Will You Be Able to Pay Your Mortgage or Bills After a Personal Injury or Accident?
Posted: 10th September 2015
Posted in: Personal Injury
Did you know that you can get mortgage protection insurance that will help and support you if you should ever become injured at work, become ill, or lose your job?
If you are in the process of making a personal injury claim with our panel of solicitors, then we would also suggest that you explore the possibilities of income protection insurance so that you have the peace of mind in knowing your mortgage is covered in all eventualities.
What is income or mortgage protection insurance?
It’s a policy that will protect the holder against any loss of earnings. The policy will kick in if you are injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault, become unemployed, or can no longer work.
You will benefit from tax-free income which could be paid to you until such point you are able to return to work, or possibly even retire. It’s certainly worth having and having in place before the accident happens. There are 3 different options available for mortgage and income protection, including:
- Illness protection
- Accident coverage
- Unemployment protection
You can have a policy with all 3 combined or choose which ones you think you want depending on your attitude to risk and how much you afford.
What a mortgage protection policy will cover
At their most basic level, this type of insurance policy is created to help you afford everything you normally pay for when in employment. It means you should be able to maintain your standard of living, despite being unable to work due to a personal injury.
This type of things a policy could cover and pay for include:
- Accident insurance – covering personal injury claims and legal fees
- Payments of household bills – including credit cards and mobile phone bills
- Loan protection – lets you keep up repayments on any existing loan agreements
- Mortgage protection – pays your mortgage off monthly
- Salary protection – it could pay up to 70% of your monthly wages
- Sickness protection – offers insurance if you are ill and cannot work
- Unemployment protection – covers you in redundancy
- Rent protection – will help you pay the rent if you cannot work
What is a bad credit mortgage?
Looking closer at one of the examples listed above, if you are unable to make your mortgage repayments each month due to not being able to afford it, you could end up with defaults on your credit file.
This is what’s called bad credit, and can arise not just from missing mortgage payments, but also from any of the following scenarios:
- No credit history
- Low credit score
- Late payments
- Missed mortgage payments
- Defaults
- CCJ’s
- IVA’s
- Debt management schemes
- Repossessions
- Bankruptcy
If you do end up in this situation, and don’t have adequate mortgage protection insurance then your home could be re-possessed. It’s a stress you simply don’t need if you are having to recover from a personal injury.
What type of insurance policy is best?
Mortgage protection and income protection insurance can offer either long-term or short-term coverage.
Longer term policies give you protection for regular wage replacement payments up until you can get back on your feet and into employment again. It offers a tax-free monthly payment so you can cover all bills including mortgage payments.
The shorter-term coverage mostly works on just a 12 month period, rather than offering a “life-time” of policy cover.
Conclusion
Being injured at work can be a very stressful time. By having adequate insurance in place before it happens, you can ensure that you can cover any expenses should the worst happen.
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to get coverage after the event with the main insurance providers, so it’s worth having something in place, even if you don’t think you will ever suffer a personal injury – it can happen to anyone!
And it’s not just personal injuries and accidents that can lead to you being unable to pay your mortgage. You might be made redundant, and given the current economic climate, this is more common nowadays than you might think.
« School accidents and abuse costing half a million pounds in compensation
Mother calls for improved rugby safety following son’s brain damage »
