February 23rd, 2010 by Admin

Credit insurance protects the loan on the chance that you can’t make your payments. Credit insurance usually is optional, which means you don’t have to purchase it from the lender. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, says it’s against the law for a lender to deceptively include credit insurance (or other optional products) in your loan without your knowledge or permission.

There are four main varieties of credit insurance: Credit life insurance pays off all or some of your loan if you die. Credit disability insurance, also known as accident and health insurance, makes payments on the loan if you become ill or injured and can’t work. Involuntary unemployment insurance, also known as involuntary loss of income, makes your loan payments if you lose your job due to no fault of your own, such as a layoff. Credit property insurance protects personal property used to secure the loan if destroyed by events like theft, accident or natural disasters.

Shopping Tips

Before deciding to buy credit insurance from a lender, think about your needs, your options, and the rates you’re going to pay. You may decide you don’t need credit insurance. If you do, credit insurance can be an expensive form of insurance. For example, it may be less expensive and more practical for you to get life insurance than credit insurance. Before deciding to buy credit insurance, you should ask:

How much is the premium?

Will the premium be financed as part of the loan? If so, it will increase your loan amount and you’ll pay additional interest, and more for points (if points are on your loan).

Can you pay monthly instead of financing the entire premium as part of your loan?

How much lower would your monthly loan payment be without the credit insurance?

Will the insurance cover the full length of your loan and the full loan amount?

What are the limits and exclusions on payment of benefits – that is, spell out exactly what’s covered and what’s not.

Is there a waiting period before the coverage becomes effective?

If you have a co-borrower, what coverage does he or she have and at what cost?

Can you cancel the insurance? If so, what kind of refund is available?

Before you sign any loan papers, ask the lender whether the loan includes any charges for voluntary credit insurance. If you don’t want credit insurance, tell the lender. If the lender still pressures you to buy insurance, find another lender. And review your loan papers carefully to be sure they have been drawn up correctly. Lenders can’t deny you credit if you don’t buy optional credit insurance – and if you don’t buy it directly from them. If a lender tells you that you’ll only get the loan if you buy the optional credit insurance, report the lender to your state attorney general, your state insurance commissioner or the FTC. Consumers should ask these same questions about other extra products offered with their loan, such as auto or shopping clubs, home or auto security plans, and debt cancellation products.

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February 16th, 2010 by Admin

If you plan to buy a Chicago property, the sooner you learn about title insurance, the better. For many first time Chicago real estate buyers, the first time they hear about title insurance at the closing of their Chicago property. This article presents the basics of title insurance for protecting your new Chicago real estate acquisition.

What is Chicago Properties Title Insurance?

When you buy a new car, do you insure your car? Of course! When you apply for car insurance, does the agent ask to see your title? Of course! Thats the basic idea behind Chicago Properties title insurance – to protect your Chicago real estate investment , The mortgage lender requires proof you own the Chicago property and no one else has a lien on your property. The chances or securing a Chicago real estate mortgage without title insurance are like the Chicago Cubs winning the pennant this year only better!

Title Insurance – NOT Casualty Insurance

Casualty Insurance such as car insurance assumes risks for damage to your car or other property. When you have a covered accident or loss, they pay you. Title insurers earn their money by finding and eliminating risks to your Chicago property BEFORE you sign the contract. The amount of money involved is so LARGE, there is no room for mistakes. The Chicago real estate buyer and Chicago real estate seller both want the deal for the Chicago property to go through and title Insurance is the vehicle to close the deal.

Title Insurance Benefits Chicago Properties

First you should be healthy and live to a ripe old age in your new Chicago property Because the problems that could befall you without title insurance could endanger your health such as investing your life savings in a Chicago property only to find you dont have a clean title to it and wind up in court. The lawyer fees alone will set up back a small fortune or a big one depending how long and costly the fight to secure title to your Chicago property.

Chicago Properties Title Insurance Policies

Title insurance policies come in two types of policies: An “owner’s” policy which insures you, the homebuyer and your heirs. The other type is a “lender’s” policy to protect their security interest in your Chicago real estate acquisition. As opposed to car insurance, the title insurance premium is a one time payment based on the size of your Chicago property purchase. Also, shop around for title insurance to save money better spend on your new Chicago property. Happy Home Hunting!

