For may young drivers, affording the costs of motor insurance is an issue. With first time insurance costs running to several thousands of pounds in some instances, it is no wonder that younger motorits are looking for ways to keep premiums down.

There are many legitimate ways of doing this. Young drivers shoudl look at the type of cover they need, consider the pass plus course and their first car should have as small an engine as possible to keep the cost low.

However many young drivers look to insure in their parents name in an effort to make their first policy affordable.

If the main driver is a young driver, most companies will insist that they be the principle policyholder and will not allow them to be named on anothers policy. Deliberately insuring a car and misleading your insurer about your circumstances has serious consequences. In this particular scenario it is referred to as fronting.

If a claim should arise from a policy and the insurer discovers that you were fronting, then it can have serious repurcussions. Firstly they could refuser to pay a claim and they could go as far as to void your policy which could mean that the police deem you to have not been properly insured and the courts could then issue an IN10 conviction.

If a young driver is merely a part time user of a car then it may be legitimate to insure in this way. However the reality is that it might not save you the money you think it will.

The building of a No Claims Discount is one of the best ways of helping to reduce your Motor Insurance premium. This works through loyalty and history built up between yourself and your Motor Insurance Company.

If you have not claimed the company will calculate your premium and apply a discount to it, rewarding you for your safe driving. This figure, depending on the Motor Insurance company can range from anywhere between 30% and 60%.

These days many companies allow you to protect your No Claims Bonus by paying a small amount up front on your premium. This could be highly worthwhile when you consider how much your policy may end up going up in price next year given an accident this year.

It is very important that young drivers build their No Claims Bonus. If you insure the car in a parents name, whilst there may be a cost advantage in Year 1, it may transpire that in years to come this becomes a false economy.

The No Claims Bonus is a bonus weighed against the main driver. If a parent insures a car with a young driver on the policy then at renewal, the 30-40% disount you were expecting might be far less.

It is highly recommended that the main user of any vehicle be the main insured name. It can work out financially better and you can avoid the risk of invalid insurance.

The best course of action is to speak to specialists who deal with Young Driver Motor Insurance. Of course, the best money saving tip of all is to shop around! No one insurance company can give competitive premiums for every driver so check as many quotes as you can.

Motor Insurance – yourmotorinsurance.co.uk is designed to give information to a range of UK drivers about their motor insurance needs. It supplies quotes using a system that checks a number of different insurers. It also has zones dedicated to 17 year olds motor insurance and womens motor insurance

Tim Larden has worked in UK insurance for many years and works with this web site keeping up to date with the latest industry changes.

Is there such a thing as cheap life insurance policies? There may not be such as a thing as cheap life insurance in the market place but there are certainly a wide variety of life insurance rates. That means that there is a definite advantage to those that take the time to search for the lowest possible rate. Your ability to search for rates online is phenomenal. There is a huge opportunity out there to do your own research. The rates on life insurance depend on the type of product. There are two common forms of life insurance. There is term life insurance and there is permanent life insurance. Comparing the two can be a challenge. Comparing a combination of the two can be even more of a challenge.

Why am I buying Life Insurance? ? That is the first question that needs to be answered. Do I want to cover a mortgage? Do I want to provide income for my family? Do I want to supplement my retirement? The reasons are more important than the rates because the reasons help you design your portfolio.

What kind of life insurance do I need? ? Once you know the reasons that you are making a life insurance purchase then you can determine what type of life insurance to purchase. Term insurance takes care of temporary needs while permanent life insurance provides benefits for a lifetime.

You can now proceed to search for rates after you have answered these two very important questions. It would behoove you to learn a simple method of evaluating your insurance needs so that you can shop for the proper amount and the correct type of life insurance. There is nothing wrong with shopping online or using an insurance professional to assist you. The happiest life insurance purchase that you will ever make is the one that is designed to fit your needs and to your ability to pay.

View our Recommended Source for Insurance Quotes it is a simple site that offers low rate insurance quotes of all types. life insurance policies, cheapest car insurance

OK, now you have a lovely new home and with it comes a lovely new mortgage. With the average mortgage advance standing at around ?150,000 it’s a long-term commitment to repay a lot of money. The repayments also take a fair slice out of your monthly income.

