The finance industry regulator the Financial Services Authority has in fact found that in some cases loan protection policies were being sold to individuals who could never benefit from them because they would not be eligible to claim should they find themselves out of work as a result of sickness or unemployment.

There are a variety of reasons why someone would be unable to benefit from or to claim on loan protection, and all of them are contained within the small print, or the terms and conditions. It is therefore important that a consumer reads this information before taking the loan protection out.

Although every individual policy will have its own set of exclusions, and they largely depend on the company, there are some generic ones that all loan protection policies have. The first is that you have to be between 18 and 64 to claim on the majority of them. Any older than that and you are no longer deemed to be of working age. Some do not include this condition now as a result of the act against age discrimination, but it is still worth looking for or asking about.

You also have to be working on a full time basis to be able to claim on loan protection. If you work less than sixteen hours a week or no longer work then you cannot claim. The whole idea behind loan protection is that it enables you to maintain repayments if your income is dramatically reduced. However, if you are not working to begin with or are not the main wage earner then it could be argued that your debts should not be affected.

Of course these are only two of the exclusions associated with the terms and conditions of loan protection, but already you should have an idea as to whether you qualify for it! Be sure to read all of the terms and conditions and take independent advice if necessary and you will not go far wrong!