Everything You Need to Know About Life Insurance

Life insurance is a type of protection that can be bought and insures the buyer in the event of death. The risk that is assumed by the insurer is the risk of death of the insured. Life insurance is a very good purchase in order to protect a family, especially if you are the sole breadwinner. Additionally, life insurance can help pay for funeral costs and therefore ensure that your death will not be a financial burden for your family.

It is important to understand the process of life insurance in order to truly grasp its value. A life insurance transaction has three parties: the insured, the insurer, and the owner of the policy (the insured and owner of the policy are often the same person). One of the most important parties involved with life insurance is the beneficiary. The beneficiary receives the policy proceeds upon the death of the insured. Only the owner of the policy can change the beneficiary. If the beneficiary is an irrevocable beneficiary, then any changes in beneficiary must be agreed to by the irrevocable beneficiary.

In order to solidify a life insurance plan with an insurer, the insurer must evaluate the insured's lifestyle. The insurer evaluates the risk of insuring the customer. Some insurance companies will not grant insurance to people with serious health issues, or extreme lifestyles. Insurance companies charge differing amounts for life insurance based on the risk evaluation. Part of the risk evaluation is a health evaluation. There are for categories for people seeking life insurance: Preferred Best, Preferred, Standard, and Tobacco. Having no family history of illness or early cancer, and being extremely healthy and active can result in a Preferred Best rating. Depending on lifestyles, and family histories, a person is slowly moved down the ladder. It is easy to move down the categories but almost impossible to move up a category.

Life insurance is a legal contract that has terms and conditions. In the event of the suicide of the insured, most insurance companies will declare the policy null and void. Misrepresentation by the owner or insured on the life insurance application is also a plausible reason for the policy to be nullified. Insurance companies are entitled to know the circumstances of the insured's death and can decide whether or not the policy should be nullified if there is suspicion of suicide. A death certificate must be shown to the insurer to prove the death of the insured.

As with any insurance policy, life insurance takes a substantial amount of time to mature. Once matured, the "face value" of the policy is given. A policy matures upon the death of the insured, or when the insured reaches a certain age. Depending on the policy, the insured can make differing amounts of payments over time. As with all insurances, failed payments result in the termination of the insurance.

Life insurance is a very good thing to have because it protects your family's financial well-being. In the event that you were the sole worker, life insurance can pay your family your salary for many years (depending on the policy). Life insurance can also cover the costs of funerals and therefore your death won't be a burden on your family.

Peter Wise is interested in financial matters and writes for Life Insurance Lowdown ([http://www.lifeinsurancelowdown.com]).

Insurance car moto life

What is Home Owners Insurance?

Home owners insurance rates vary widely based on your geographic location. Areas prone to hurricanes, floods, hail, earthquakes, fires and other natural disasters will generally have higher rates. Even the distance to the nearest fire department or fire hydrant can have an impact on your home owners insurance rates.

Knowing Your Policy Is VERY Important

Coverage for Property and Possessions

Liability Coverage

Theft Off Premises

Additional Living Expenses

What Can a Homeowner Do To Be Prepared?

What Can a Homeowner Do To Save Money?

Coverage for Property and Possessions

Damage to the dwelling and the contents could be the biggest unexpected disaster awaiting a homeowner who has less coverage than needed. Most policies provide a stated maximum amount of coverage for the dwelling and another amount for contents.

Generally, dwelling coverage is based on replacement cost, which means that in the event of a total loss, the policy will provide reimbursement, up to the policy limit, to replace the structure. Ideally, a homeowner should buy enough insurance to completely rebuild the home, known as replacement value. This figure may not be the home's actual market value or what the owner originally paid for the home. This is especially true in a depressed or an inflated market or if the home is simply not replaceable to its condition prior to the loss. Replacement cost policies, which may pay over the policy limit to rebuild the home, may be available from your insurer.

To determine how much insurance to purchase, an accurate appraisal of the home for replacement cost should be made. Working with your insurance company is important in this process. Most insurers recommend or require that a homeowner insure the dwelling for 100 percent of its full replacement value. Some homes, very unique ones such as national register-types or very elaborate ones, cannot be insured for exact replacement since some features are not replaceable in either workmanship, materials or practical costs. The insurer and/or the agent is the best source for these issues.

