To help you become more informed before buying life cover or income protection insurance or critical illness insurance there is a great guide available to download from the Financial Services Authority. 

Click here to to get your free insurance guide.

 You can then use our bespoke insurance calculator to guide you to ensuring you are fully protected.

People taking out an insurance policy to put their mind at rest should they be diagnosed with cancer must read the small print, warns Bupa.

To avoid disappointment when it comes to claim the health insurer says read through the policy carefully because not all private medical insurers fund treatment for every stage of cancer.It says some providers stipulate time or pre-set monetary limits on funding for cancer drugs, while others offer varying levels of cover.

Bupa UK Health Insurance assistant clinical director Dr Rebecca Small says: “We believe a policy should give people access to treatment at every stage of their cancer. It’s about the right cancer treatment, at the right time, in the right place and is ultimately about giving patients the best possible chance.”

Bright Grey will double the maximum amount of critical illness cover it offers to £1 million as part of a drive to beef up its personal protection business. 

The arm of Royal London Group is investing in its back office to speed up applications with a new team of experienced underwriters dedicated to large cases starting on 28 July. 

Bright Grey will raise the maximum amount of life cover consumers can claim to £5 million from £2 million. Consumers will be given an extra 30 days to return completed application forms as Bright Grey relaxes its deadline to 60 days. 

‘This year our focus has been on improvements to the customer experience of our application and underwriting proposition,’ said Roger Edwards (pictured), Bright Grey’s product director. ‘These enhancements reflect and build upon market trends, such as the requirement for higher levels of cover from individuals as well as businesses.’ 

Bright Grey has also tweaked its online application system to give advisers and clients more time to check details in an effort to cut non-disclosure.

Aegon Scottish Equitable has added five more illnesses to its critical illness cover.  In addition, it has extended it maximum term on guarantedd rates from 25 to 40 years.  This now takes the total number of conditions covered to 36.  The additional five critical illnesses are  rheumatoid arthritis , open heart surgery, primary pulmonary hypertension, systemic lupus erthematosous and encephalitis.

The life insure has aslo improved three critical illness definitions to the Association of British Insurers’ plus standard.  They are coma, heart attack and third degree burns. 

 Extending the maximum term on guaranteed rates by 15 years, Aegn confirmed to us that this was in response to people taking out longer term mortgages than the previous normal term of 25 years

With the current credit crunch stretching many families finances, Legal & General are advising them to take out suitable insurance protection. 

Product marketing director of protection at Legal & General, Bonnie Burns, says: ‘Most families’ finances would unravel if a parent died or became too ill to work.’

She adds: ‘They are risking their futures by not protecting their key asset - their future income.’

With family protection policies such as Critical Illness, Income Protection or Life Cover a monthly income can be provided should something happen to the policyholder.

If you are interested in taking out an insurance policy with How Much Cover please click here.

The insurance company launches new home insurance via Insurecom.

AXA has announced that its ABC and Exclusive household insurance products are now available to customers of the software solutions firm Insurecom.

The software company will host the household products as Full Cycle EDI, which should give brokers a more effective method of managing their household insurance business with AXA.

ABC insurance is a buildings and contents policy created for the average homeowner and offering a number of additional features such as Family Legal Protection and Home Assistance.

Exclusive insurance is aimed at higher value homes and contents customers. It provides all risks cover worldwide and identity theft cover.

According to general manager of Personal Lines Intermediary at AXA, Mike Keating, Insurecom has more than 700 users and the move will broaden the group’s distribution of its two most popular products.

Friends Provident is the latest insurance provider to join Paradigm Mortgage Services’ dual protection panel.

The insurance company’s range of protection products will be available on Paradigm’s preferred whole of market and limited panels.

Products on offer will inlcude level term assurance, home buyer protection and income protection as well as deals providing cash sums, benefits and life cover.

Chief executive of Paradigm, Bob Hunt, says: ‘The addition of Friends Provident to our dual protection panel offers brokers a number of additional services including eSelect, its interactive online system.’

Leading insurance company AXA has cut its rates across its life protection range to keep up with an increasingly price-driven market. 

The biggest drop is for its Guaranteed Level Life Cover, with an average reduction of 6% across all products.

Other covers affected include Decreasing Life Cover and Earlier Critical Illness Cover.

Director of protection marketing at AXA, Iain Mallon, says: ‘As part of our continuous review of our pricing we have brought down the cost of these covers to make sure we remain one of the most competitively priced protection insurers.’

According to one report in The Times Online, people are taking out more insurance policies due to the credit crunch. 

As the credit crunch continues to unfold, one of the biggest worries for many people is that they may not be able to pay their mortgage, or if they lose their job or are unable to work because of illness or accident.

Such anxieties are on the increase because of the economic uncertainty being confirmed by insurance broker Lifesearch, who have recorded a noticeable rise recently in sales of policies designed to safeguard people’s finances.

They suggest that sales of policies such as income protection, unemployment and critical illness cover tend to boom when other markets suffer.

The insurance company has paid out over £150m for over 4,540 critical illness claims from 2000 to 2007.

Scottish Widows has revealed that these payments included more than £29m for over 847 critical illness claims last year. Making it the second year the company has increased its amount of successful claims.

The insurer also revealed that 95% of the critical illness claims came under five categories:

 - Cancer represented 61%

- Heart-related claims made up 21% of critical illness claims

- Stroke claims accounted for 7%

- Multiple sclerosis accounted for 4%

- And children’s cover accounted for 2%

Scottish Widows protection market director, Richard Jones, said: ‘The need for financial protection for both the family and business has never been greater, especially with more families relying on two incomes and the increase in the number of people who are self employed.’