Michael Knight’s Blog

Many people are very happy with the NHS for emergency treatment - break a leg or have a heart attack and you know you’ll be seen straight away. Where the NHS can fall down is in the treatment of less acute but still lifestyle affecting conditions. Waiting times can be a real issue and if you’re worried about the delay, then potentially you’re making the situation worse.

Another concern is the condition and cleanliness of NHS facilities - aging buildings and equipment can be very difficult to keep in a tip-top state. With private care, while you can opt for a stay in an NHS hospital, many people prefer to use a private facility such as a BUPA hospital.

Boiling it down, there are 5 major benefits for taking out Private Medical Insurance:

•  peace of mind - you have access to a 24 hour GP helpline where you’ll speak to a real doctor
• High quality of care - access to the best specialists
• Choice of where you’re treated and the specialist you want
• Convenience of when you’re seen and treated - you remain in control
• Speed of getting specialist advice - reduces the worry of delays and cancellations of treatment

While the benefits are clear to most people, there is also a concern that this type of cover is expensive and that all conditions are not covered. As in all insurances, the more comprehensive the cover, the higher the financial commitment but you can tailor most plans to cover your personal requirements. This can make the monthly cost more affordable while still giving you the cover you want and need. 

Let’s look at some example costs:

• male non-smoker aged 35 - from £32.89 per month
• female non-smoker aged 45 - from 41.91 per month

The above costs are for indication purposes only; if you want specific details for your requirements, please contact me for an illustration.

The above costs can be decreased if you take regular exercise and with some providers, you can benefit from subsidised gym membership. So not only do you improve your health and fitness, you pay less to do so!

If you have a pre-existing condition, then generally this will not be covered. However, in certain circumstances, if it has not recurred in at least the past 2 years, it can then be included for future coverage. The best way to find out is to make an application and see what the insurer says.

Want to find out more? Why not get in contact and we can start looking at what provider and product will be best suited to your own needs. Call now on 0845 0291962 or mail at michael@michaelknightmortgages.com

With the recession turning into depression (according to the commentators) many people are deperately looking to minimise their outgoings. For some  that is cancelling their gym subscriptions, others cutting down on entertainment - others unwisely might be eyeing up their insurance policies.

Very few people are over-insured - the vast majority are under-insured. What you need is to use this checklist:

• Why did you buy the policies in the first place. Is the need still there?
• Does it do what is says it is going to do?
• Do you have cover elsewhere which can suffice?
• Does your employer build in protection in your employment contract?
• Can you get it cheaper elsewhere?
• Can you cut bits out while retaining core benefits?

When reviewing your existing cover, it can be a wise move to have an experienced adviser with you who can ask the simple questions above. Sometimes we can’t see the wood for the trees and don’t know what alternatives might be available.

If for instance you took your life insurance through your lender, it is unlikely you got the best value product on the market. They do have their offices to maintain after all! And if it was 3 or 4 years ago, regardless of where you bought it, as prices for life cover have tumbled you could save money despite being that much older!

A word of caution though if you included critical illness in your original plan. As medical science improves and conditions become more treatable, newer policies have different definitions of what constitutes a critical illness. You might find that by changing policy, you lose these definitions and are in effect worse off if you need to make a claim.

So what do you do now? Simple call me on 0845 029 1962 or email michael@michaelknightmortgages.com and we can run through what you’ve got and see what we can do to reduce your outgoings - without compromising you and your family’s needs.

With the depressing news all around us of the economic downturn and companies shedding jobs, isn’t it great to hear of some good news! Following the launch of Michael Knight Mortgages in 2009, I am delighted to confirm the availability of a superb Unemployment Insurance policy which can give you peace of mind.

If you want to cover just your mortgage or even a bit more to cover other costs, and you want a maximum payout period of up to 24 months, at a very reasonable price, then why not contact Michael Knight Mortgages at michael@michaelknightmortgages.com ?  

The policy is very flexible and you can specify how soon you want the monthly benefit to be paid out. If you need it after 31 days, you can have it - if you can wait for 90 days, no problem. The rule of thumb is the quicker you take the benefit, the higher the monthly cost.

The benefit is tax-free and can be paid for up to 12 or 24 months.