Coverage for personal property is different. Most policies provide actual cash value coverage for contents which includes depreciation, or full value contents without depreciation. Actual cash value means that if a power surge blows out a 10-year-old television set, the homeowner should know what to expect. Unlike full value contents coverage, which would essentially provide a new television set, actual cash value coverage allows the insurance company to calculate the useful life of the item and then depreciate the item to present value. A depreciated 10-year-old television set would be insured for only a fraction of its original cost. A homeowner may want to consider replacement cost coverage to be sure that the contents are adequately insured.

In addition to making sure that contents are covered for replacement cost rather than actual cash value, homeowners should purchase additional coverage for items that would ordinarily be subject to loss limitations. Virtually all policies cover contents loss up to the policy limit for items that include furniture, clothing, toys, accessories such as lamps and other items which are used for decor. Explicit limitations are set in the policy for high-cost items such as jewelry, fine art, furs, electronics, collectibles, oriental rugs and antiques. If a thief comes in and steals a two-carat engagement ring, it will not be covered well enough without what is commonly known as a personal property rider to cover specific, costly items. For more information on home owners insurance visit our specialist site below.

Home Owners Liability Coverage

Liability insurance is very important to a homeowner's coverage because it helps protect the owner and the family from financial disaster if someone files a claim against the homeowner's policy, sues the homeowner or if the courts hold the homeowner legally responsible for someone else's injury or property damage. The standard liability limit for most policies is $100,000, but many people believe that additional protection is needed , especially if the homeowner has sizable assets.

For a small increase in premium, an additional $300,000 to $500,000 may be obtained. Liability coverage protects in three ways: Personal liability, damage to the property of others, and medical expenses for injury to others.

Another way to protect one's assets is to consider an Umbrella Policy which usually adds $1 million (or possibly more) in excess liability coverage to the homeowner's property and automobile insurance policies. It also covers claims excluded from most basic policies such as libel, slander, defamation and mental anguish.

For example, most policies provide liability coverage that covers not only accidents that occur on the insured property but accidents that occur elsewhere. If the family dog bites a neighbor in front of another neighbor's house, for example, the dog owner's homeowner's policy will usually compensate the neighbor for injuries and necessary medical expenses. For more information on home owners insurance visit our specialist site below.

Theft Off Premises

Most policies automatically insure against the loss of personal property even if that property is not on the insured premises when it is lost. If one goes to the airport with several suitcases and they are stolen, this is probably covered. Talk with your agent and/or your insurance company for details.

Additional Living Expenses

Another automatic benefit of which many homeowners are unaware is coverage for living expenses if the covered premises is damaged to the point of being uninhabitable. Not only should the policy pay for the cost to repair the damage to the dwelling, but it should also reimburse the homeowner for the additional expenses of living elsewhere while the repairs are being made. For more information and rates on home owners insurance visit our specialist site below.

What Can A Homeowner Do To Be Prepared?

How does someone find out what is and what is not covered? Read the policy carefully. It's not likely to be fun reading, but the good news is that if one reads and understands his or her policy before it is needed, this knowledge may save unexpected financial losses should a problem occur. It is always best to talk with one's insurance agent or the company that issued the policy for details.

Understanding your home owners insurance policy is best handled before a claim is made. In the case of the contents, an inventory of items room by room is important to have with information such as the date purchased, serial number, the original cost of each item and a brief description. Video tape or still photos is very helpful along with the inventory. These items should be stored in a safe place such as a safety deposit box in a bank or savings and loan institution and not in the home because if the home is destroyed, the chances are the inventory and related photos or tape may also be destroyed.

Save Money On Your Home owners Insurance

Insurance is a highly competitive business and the price paid by the consumer for homeowners insurance may vary by hundreds of dollars, depending on the insurance company with which the consumer intends to do business.

Companies offer several types of discounts, but they may not always offer the same discount or the same amount of discount. That is why the consumer should ask his or her insurance agent or company representative about any discounts that are available.