What could go wrong with these financial arrangements and can you hedge your bets by insuring against the risks? After all you have a family to protect.

Most people would identify 5 main areas of concern, all of which boil down to your ability to maintain the mortgage repayments:

• Interest rates might increase and make the monthly repayments unaffordable
• You might lose your job
• You might be forced to take time off work through illness or accident
• You may become permanently unable to work through accident or very serious illness
• You could die before the mortgage is paid off

The financial industry is packed with pretty shrewd people so it’ll come as no surprise to learn that there are financial products to help with each of these risks.

If you want to reduce the risk of interest rates rising to unaffordable levels, you should have discussed these matters with your mortgage adviser. He will then have told you about ?fixed? and ?capped interest rate? mortgages. As the name implies, a fixed rate mortgage fixes the interest rate you pay whilst with a ?capped? mortgage, the lender agrees not to increase your interest rate above a pre-agreed level. Both types of mortgage revert to the standard variable rate after the fixed or capped period finishes which is typically after three or five years, depending on your lender.

Fixed rate mortgages are currently very popular accounting for 55% of new advances and there are some very good deals around. The capped rate for capped rate mortgages is usually set at the outset above the equivalent fixed rates available but the rate you pay is lower than the fixed rates. In this context your interest rate risk can be effectively controlled. After the end of the protected period you always have the option to re-mortgage and find another rate protected deal. There are never any guarantees on the rates that will be available but the mortgage market is highly competitive, especially for re-mortgages, and special rate offers abound. It’s really a matter of knowing which lender to approach. When the time comes you’d be well advised to ask a mortgage broker to search out the most suitable options.

Worried about paying your mortgage if you lost your job? Then you need Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance – but be aware that in its basic form, this insurance is really only designed to cover redundancy. If you resign or are fired for gross misconduct your unlikely to be insured. The cost? Online you can expect to pay around ?2.45 per ?100 of monthly mortgage payment for a policy which starts paying out 30 days after you’ve been made redundant and will pay out for up to 12 months. You’re sure to have been offered similar insurance by your bank or mortgage company but watch out, their premiums are likely to be two or three times higher for identical cover.

Mortgage Payment Protection Policies can also be extended to cover the third area of concern ? you lose income through illness or accident. But before you rush into this insurance you need to ask your employer how long they’d continue paying you if you were off work. Remember, you only need to insure for the period after your employer stops paying. You would then receive statutory sickness pay, but the odds are you’ll need that income for general living costs. The cost for this insurance? Well, online it’ll again cost you around ?2.45 per ?100 of monthly mortgage payment for a policy which starts paying out after 30 days, However, if you combine illness, accident and unemployment cover all into one policy you can currently get combined insurance for around ?3.95 per month. The essential point to remember is that these policies will only pay out for 12 months. That leads on to the fourth area of concern.

How would you pay your mortgage if you were unable to work again through a serious accident or critical illness? In this context it is important to appreciate the reality of the risk. The insurance industry estimates that 1 in 5 men and 1 in 6 women suffer a critical illness before their normal retirement age. Just think what a heart attack at 40 would mean to your family finances, especially if you have a mortgage with many years still to run. For many, insurance is a must.

The best option is to arrange insurance that totally repays the outstanding mortgage if you can’t continue to work. That at least removes one big worry. The insurance you need is called Critical Illness Insurance but make sure ?total and permanent disability? cover is included. This ensures that your mortgage will be repaid if you are incapacitated through an accident.

You can buy Critical Illness Insurance with ?decreasing cover? where the size of the payout decreases as the years go by. This is ideal if you have a repayment mortgage where you are repaying the mortgage bit by bit each month. Decreasing cover is also the cheapest form of this Insurance.

If you have an interest only mortgage, the situation is different as the sum you owe your lender, remains constant. You certainly don’t want the cover to decrease – so here you need Critical Illness Insurance with ?level cover?.

