If you have monthly mortgage repayments to make and are in full time employment the you should give some serious thought as to how you would continue to meet your mortgage repayments if you were to find yourself without an income after losing your job due to suffering from an illness, an accident or unemployment through no fault of your own. Providing you have checked the exclusions, then mortgage protection cover can be a very valuable product to have in your corner.



Mortgage protection cover can give you a replacement income with which to continue servicing your mortgage debt each month after a pre-defined period of time of being out of work. The time before the policy would begin varies depending on the provider, but as a general rule it is between one to three months? after having been continually being out of work. Once started it would then continue to give you the income agreed at the time of taking out the policy which would be tax free and last for between 12 and 24 months depending on the provider - do check the terms and conditions of the policy as all differ.

While mortgage protection cover can be a very valuable product it has to be chosen wisely, if you take it out alongside your mortgage with the high street lender then it can cost a great deal and you could end up buying a product which you cannot claim against because high street lenders infamously give very little information at the time of selling the policy. If you want the security and peace of mind that mortgage protection cover can bring them shop with a standalone specialist provider for your mortgage protection cover, the specialist will only deal in payment protection products and as such can offer their experience in selling them which in turn allows you to make an informed decision regarding suitability.

Mortgage cover along with the rest of the family of payment protection products has gained a bad reputation and faith in the product has been lost which has led to a decline in policies being sold and leaving many homeowners with no back up if they should lose their income. While it is true that the product has been mis-sold it can still help to keep the roof over your head and provide you with an income providing you have bought your policy sensibly and this means understanding that there are exclusions which can stop you from being eligible to claim. General reasons which could mean a policy isn't in your best interests include if you only work part time, are of retirement age, or suffer an ongoing illness at the time of taking out the cover.

Mortgage protection cover can be hard to understand but hopefully when the Financial Services Authority introduce comparison charts in March 2008 it will open up the products and make them easier to understand. The charts will be based on a series of questions which will go towards determining which policy is suitable for your circumstances and will make sure the exclusions are highlighted along with giving the consumer the total cost of the cover. For now a specialist's advice is the only way to determine if the product is suitable for your needs and is the best way to get the cheapest quotes for what could be a valuable lifeline.