What should a prospective homeowners policy holder think about when assessing which policy to obtain? Here are several ideas for potentially lowering costs.

Shop Around

Prices vary so it pays to shop around. Ask friends, check the Yellow Pages, refer to consumer guides, insurance agents, the consumer phone line of the state's insurance commissioner's office and the companies for price information.

Raise the deductible

Deductibles are the amount of money the homeowner pays toward a loss before the insurance company starts to pay according to the terms of the policy. Deductibles on homeowners policies typically start at $250. By increasing the deductible to $500, $1,000, $2,500, or $5,000, discounts may be obtained, depending on the insurance company.

Buy home and auto policies from the same insurer

Some companies that sell homeowners and auto coverage may reduce their premium if two or more policies are purchased from them. When buying a home, consider how much insuring it will cost. A new home's electrical, heating and plumbing systems and overall structure are likely to be in better shape than those of an older house. Insurers may offer a discount if the house is new. Choice of construction materials and design could reduce the premium. Brick, because of its resistance to wind damage, is better in Georgia. Proximity to fire station, firefighters and fire hydrants also affects premiums.

Insure the house, not the land

The land under the house isn't at risk from theft, windstorm, fire and other perils covered in a homeowners policy. Therefore, the value of the land should not be included in deciding how much homeowners insurance to buy.

Beef up home security

Some insurance companies offer discounts for smoke detectors, burglar and fire alarm systems, or dead-bolt locks. Others offer discounts for homes equipped with a sprinkler system and fire detection and burglar alarms that ring at the police station or at a monitoring facility. Before buying such a system, consumers should check with their insurers to validate that such as system will be eligible for a discount and how much the device or system would cost. Most importantly, the consumer should know how much may be saved on premiums.

Stop smoking

Smoking accounts for more than 23,000 residential fires in a year nationwide. That's why some insurers offer to reduce premiums if all the residents in a house do not smoke.

Seek out discounts for seniors

Retired people stay at home more and spot fires sooner than working people. Retirees also have more time to maintain their homes. If a homeowner is at least 55 years old and retired, he or she may qualify for a discount at some companies.

Compare the limits in the policy with the value of the possessions in the home at least once a year.

Policies should cover any major purchases or additions to the contents of the home. Remember that additions to the physical structure of the home should be reported to your agent or insurance company for a reevaluation of the limits of your policy. In addition, review your contents which may require a special scheduling on your policy. Such items include jewelry, watches, furs and computers to name a few. If you have sold or given away special schedule items, they should removed from your policy.

Are You Adequately Protected?

Because there are so many options and variables associated with home owners insurance we recommend that you find a company in your area that specializes in home owner insurance. It is very possible to save hundreds of dollars a year by simply shopping rates and coverage.

For more information or a quote on homeowners insurance fill out our free home insurance quotes request form.

Matt McWilliams is one of the co-founders of HometownQuotes.Com, an online insurance quotes web site. He is originally from Pinebluff, NC and attended Middle Tennessee State University. He is considered an expert in the field of online insurance shopping and finding new ways to help consumers save money on their insurance. For more information visit http://www.hometownquotes.com

Insurance car moto life

Cheap Insurance

Insurance is a form of contract whereby periodic payments (also known as insurance premiums) are made to an insurance company, in order to provide an individual or business compensation in the event of property loss or damage.

The main purpose of insurance is to protect yourself or your family against the financial impact of a tragedy. In general, it is contract in which one party agrees to pay for another party's financial loss resulting from a specified event. Insurance mainly consist of three things - insurer, insured and policy. An entity seeking to transfer risk (an individual, corporation, or association of any type) becomes the 'insured' party once risk is assumed by an 'insurer', the insuring party, by means of a contract, defined as an insurance 'policy'.

There are two main ways to buy insurance. The first one is directly through an agent and the second one is to do it yourself. The main advantage of buying insurance from other is that an honest and competent insurer will decide according to the situation and make suggestions. The advantage of going on your own is that less money is needed for it. While buying any type of insurance, a person will save money by paying annually or semi-annually. Sometimes buying several types of insurance from the same company will save money.

