New Electronic Life Insurance Application at theidol.com

admin — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:25:20 +0000

theidol.com are pleased to announce the launch of the Norwich Union Simplified Life application on our quote link life insurance comparison service , this is a new sophisticated online life insurance application from Norwich Union it is straightforward, easy and can offer instant life insurance acceptances – over 75% of applications go though with no manual underwriting.

It is also very quick customers can go from quote to cover in just 15 minutes.

The Norwich Union Simplified electronic Life application is currently available for life insurance quotations for level term cover, basically life Insurance that has an amount of cover which remains the same throughout the term and pays out on the death of the insured or Mortgage Life Insurance which generally provides life insurance which decreases in line with the outstanding balance on a standard repayment mortgage.

To get a comparative life insurance quote visit www.theidol.com

Hidden Hiccups And How To Save On Car Insurance

Adam — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:42:47 +0000

Of the two million British drivers expected to drive their cars across the Continent this summer, it is expected that many of them will unwittingly be under insured. European law states that British car insurance will automatically cover your third party, fire and theft car insurance obligations in Europe.

Of course it should never be assumed that third party, fire and theft car insurance will cover any losses you would personally suffer in the event of an accident which is why many people take out comprehensive car insurance to cover themselves in every eventuality. However, this does not always mean they will be covered on European soil.

Some car insurance companies will provide cover for European driving at extra cost but very few will voluntarily tell you are not comprehensively covered. It is essential that, before any trip overseas, you check the small print on your policy or talk to your car insurance provider to ensure you are covered. Then can be nothing worse than being stranded in a foreign country without assistance after an accident.

If you are a regular European traveller it would pay to check this aspect out before you take out your initial car insurance as cheaper insurance doesn’t necessarily pay if you are frequently paying out for extra cover overseas.

Staying in the field of cheaper car insurance, women are often penalised for their unfair reputation behind the wheel. To this effect, many car insurance companies have set up subsidiaries specifically aimed at insuring female drivers. However, do not be taken in by the gloss and the hype. They are not always cheaper and the benefits not always what they claim so, once again, check out the small print before committing to anything.

With the increasing cost of living these days, we are all looking for ways to reduce outgoings so it certainly pays to shop around for car insurance. Premiums have been soaring in the last few years and this is due to several factors. One is the incidents of so many uninsured drivers having accident. Claims then have to be settled by the Motor Insurers Bureau who, in turn, get their funds from the insurance industry, and ultimately, us.

The increasing cost of repairing new cars and the dreaded ‘no win, no fee’ compensation claims all have to be paid for by. And the people funding all these increases are, unfortunately, you and I, the legal, regular driver. The average cost of comprehensive cover is now £822 and TPFT car insurance that is normally taken out by higher risk drivers has broken through the £1,000 per annum barrier.

That said, one item of good news, for me at least, is the fact that speeding fines have become so common place that insurers are no longer seeing the offenders as any more of a risk than those without the incurred penalty points. Premiums up to four times higher have been imposed on those with speeding fines and six or nine points on their licence but according to The Association of British Insurers, many insurance companies will be following the example of Swinton by ignoring these blemishes.

With the increased amount of fixed speed cameras on the road, many are getting caught and it is virtually seen as an occupational hazard to the point that more than a million drivers are suspected to be one conviction away from losing their driving licences. This is deemed as an unfair reason to increase car insurance premiums as these cameras do nothing to pick up those who are a more serious risk, such as drink drivers and the uninsured or untaxed.

So, it’s not all doom and gloom in the car insurance field. Do your homework, shop around and you should still be able to secure a good deal but regardless of the effect on insurance premiums, it will still save you money if you watch out for the 6,000 speed cameras on our roads.

Retail Distribution Review

Nick — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:37:52 +0000

The FSA has this week released an interim report on their Retail Distribution Review, this interim review sets out the FSA’s current thoughts on the future distribution of financial products in the retail sector. The review follows a lengthy consultation and feedback from the industry and covers regulated products from life insurance right across the board to complex investment products The FSA are looking to make a clear distinction between advice and sales, the suggested approach is for the financial market to split into three simple parts advice, sales, (non advised) and Money Guidance. On the advice front advisers would need to operate on a whole of market basis and would require a higher level of qualifications than at the present, non advised sales would be broken down to guided sales and execution only sales and money guidance is a newly proposed information and guidance service and would not be regulated by the FSA. The FSA intend to publish a full feedback statement in October 2008 with a timetable and transitional arrangements

Nick — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:32:23 +0000

Leading UK Life Insurance Company Legal & General have worked together with a University to create a tailored accredited course in specialist life insurance underwriting. The life insurer says this is the first course of its kind in the UK and it allows staff to gain credits towards a University degree. Legal and General say the specialist Underwriting Academy has so far trained 33 underwriters and claims assessors in highly specialised areas such as Cardiology and Endocrinology, they feel as a result of the academy they will be able to offer a better service on complex cases and the specialist knowledge will allow them to provide a more professional and more efficient underwriting and claims service, getting clients on-risk more quickly and paying valid claims speedily.