As with all these insurances, there’s always a twist to watch out for. With Critical illness Insurance you always need to survive for a minimum period following an accident or diagnosis of a critical illness. If you don’t, the policy will not pay out. With most insurance companies the survival period is 28 days although some have reduced this to 14 days.

That leads on what happens if you were to die. Most lenders insist on Mortgage Life Insurance to repay your mortgage in one lump sum. However, you really don’t need it if you’re single and living alone. In these circumstances, if you would die, your estate would simply repay your mortgage by selling the property. For everyone else, Mortgage Life insurance is the most commonly held form of mortgage protection. Again it comes in a ?decreasing cover? format for those with repayment mortgages and ?level cover? format to repay interest only mortgages.

All this insurance will not be cheap but there are ways of significantly reducing the cost. Buy a Mortgage Payment Protection Policy that combines unemployment, accident and illness cover. Sometimes this is called ?unemployment and disability? cover. This will save you about 20%. The cheapest way to buy Critical Illness and Mortgage Life Insurance is again to buy a combined policy. Here it’s difficult to be precise about the savings as the cost will be strictly calculated on your own personal details and health record – but you can certainly expect to save 20-25%.

The final bit of advice is shop around for the insurance. Your bank or building society will be absolutely delighted to arrange it but you’ll pay top dollar. The Internet is by far the cheapest way to buy all these insurances, especially if you use one of the many discounting brokers. You’ll find these brokers if you search under ?life insurance?, ?cheap life insurance?, ?life insurance quotes? or ?Mortgage Protection Insurance?.

Competition on the net is rife, so it’s norm for these brokers to cut commission and pass the savings back to you through lower premiums. There are other aspects you’ll need to consider such as whether to buy a policy with a ?Guaranteed Premium? or a ?Reviewable Premium?. So you’re best advised to talk matters over with a life insurance adviser. Ten minutes on the phone with an adviser could save you more and avoid a lot of heartache.

Be lucky, keep fit, happy and well insured!

Michael Challiner has 15 years experience in financial services marketing at senior level. Michael now works as the editor of Express Life Insurance

Futher reading What is mortgage life insurance ?

Futher reading Mortgage insurance topics

If you are looking for tips on how to reduce the yearly premiums you pay on your home contents and/or home buildings insurance policies, the following are some sure-fire ways to do it:

Increase the insurance excess amount

While still maintaining a sensible threshold, why not increase the excess amount on the insurance policy? The excess amount is the amount you and the insurance company agree you?ll be liable to pay before you can make a claim on the insurance policy. In theory, with an increase in the excess amount should come a reduction in the premium ? as there is less chance you?ll claim.

Increase your home security

Insofar as home contents insurance is concerned, security is a major contributing factor. Therefore, if you want to reduce your home contents insurance premiums, you should seriously consider beefing up your home security system. Depending on the valuation you have put on your home contents, ideas here should include putting in a home alarm system.

Rent a safety deposit box

While none of us like the idea of keeping our most prized possessions safely locked away in a safety deposit box, if you have one or two very valuable personal items, you may well find that it is a lot less expensive to keep these in a safety deposit box and only bring them out on special occasions than it is to pay an expensive insurance premium to keep them on-hand all the time.

Look around for a new insurance provider

Although you do need to consider whether or not your home buildings insurance provider is an approved insurance company, so far as your mortgage lender is concerned, these days the insurance industry is a very price competitive one. As such, take advantage of this and look around to see if you can get a cheaper deal either on the Internet or in the real world.

Insure against the mortgage value

Although it is never recommended practice that you only insure your home buildings against the mortgage loan outstanding, if money is tight and the amount of your mortgage outstanding is not too far off the real value of your home, you may want to consider insuring your home for the value of the mortgage loan outstanding. This way, with a lower home valuation should come reduced premium payments.

Although there are a number of ways that you can reduce both your home contents and home buildings insurance, where possible it is best practice that you try to maintain adequate insurance to reflect the real value of all your wonderful possessions.

Joseph Kenny is the webmaster of the insurance site http://www.insure121.com/ where you will find information, news and links to the leading providers of home insurance in the UK.