How would you repay your loan or mortgage if you became unable to work because of illness, accident or injury or even lost your job through redundancy? What would happen if you suddenly died, could your partner or dependants continue to make repayments? Insurance Protection is the answer and will ease the burden in difficult times.

An individual's largest monthly expense is likely to be their mortgage, but it is surprising how many people do not protect their single biggest asset against accident, sickness or unemployment.

If you had an accident and were unable to work, or if you suddenly became unemployed, how would you pay your mortgage?

The face amount under mortgage protection term insurance decreases over time, consistent with the projected annual decreases in the outstanding balance of a mortgage loan. Mortgage protection policies generally cover a range of mortgage repayment periods, e.g., 15, 20, 25 or 30 years. Although the death benefit decreases, the premium is usually level in amount. Further, the premium payment period often is shorter than the maximum period of insurance coverage--for example, a 20-year mortgage protection policy might require that premiums be paid over the first 17 years.

Becoming unemployed can cause many problems, not least the fact that there simply may not be any money to pay the bills. Most people will agree that their home is their most important material possession, yet if mortgage payments cannot be made, the security of a home can be taken away.

You cannot rely on state help to cover your mortgage payments if you cannot work. There is no help for the first nine months of unemployment or disability for mortgages taken since October 1995. Existing borrowers only qualify for benefit if they qualify for Income Support. You can buy cover to protect your mortgage payments if you have an accident or become ill and cannot work, if you become unemployed, or to provide full cover for accidents, sickness and unemployment. The terms and conditions under which you can claim differ with every policy, so you should always check them very carefully.

The Benefit period is the length of time you can claim monthly payments for, and these vary for each policy. You can select the time period you want to be covered (1 year, 2 years etc) but the longer you want the cover for, the more expensive the premiums will be. There is always an Initial Exclusion period at the start of the contract, during which time no claim can be made. This normally applies to unemployment only and is 30, 60 days or longer.

Most providers will cover your mortgage payment and a little extra for mortgage related bills, such as pensions, insurances etc. They usually offer an extra 5, 10 or even 25% but may have conditions on what this money can be used for.