgage equity withdrawal data published by the Bank of England. However, sales of mortgage-related life cover have fallen consistently over the past four years, according to the Association of British Insurers. Mortgage lenders and insurers are becoming increasingly concerned that families are being left vulnerable by breadwinners' refusal to take the risks of an illness or accident seriously. According to insurer Aegon, on average homebuyers are remortgaging every five years and many increase the debt each time they move lender, but a large proportion of them are not simultaneously increasing their life cover. Sometimes a company pension will provide sufficient insurance, but in many cases they will not. Swiss Re's protection gap index also shows a growing propensity towards risk. The index monitors not just mortgages but wider life insurance needs. It says we are buying £2.3 trillion less life cover than we need, up from a gap of £2 trillion four years ago. If you are in good health a policy could cost about half the price of a decade ago. Don’t leave it to chance. For an assessment of your protection requirements, please email or contact us for further information. Levels and bases of, and reliefs from, taxation are subject to change. Quote source:Telegraph Media 18.10.06