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February 9th, 2010 by Admin

I work for a large insurance firm in the northwest, in an office with over 500 other employees. Management recently decided to replace our existing phone system as the old system was no longer meeting our needs. I and my co-workers were under the impression that they were going to update the system, as in “make an improvement”, and that we would have late model phones with technological advancements galore. Boy, were we in for a surprise.

One day a few weeks ago, we all came in to find new phones on our desks. These were not the state-of-the-art communication devices we had in mind. Instead of the sleek, sophisticated, caller IDing, multi-line handling, LCD displaying wonders of the modern age we all dreamed of, there was a simple phone with a keypad on the receiver…not unlike what you might have had at home 15 years ago. In addition to the new phone, there was a sheet which explained in graphically painful detail exactly which series of buttons one would have to push in order to make this thing function properly. We had to now enter a digit to put someone on hold, enter a three digit code to transfer someone (one digit, dial tone, two digits) and enter a ridiculously long series of numbers to access our voicemail.

Needless to say, we were in shock. I knew it wouldn’t take long before the roars of complaining would drown out the usual office din. Sure enough, by lunchtime our office manager came in to tell everyone that we were simply going to “try it out for a while” and that the company had saved thousands by choosing this option. I and the other employees were fairly certain that we had already lost thousands in reduced productivity that morning alone. Oh, well…it’s their company, we just bring in the money for them.

For the next few days, we tried to get used to saying “hold, please, while I transfer you”, removing the receiver from our faces and trying not to curse as we made a lame-duck attempt at pressing keys, listening and pressing more keys. It was a nightmare. We were getting pretty fed up with it, but just assumed that this was what we would have to deal with. Then, out of the blue, we came in one day to find real phones with real features at our desks. No more looking at the receiver while we frantically tried to key in numbers fast enough not to drop the call. No more ten digit voicemail “pins”. No more of having no idea who was calling or where the call came from. Ahhhh, relief at last.

Later the same day, we heard a rumor circulating around the office that the VP of operations had returned from a two week trip to New York. His words, upon seeing one of the phones management had originally purchased on his desk were, “get rid of them”. All it took were those four words from a higher-up to set things right. Unbelievable.

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February 2nd, 2010 by Admin

Now that so many term life insurance policies are available online, it makes sense to use this option when you are looking for protection for your family, you can take your time to consider all the different types of term insurance, and the different rates available. There’s a ready supply of information, which puts you in a position of knowledge and will help you to make the correct decision.

There are several different labels applied to term insurance, but basically it comes down to three different types.

First, there is Level Term Insurance. This is designed to pay out a lump sum on the death of the life or lives assured, this type of policy can be used to cover immediate expenses i.e. funeral estate taxes outstanding debts, this type of term insurance can be written on either a joint or single life basis.

Perhaps the best-known type of term insurance is that associated with a mortgage, which not
unsurprisingly is called Mortgage Term Insurance. It is designed to cover the declining balance on the outstanding mortgage on your home. It is a very cost-effective type of term insurance because it is covering a reducing liability as a mortgage comes down so does the level of cover. This type of life insurance can also been written on either a single life, or join life basis.

The third main type of term life insurance is Family Income Benefit, unlike the previous types, as its name suggests this type of policy is designed to pay a regular income, rather than a lump sum. This type of policy has been rather overlooked until recently, but now that interest rates are so low, it is gaining in popularity, because of the extremely large amount of capital that is required to be invested to produce a reasonable level of regular income. By taking the Family Income Benefit route, you can sometimes save as much as 50% of the premium cost.

All the above types of policy can have various additional benefits added for instance, critical illness cover, guaranteed insurer ability options, automatic renewable options, etc obviously not all companies offer all the benefits, and it does require you to compare the cost of the policy with the benefits provided. However, by shopping for your life insurance online, you are better able to do this for yourself and hopefully will end up making the correct decision.

Term insurance is a very low-cost option, and while some would argue that it is better to go the whole of life route, with such a low-cost option, there is no need for any family to be without some life insurance or term insurance protection.

Roger Overanout

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