Looking for a Mortgage? Know Your Options.

Written by Ashlee Hovsepian


Buying a new home is an exciting time in everyone’s life, but it can also be one ofrepparttar most stressful. Unless you have done it before, it is important to know your options when selecting a mortgage. There are multiple choices when choosingrepparttar 112297 type of mortgage that best suits you doing a little research first, can save you money inrepparttar 112298 future.

There are several things to consider when shopping for a mortgage:

1.How long do you want to stay in this house? 2.Can you afford to make mortgage payments bi-monthly? 3.How is your credit?

Answeringrepparttar 112299 questions above, will assist you in determining what type of mortgage is right for you.

How long do you want to stay in this house? If your answer is 15 to 30 years, you may want to consider a non-variable rate mortgage. With this type of mortgage, your rate will be set from day one, and unless you refinance,repparttar 112300 rate will never change. If your answer is 5 to 10 years, you may want to consider a variable rate mortgage. This type of mortgage, usually gives you a lower set interest rate forrepparttar 112301 first five years and thenrepparttar 112302 rate becomes variable after that. With a variable rate mortgage you will benefit fromrepparttar 112303 lower interest rate during your first years inrepparttar 112304 house.

Critical Illness Cover Uncovered

Written by David Miles


It is a sad fact that many of us will know someone who has suffered from a critical illness. Despite medical advances, critical illness is still all too common. Critical illness conditions include such things as cancer, heart attacks, strokes, multiple sclerosis, leukaemia, and total permanent disability.

Being diagnosed with a critical illness doesn't only spell emotional and physical turmoil. It can also mean financial disaster. If you are unable to work due to a critical illness, or if you have to give up work to look after a child with a serious medical condition, you could quickly find yourself struggling to meet your financial commitments such asrepparttar mortgage and other regular bills. And all this at a time when you may be having to find additional money to pay for medical treatment orrepparttar 112296 costs of ongoing medical care.

With little support available fromrepparttar 112297 State - less than £60 per week if qualify for Disability Living Allowance and just over £70 per week if you qualify for long-term Incapacity Benefit - you could soon find yourself in serious financial trouble.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help protect yourself fromrepparttar 112298 financial implications of suffering from a critical illness. Whilstrepparttar 112299 doctors get on with their job of looking after your health, critical illness insurance can help you avoid worrying about money and leave you free to concentrate on getting better.

Critical illness insurance provides you with a substantial tax-free cash lump sum if you are diagnosed with a serious illness. Different policies cover different ranges of medical conditions, butrepparttar 112300 one thing they all have in common is that they will pay you your chosen level of benefit as a tax-free lump sum inrepparttar 112301 event of your being diagnosed with one ofrepparttar 112302 insured conditions.

Providing critical illness cover for a sizeable sum is cheaper than you might imagine, and can make a huge difference to your quality of life inrepparttar 112303 event of a serious illness. For example, once your claim is paid, you could userepparttar 112304 money to clear your mortgage or take a holiday to help aid your recovery.

It is easy to argue that anyone who has a mortgage should definitely take out critical illness protection, butrepparttar 112305 same can apply to anyone who has regular financial commitments that they would find hard to meet inrepparttar 112306 event of being unable to work following diagnosis of a serious medical condition. In fact, in many ways, critical illness cover is even more important than life insurance, because in this day and age, advances in medical science mean you are more likely to initially survive a critical illness than you are to die from it.

When you suffer a serious illness it can take a long time to recover. You may have to give up work completely to begin with, and it may be a number of years before you are fit enough to return to full time employment. If your critical illness leaves you with a permanent disability you may have to change career, thus leaving you with a lower salary than prior to your illness.

When deciding what level of critical illness cover to opt for, there are a number of factors to take into account. If you were in a position where you were unable to work for a number of years after your illness, then you might need to live off your critical illness benefit for longer than expected. Therefore, it is sensible to try to cover a sum at least four or five times your current annual salary. Remember to take into consideration your mortgage any other outstanding loans and credit card debts when deciding on a level of cover.

All critical illness policies have what is known as a survival period. This isrepparttar 112307 length of time after you fall ill before your claim can be processed. This is normally inrepparttar 112308 region of two to four weeks. Thenrepparttar 112309 insurer will need to gather medical evidence and reports from your doctors to ensurerepparttar 112310 validity of your critical illness claim. This process can take a few weeks depending onrepparttar 112311 amount of information required. The insurance companies who provide critical illness cover have specialist medical claims staff who will make every effort to get your benefit paid to you as quickly as possible.

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