The Loan payment protection can be a very valuable product to have in your corner if you are in full time work, you meet the criteria set out in the policy and you have monthly loan repayments to make each month. However the cover can be very expensive and finding cheap loan protection can be very hard unless you choose to buy the protection independently from a standalone specialist provider.

A specialist can offer quality products for the lowest premiums and cheap loan protection taken out with them can save you up to 80% when compared with the high street lender. The Loan protection can give you an income to replace your lost one if you should come out of work after suffering from an accident, through sickness or if you find yourself out of work by such as redundancy. Policies start after you have been out of work for a set period of time which can be anywhere between the 31st day and the 90th day and they continue paying out for up to 12 months although some providers will payout for up to 24 months.

The income you receive is tax free and will give you the money each month to make sure that you can continue to pay your loan repayments and so not get into debt. However you do have to make sure that a policy is suited to your circumstances because policies do have exclusions, while these can differ from policy to policy some of the most common exclusions include only being in part time work, suffering an ongoing illness at the time of taking out the policy and being of retirement age.

Cheap loan protection has come under fire since the investigation began into the sector in 2005 when the Office of Fair trading found out that there had been wide spread mis-selling of policies. The Financial Services Authority began an investigation into the sector which resulted in several major high street names receiving fines and being asked to make the product easier to understand for the consumer at the time of selling. Following the investigation, which is still ongoing, the sector was referred to the Competition Commission who is conducting an in-depth review which is expected to reach conclusion by February 2009.

One of the most recent changes for the better when it comes to giving the consumer information at the time of taking out the policy, the Financial Services Authority announced that starting from March 2008 comparative tables are going to be introduced.The introduction of the tables will make it easier for the consumer to work out which type of cover is the most suitable for their needs based on a series of questions and not only covers payment protection but also highlights the fact that payment protection should be shopped around for.

Currently the payment protection specialists are one of the most cheapest ways of getting payment protection along with getting all the necessary information needed to make sure that you get a policy suitable for your needs.