Travel insurance Terminal 5

Nick — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:00:19 +0000

What a mess at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 with cancelled flights and huge amounts of lost or delayed luggage after massive problems with the baggage handling system since the new terminal opened, now passengers flying out of Terminal 5 are having insult added to injury with some insurers temporarily adding new exclusions for lost baggage and delays for travellers using terminal 5.There is no consistency with some travel insurers honouring the policy cover whilst others have added exclusions. The last thing people need when setting off on holiday is to have to check their travel insurance policy cover to make sure they are adequately covered. It is in times like this that one needs travel insurance so to have it withdrawn seems very unfair Shame on the travel insurers as a whole they could really have ridden this one out, the problems at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 at the very worst a temporary situation and the bad press received via the media far outweighs any cost and does nothing but harm to the reputation of travel insurance industry

Financial highlights this week

Nick — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:55:32 +0000

Lots of news in the financial markets this week, the Halifax released their latest house price index, the highlights showed a fall in house prices for the month of March by 2.5% overall in the UK, there was a mixed regional picture with house prices in London, East Anglia and East Midlands with marginal increases whilst prices in Wales and the West Midlands took bigger falls. The price index revealed that the average UK house price has risen by £120,860 during the past ten years from £70,696 to £191,556 this is an increase of 171%, again there were regional variations ranging from 146% 10 year house price increase in Scotland to 271% in Northern Ireland.

On Thursday this week The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to reduce the official Bank Rate by 0.25 percentage points to 5.0%. Lots of news and comment on Mortgages with lenders withdrawing products on a daily basis seems the 100% mortgage has had its day and the lenders are withdrawing or being very cautious on attractive fixed rate deals.

Legal and General publish claims data

Nick — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:37:11 +0000

Legal and General one of the UK’s leading protection insurers has recently released their claim figures for critical illness insurance over the 2007 year. L&G say they paid out £110 million in critical illness insurance claims over the year. The L&G figures show evidence that progress is being made in bringing down the level of declined claims, which is good news for both the insurer and the customer L&G report that in 2007 they paid 88.2% of claims submitted (up from 83.3%) they declined for non-disclosure 7.7% of claims (down from 12.1%) the average claim paid was for £60,000 and the critical illness insurance claims were primarily for cancer, terminal illness, heart attack, stroke and Multiple Sclerosis.L&G said they also paid out £179 million on life insurance claims, this represented 96.3% of claims received.

To get an on line comparative quotation for life insurance or critical illness cover visit www.theidol.com.

The insurance industry counts the cost of last week’s earthquake

Nick — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:19:00 +0000

Insurers are counting the cost of last weeks earthquake, which reached 5.2 on the Richter Scale, the epicentre was in the East Midlands and tremors were recorded as far a field from Devon to Dumfries. It was the biggest earthquake experienced in the UK in 24 years and caused some widespread damage to properties.Sainsbury’s Bank reckons in their latest press release that the Insurance industry could receive as many as 3,250 home insurance claims as a result of the earthquake, it estimates the collective cost of the combined buildings and contents insurance claims could run into tens of millions of pounds, Sainsburys also think as many as one in 20 household don’t have any buildings insurance and warns that there will be a number of homeowners who will find themselves having to foot significant repair bills themselves. If you are looking for an online quote for your buildings or contents insurance click here for an instant comparative quote www.theidol.com

House price inflation down

Nick — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:02:56 +0000

There is still a lot of doom and gloom on the financial markets this week.Today the Nationwide released their monthly report on the state of the housing market, the report highlights a fall in house prices by 0.5% in February, this being the fourth consecutive monthly decline, this brought the annual House price inflation down to 2.7% in February this is the lowest house price inflation since November 2005. Following the world wide credit squeeze UK banks and Building Societies are busy tightening up their lending criteria they are requiring house buyers to put down larger deposits before that can get a mortgage, many lenders over the last week have reported that they will no longer be offering 100% mortgages

Internet Sales On The UP

Nick — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:52:03 +0000

Lots of news this week on the rise of internet sale on a range of different products. We at theidol.com believe the internet should offer value for money products where customers can make a saving, by operating via the net we have lower overheads so we can pass these saving on for example on our life quotation system we take a reduced commission on all quotations this allows us to discount premiums for customers obtaining life insurance quotations. So it is good to see news this week that there are saving to be made elsewhere on the net. “Which” the consumer magazine has just completed a review on buying a car over the internet the potential saving were substantial. They completed a search of various internet car brokers and Which saved an average of 11 per cent on the list prices of 15 popular new cars this made a total saving of nearly £30,000.
Further details in the Which press release showed savings of £2,994 on the list price of an new Mercedes C-class and £2,550 off a Renault Clio 1.5 and various other big saving on different models. There was a further report on internet sales by Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) the membership community for the e-retail industry, they reported a huge increrease January like for like internet sales for January 2007 compared to January 2008. There was £4.5bn spent last month on internet sales this being a 75% rise compared with January last year IMRG reported that sales of electrical goods and clothing were buoyant in the month