Where this policy scores highly is that it is available just as unemployment cover - many competitors insist you have accident and sickness benefit as well which pushes the cost up. Additionally, it is often available only to new borrowers or people moving home - the policy I offer can be taken up by existing borrowers as well.

There is an important proviso however - you must not be under notice of redundancy, or your employer must not have announced that redundancies will be taking place. The cover would not be valid if taken and therefore a waste of money. To further protect the insurer, there is also an initial waiting period of 3 months before the cover becomes ‘live’. After this time, whatever waiting period you select comes into play.

All in all, a very valuable protection for you and your family. If you want to find out if you can take this up, call me on 0845 029 1962 or email michael@michaelknightmortgages.com .

Looking to buck the gloomy news which is being reported everywhere, I have launched Michael Knight Mortgages to address the real needs of my clients.

Major concerns at the moment revolve around redundancy, repaying debt  and reducing costs.

I am pleased to say that I have access to a brilliant unemployment policy where you can cover your mortgage repayments (plus additional costs) for up to 24 months. Very competitive premiums and flexible starting periods means you only pay for what you need.

Many people are finding that keeping up their loan and credit card repayments is proving more and more difficult. There are a variety of debt solutions but finding a trusted source for that advice is not as straight forward. With my good reputation for giving customer centered advice in plain  english, I can advise on the best solution for you, whether it is a debt managment plan, IVA or even bankruptcy.

For those who want to rein in their necessary expenditure, I offer an excellent range of insurance products for buildings & contents, life and critical illness cover and income protection. In fact, with the latter two areas I am so confident I will reduce your premiums (on a like for like basis), if that is not the case, I will pay you £25!

More blogs giving more detailed information will be following shortly. If you can’t wait, why not give me a call on 0845 029 1962 or email michael@michaelknightmortgages.com

The widespread reduction in lender standard variable rates today following the Bank of England drop of 1.5% yesterday could mean mortgage brokers having little or no role in todays market. If the cheapest products in market have no set up costs or early redemption charges and can be easily sourced on the internet, then why should customers use a broker?

As it happens, I think there is still a purpose for brokers - not everyone is a perfect fit for prime providers and in todays market, even a small blip on your credit record can put you out of the running. That and the requirement of a significant deposit still makes it a minefield for the unsuspecting customer.

First-time buyers are particularly vulnerable and tend to be overwhelmed with all types of insurances they either do not understand or need.

Taking your insurances via a lender tends to be expensive as they only offer their products and in a lot of circumstances you are dealt with by an inexperienced clerk who is heavily targetted to sell all insurances regardless of need.

Brokers tend to be more experienced and in it for the long run - we’re not going anywhere and rely on providing a high level of personal service to get repeat business.

Support your local broker, you need their expertise and advice! Call me on 0845 0291962 or email at mike@bartonmortgageservices.com

Liverpool Victoria Banking Services (LVBS) has been given a massive fine for not selling Payment Protection Insurance according to statutory guidelines. These problems were associated with unsecured loans and according to the FSA added this insurance to the price of the quote without customers requesting it. It is also said that LVBS was also accused of putting pressure on customer who refused to get a PPI.

Taken with a loan, PPI is very expensive and the shame is that these unscrupulous practices are making fewer people protect themselves against accident, sickness and unemployment. Few people know you can buy this cover separately at a much lower cost and if advised by a qualified broker, can provide excellent peace of mind.

Call me to find out more.

Did you know?
• 1.67 million people are currently unemployed as at the end of September 2007.*
• 264,000 have been unemployed between 6 and 12 months.**
• In the UK someone has a heart attack every two minutes and almost 2.6 million people have heart and circulatory disease.***
With an average claim duration of 7 months, customers are off work significantly longer than they anticipate, and are unlikely to have the savings to maintain the average payment between £230 to £385 per month, equivalent to an additional £2,700 in expenditure.****

This certainly makes you think about whether this type of insurance had become more important with the ‘credit crunch’ impacting on businesses and staff retention.

Source: *Office for National Statistics, September 2007. ** Economic and Labour Market Review, November 2007. ***British Heart Foundation, 2005. ****Norwich Union Claims Statistics, 2006