There are different types of insurance available in the market. Life insurance is a form of insurance that pays monetary proceeds upon the death of the insured covered in the policy. There are main two types of life insurance that are term insurance and permanent insurance.

The medical insurance policy is a non-life insurance policy, which covers the expenses incurred by an individual in case of an injury or hospitalization. Individuals have to pay a minimal premium for buying medical insurance. Its main types are indemnity plan, preferred provider organization and health maintenance organization.

Homeowner insurance policy covers property and contents. There are two kinds of Homeowners Insurance policies and these policies can be divided into two categories named-Peril Insurance and all-risk insurance.

Auto insurance is the insurance against loss due to theft or traffic accidents. It can be purchased for cars, trucks and other vehicles. Its primary use is to provide protection against losses incurred as a result of car. Its main types are general liability, no-fault insurance, uninsured auto coverage and medical payments.

Car insurance is the insurance against loss due to theft or traffic accidents. Its main types are fully comprehensive auto insurance, third party insurance, fire and theft insurance, third party insurance, specialized car insurance.

Term life insurance provides protection for a specific period of time. It pays a benefit only if you die during the term. Term life insurance comes in two basic varieties term life policies and cash value policies.

There are numerous insurance providers that designs and markets insurance services for individuals, families, groups and businesses worldwide. Now, there are also online insurance facilities that help a person to select insurance just by clicking. After fulfilling the basic requirements of the insurance company, person is eligible for it.

The author presents the website on cheap insurance. It covers meaning, types of insurance, ways to buy insurance and parties involved in insurance. You can visit his site for insurance guide

Insurance car moto life

6 Factors that Could Affect Your Auto Insurance Premium

When it comes to car insurance, many consumers have no idea what insurers look at to come up with the almighty premium amount. But believe it or not, insurers don't pull your auto insurance rates out of thin air.

To help you secure the lowest possible insurance rate, it's important to learn about the factors that could be affecting your premium--and how to use those factors to tip the scale in your favor!

Factor #1: Your Driving Record

It's probably no surprise to you that insurers look at your driving record. They do so to gauge or estimate the risk to insure you. But what exactly are they looking for? Insurers will scan your driving record for at-fault accidents, traffic violations and claims made, usually within the last three to five years. If you've received marks against your driving record, you can bet you'll be paying more for your auto insurance.

The good news: Marks against your driving record usually fall away in the eyes of your insurer after three years. You can avoid being penalized for a less than stellar driving record by driving as defensively as possible and avoiding filing small claims (such as those for hail damage) and paying for the repairs yourself.

Factor #2: Previous Insurance Coverage

If you're applying for car insurance under a new insurer, your prospective agent will almost certainly look into your previous insurance coverage. He or she will want to know if you paid your premiums on time, how many claims you filed with your old insurer, as well as any other problematic behavior that would increase your risk to insure.

Any red flags in previous insurance coverage will likely result in an increased insurance rate. And unfortunately, if you've not been previously insured, you may pay more car insurance until you establish an insurance history.

The good news: You can avoid these penalties in the future by paying your premiums on time, avoiding filing small claims and maintaining a respectful relationship with your insurers.

Factor #3: Your Credit History

According to a recent study by insurance research firm Conning and Company, 92 percent of the nation's 100 top insurers are factoring credit history into auto insurance premiums.

And while insurers are looking directly at credit scores, they're more interested at how you've used your credit in the past. Insurers will look at the length of your credit history, the amount of revolving debt you have and any collections or late payments to form an insurance score.

And while critics and consumers alike accuse insurers of using credit-based scoring as an excuse to inflate auto rates, there's a surprising amount of statistics to back the use of insurance scoring. In fact, studies have found that consumers at the bottom of the credit pool file 40 percent more claims that consumers with good credit. Insurers also use your credit history to judge the likelihood of paying your premiums on time. It's for these and other reasons that insurance scoring is most likely here to stay.

The good news: You can improve your insurance score by paying your bills on time, paying down high existing balances (such as those on credit cards), and having your car insurance premium automatically withdrawn from your account every month.

Bonus tip: Insurers tend to grant discounts for customers with automatic bill pay!

