‘Insurance’ Category Archives

20
Feb

Comparing Auto Insurance Quotes – What You Need To Know!

by admin in Insurance

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When looking to pay less for your car insurance, you should opt to shop around, ask a lot of questions and make sure you get the best deal. With so much competition, this is not easy, and you should know what to look for and how to search for the best rates. With this in mind, here are a few tips on comparing auto insurance rates.

car insurance quotes

Get at least three quotes

It is easy to browse the web with a simple Google search and get car insurance quotes online. However, if you want to find the best deal on auto insurance, you should opt to get, at minimum, three quotes. Then, you will have a baseline to compare. In fact, you should go the extra mile and try to get five quotes as this is an easy way to decide what kind of insurance you need and how much you will need to spend. Without this, you are going to face an uphill battle as it is hard to get a great deal if you only look at a few providers.

Deductibles

All too often, you will find a seemingly great rate but notice that you must pay a huge deductible. While this is okay for some, it is not a good deal if you do not have cash in the bank. Think about it, can you afford a $3,000 deduction? If so, you can get an excellent monthly rate for your insurance. On the other hand, if you do not have this kind of cash sitting in the bank, you should consider getting a policy with a lower deductible. Either way, you must look at this as you can get a true picture on the cost of the policy.

Ask about discounts

Before you go signing any paperwork, you should ask every company if they give discounts. Some will give you a lower price if you are a veteran or have other insurance with the provider. Other times, you can get a discount if you have a great driving record. Simply put, by asking about discounts, you can cut your bill drastically.

Other perks

With some providers, you can get accident forgiveness coverage. Other times, with certain businesses, you can get free towing or other add-ons that make the package a good deal. To understand this, you should look at all the extras and decide for yourself if it is a good deal. Remember, some companies provide everything at it is wise to choose one who does as you can get more out of the experience.

Monthly payments or one lump sum

Now, when getting insurance, some companies will only offer you a great deal if you pay in one lump sum. Sadly, some large companies will charge a customer a monthly fee to make payments in this manner. Since this adds up, you should do your research and determine the best course of action.

When looking at insurance rates, some things are misleading. Luckily, when knowing what to look for, you can get a great deal.

19
Feb

The Ongoing Scandal of Private Protection Insurance

by admin in Insurance

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Private Protection Insurance, also known as PPI, has found itself in the middle of a big scandal in the UK. In fact, there has been a record number of PPI claims in the country, and most of these claims are linked back to banks under the British Bankers’ Association. However, before you can understand what this scandal is and why it has affected so many Brits, you need to know what PPI is.

private protection insurance

What Is PPI?

PPI is a type of insurance that helps protect you from large purchases such as debt repayment loans or home mortgages. This type of insurance makes sense because these are some of the biggest and riskiest purchases that consumers will ever make. It stands to reason that these kind of purchases should be protected by some kind of insurance.

PPI helps to protect borrowers in case they are not able to pay back their loans for whatever reason. For example, maybe they become sick or lose their jobs. PPI will help protect them. To get this kind of coverage, you have to pay a fee every month. If people have this kind of insurance on their mortgages or their loans, PPI is worked into their monthly payments.

PPI Compensation Claims Hit Record Number

Now that you know what PPI is, it is easier to understand the PPI scandal that has taken the UK by storm. Last year, PPI compensation claims hit a record 2.2 million. With a number this high, it was clear to the British government that some kind of scandal had taken hold of the industry. Shockingly, however, it is not consumers who are the main beneficiaries of these compensation claims but major financial institutions. It is believed that these financial institutions were mis-selling PPI to consumers. Some of the culprits include the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Barclays.

Lloyds was discovered as being the worst offender with more than 391,000 complaints about mis-selling PPI. That being said, a number of other banks around the UK also received complaints from consumers during the first half of 2013. The Royal Bank of Scotland received nearly 290,000 PPI compensation claims during the same time period. Besides the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Barclays, there were a number of other banks involved in this mis-selling scandal, such as HSBC, Nationwide and Halifax just to name a few big financial institutions.

Ongoing Investigation

Although there is apparently a problem in the PPI industry, investigators are still busy piecing everything together. A full list of companies and banks caught up in this scandal has yet to be released. It is also not known just how many fraudulent PPI cases were claimed during the first half of 2013. The only thing that is known for sure is that there is a problem, and it has to be handled or risks hurting the entire PPI industry.