High street lenders will offer a loan protection policy at the time of you taking out the borrowing. However in the majority of cases the premiums are high and go towards an estimated ?4 billion in profits each year. If you want cheap loan protection, it does exist but you have to known where to look for it.

Individuals do have the option of choosing to go with an independent provider for quotes for the cover and the money you are borrowing should not depend on taking out cover. Some lenders do ask that you protect the borrowing but it does not have to taken there and then.

One sure place of finding low cost loan insurance is with a standalone provider. An independent provider could save you as much as 80% on the premiums. The premium is the amount that you are asked to pay each month.

For this providing your circumstances permit it, you would receive a tax free income if you should be unable to work. Being unfit for work due to suffering an illness, accident or if you should be unfortunate enough to be made redundant would mean you would not get paid your salary. This means you could struggle financially and could deplete any savings very quickly to maintain you loan repayments.

Cheap loan protection can give you the money needed so you can just concentrate on getting fit and well and back to work. A policy would begin to provide you with peace of mind after being unable to work for a defined period. This is usually after the 30th day of being unwell and before the 91st day with the majority of companies. Once the benefit has commenced then it would continue for between 12 and 24 months. Providers should state this in the terms and conditions along with any exclusions which could mean a policy would not be suitable.

While there are some exclusions that are found on a regular basis in all loan protection policies such as if you are retired, self-employed, have a pre-existing illness or only work part time, there can be others. All ethical providers who offer this insurance will also make the consumer aware that cover is not suitable for all individuals. It is then down to the consumer to the read the terms and conditions before deciding if they could benefit. Though there are many faults associated with loan protection it is important to remember that the products do work in the way they were designed to. The biggest problem is poor selling techniques but providing you stick with a specialist you should have no problem with a policy.

In March 2008 choosing a policy should become easier when the Financial Services Authority introduce their comparison tables. Tables will make protection insurance more transparent while at the same time pointing out how much a policy will cost. Consumers will also be able to determine through answering a series of questions which policy would be most suited to their needs. Cheap loan protection is suited to those who have monthly loan commitments but there is also income protection and mortgage protection to consider.