Factor #4: Geographic Location

Can insurers charge you more because of where you live?

Yes.

Statistically speaking, metropolitan areas see greater incidents of car accidents, theft and vandalism. These factors increase the risk that an insurer takes to cover you. Thus, if you live in the city, you may pay more for car insurance than if you lived in a more rural area or suburb.

The good news: While your premiums may go up in urban areas, you can score discounts if your car is kept under a carport, garage or parking structure. Make sure your agent knows of these safety measures--including any electronic theft deterrents in your car.

Factor #5: The Car in Question

It comes as a surprise to most that a brand new car often costs more to insure than one that's been around the block a few times.

How is this possible?

With all airbags and anti-theft devices in new cars, you'd think your premium would go down. But the fact of the matter is that newer cars can be more expensive to repair and replace--which will increase the amount you pay to cover the car.

The good news: Don't discount discounts! If your car has multiple air bags and other safety features, make sure your agent is aware of all of them. And you can avoid premium surprises in the future by getting an estimate on your insurance before buying that luxury coupe.

Factor #6: Use of the Car

Believe it or not, your insurer cares how much you use your car and what you use it for. While this may seem relatively unimportant, to an insurer, the more you're on the road, the greater your chances of getting into an accident--which translates to an increased risk for the insurer.

The good news: Okay, there's not much you can do about this one. Living closer to work should save you a couple bucks, but if that's not an option (and sometimes it isn't), make up for any rate increase by asking about additional discounts, cash incentives and rebates. Chances are good that your insurer won't bump your premium up much for this anyway.

An Educated Consumer is a Powerful Consumer!

While the final decision about car insurance rates ultimately lies in the hands of the insurer, using the tips above can help tilt the scales in favor of the consumer.

So get your cheapest car insurance premiums by educating yourself on the factors mentioned above. And remember, different insurers may use these factors in varying fashions--so shop around and obtain multiple quotes to find the cheap auto insurance you need!

About InsureMe

Megan L. Mahan is a copywriter and insurance information expert with InsureMe in Englewood, Colorado. InsureMe links agents nationwide with consumers shopping for insurance. Specializing in health, home, life and auto insurance quotes, the InsureMe network provides thousands of agents with insurance leads every year. For more information, visit InsureMe.com.

Insurance car moto life

Critical Illness Insurance - The Press are Giving Insurers a Hard Time

Recent stories in the press have again lambasted the insurers over critical illness insurance. The core problem is that a critical illness claim is not as straightforward as, for example, a claim under life insurance. With life insurance it's going to be hard for the insurance company to argue that you're not dead!

By their very nature, critical illness claims are much more complicated. The insurer will need to satisfy itself that the claim is validated in three key areas before it meets the claim: -

Has the illness been correctly diagnosed?

Is the confirmed illness included in the schedule of insured critical illnesses covered by the policy?

Did the policyholder fully disclose their medical history and current state of health on their original application form?

On the first point, it's obviously in the policyholder's interest to verify the medical diagnosis - so there's rarely ever any conflict between the insurance company and the policyholder on that issue. It's the next two areas which the insurer needs to validate, where conflicts seem arise.

With constant development in the medical knowledge, from time to time there can be some situations where validation falls into a grey area - a policyholder will argue that their specific illness is insured whereas the insurer will argue that it isn't. Insurance companies are aware of this problem and they often change the wording in their policies in an attempt to clarify the scope of the cover and eliminate areas for dispute. Nevertheless, disputes do happen all too frequently and sparks fly when a policyholder thinks his illness is covered but the insurer disagrees.

A case in point comes before the Courts shortly. Mr Hawkins from Staffordshire is suing Scottish Provident for £400,000 under the terms of his critical illness policy. Basically, his medical advisers believe his illness is insured whereas the insurers' medical advisers disagree. If the Court find in favour of Mr Hawkins the press will have a field day - and the critical illness insurers will suffer further bad press they can sorely afford.

Another summons, filed recently in the High Court and again involving Scottish Provident, highlights the problem when an insurer considers that a claimant mislead them on his or her original application form. Our understanding is that if an applicant omits relevant information or provides misleading information on their application from, this amounts to obtaining insurance on false pretences. This summons has been issued on behalf of Thomas Welch from London who is suing Scottish Provident for £206,800. The issue goes back to 2000 when, a few years after first starting his critical illness policy, Mr Welch received confirmation that he was suffering from testicular cancer. The insurer refused the claim because of "non-disclosure alleging that Mr Welch had not been honest about his smoking habit. He does admit that he did smoke earlier in his life but is resolute in saying that he had long since given up when he applied for critical illness insurance. As such, Mr Welch believes that he did complete the application honestly.

We assume that the case will centre upon whether Mr Welch accurately answered the smoking questions on his application. Most insurers define "a smoker" as someone who has smoked, or has otherwise used, nicotine products within the previous 5 years. (Some insurance companies adopt a 1year cut off.) If Mr Welch had indeed smoked during the specified years, he would have been obliged to disclose such information on the application and the insurer would have priced his insurance accordingly. In this context, it is relevant to note that smokers are charged as much as 65% more for critical illness over than non-smokers. We anticipate that Mr Welch's lawyers will argue either that he did not smoke during the period in question or he omitted the smoking information by pure oversight and in any event, his past smoking is not irrelevant to his testicular cancer. Interesting issues and we'll let you know the outcome.

Mr Hawkins case is fundamentally different. It illustrates the problems that can arise if policy documents imprecisely describe an illness or if the technical diagnosis of an illness provides the scope for medical professionals to disagree. Either way the issues are entirely outside the policyholders control at a distressing time for them and their families and we must appreciate their anguish. The long-term solution must lie in improving the medical definitions within the policy. It is probable that this will result in more medical jargon that the average man in the street will find difficult to understand - but perhaps that is preferable to what Mr Hawkins is going through.

Mr Welch's court case must stand as a clear reminder to everybody that applications for insurance must always be totally accurate and completed in good faith. We recognise that in some cases this may still leave room for dispute (and Mr Welch's case may be an example), but if an applicant fails to complete the forms accurately, they are taking the great risk and any claim they make could be rejected.

Rightly or wrongly, the newspapers have a history of giving the insurance companies a hard time, casting them as heartless big business. This serves to reinforce the public's feeling that insurance companies are devious and not to be trusted - especially it seems, in respect of critical illness insurance. This view is reinforced by the fact that around 20-25% of critical illness claims are rejected (although this rejection rate does vary between insurers). This issue is something that insurers must come to grips with - it's bad for clients and undermines confidence in insurance - and that must be bad for the development of the insurance industry.

In fact to put no finer point on it, it's a tragedy. As many as 1 in 6 women and 1 in 5 men will be diagnosed with a critical illness before their normal retirement age*. As such, critical illness insurance is vastly important for the protection of family finances. The problems we have highlighted are obviously contributing to a situation where almost everybody needs critical illness insurance, but fewer and fewer of us are taking it up.

(* Source: Munich Re.)

Michael writes for Express Life Insurance who offer life insurance quotes [http://www.express-life-insurance.co.uk] and critical illness insurance. Click here for more life insurance topics [http://www.express-life-insurance.co.uk/faqs.htm]

Insurance car moto life

Alternate Risk Transfer (ART) - Insurance Strategies

Risk Management

Alternate Risk Transfer is a fancy way of saying alternate methods of insurance and risk management, of which there are many. From the most basic alternative of going without insurance (self-insuring) to so-called "program business captives", there are a wide variety of strategies from which to choose.

To understand why ART strategies are so popular it is important to understand a few facts about insurance pricing.

►Insurance Premiums are related primarily to economic cycles NOT primarily to claims.

"The claims that recent increases in medical malpractice liability insurance premiums in Connecticut are attributable to overly generous jury verdicts are unfounded. The more likely explanation for the sudden rise in rates is the decrease in investment earnings of the medical malpractice insurers..." Professor Tom Baker, Director, Insurance Law Center, University of Connecticut School of Law

Every time insurance industry profits decline sharply, the industry declares an "insurance crisis" - rates go up sharply, deductibles rise and underwriting guidelines tighten.

►Insurance Premiums have risen much faster than claims.

Median medical malpractice payments rose 35 Percent from 1997 to 2001 (an average of 8.5% a year).

Average premiums for single health insurance coverage increased 39 percent over that time period (9.5% per year). (Source: National Practitioner Database)

►A small number of insured may be responsible for a large percentage of losses.

National Practitioners Database:

For example, in Florida, 6% of the doctors were found to be responsible for 51% of the malpractice claims. 2,674 out of 44,747 doctors have paid two or more malpractice payments. These doctors are responsible for 51% of total malpractice payments.

24 Florida physicians have paid 10 or more malpractice settlements since 1990.

Needless to say, the 94% pay for the poor claims experience of the 6%.

ART Strategies

Conventional insurance markets are one-year indemnity contracts designed to transfer specific hazard risks. Typical features of an ART strategy are:

►Multi-year, multi-line coverage

►Coverage tailored to special need of insured

►Provides coverage not generally available in the marketplace

►Risk retention by insured

There is a multifarious trade-off between risk retention, complexity and cost among the various different ART strategies. Not surprisingly, the plans with the least risk, complexity and expense generally provide the least benefit. As more risk is retained, the greater and greater benefits can be obtained. Of course, complexity and administrative expenses grow as well. Windward Harbor can help you find, execute and manage the right strategy for you. We have listed the basic ART strategies below.

►Guaranteed Cost Insurance Plans

Traditional insurance coverage.

►Loss Sensitive Insurance Plans

Insurance coverage for a specific insured where the final premium is based on the insured's losses.

►Risk Purchasing Groups (RP's)

Risk Purchasing Groups were created by the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986. The purpose of the act was to break through the myriad of state insurance regulation in the hopes of making it easier for groups to purchase liability insurance. The act allows groups of individuals combine to purchase liability insurance while prohibiting states (regulators) or insurance companies from discriminating against them.

►Self-Insured Retention Plans (SIRS)

The primary difference between a deductible and a self-insured retention is that a deductible amount counts against the total limits of the policy, reducing total coverage, whereas a self-insured retention plan provides limits of coverage in excess of the self-insured retention so that the amount payable under the policy is not reduced by the amount of the retention.

►Protected Cell Captives (Segregated Portfolio Companies)

PCCs (SPC's in certain domiciles) are essentially rent-a-captive companies that ensure complete separation among program participants. According to the laws of specific domiciles, PCCs or SPC's generally guarantee complete separation of each cell's assets, capital, and surplus from each other. Because they can achieve economies of scale, rent-a-captives make captive insurance affordable for companies that would not otherwise be large enough to profitably own and operate their own captive.

Windward Harbor LLC owns a BVI licensed Segregated Portfolio Company - Windward Harbor SPC Ltd, which provides rent-a-captive services for selected clients on an annual fee basis. Each segregated portfolio has its own economic ownership, tax Id number and files a separate tax return.

►Self-Insured Groups & Pools (SIG's)

While the concept differs slightly from state to state, SIGs work similarly in the nearly 40 states in which they are legal. A group of employers form a nonprofit corporation or trust and hire a professional to manage it. This new entity then purchases the insurance, meaning the SIG members essentially "own" their own workers' comp company.

The group pools the money it otherwise would pay an insurer, earning investment income on funds held in reserve. If a SIG program cuts down on workplace injuries and claim costs, the surplus, or "dividend," from premiums is returned to members.

Of course, if a company or the group as a whole has catastrophic losses, members pay the difference, up to a limit. Above that point, the group buys excess insurance to offset a single large loss or a combination of losses.

►Captives (See Captive Services)

A captive insurance company is an insurance company that is owned and controlled by its insureds. According to Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA), the first captive ever formed was in the late 1800s, and was designed to write more cost effective fire insurance policies for New England textile manufacturers that were hit hard by increasing market rates.

Captives gained popularity in the 1980s as a result of the US liability crisis, particularly in the medical arena.

As captives have continued to grow over time, employers are considering employee benefits as a new or expanded coverage. The more recent hard market and changing economy is expected to spur even more and rapid industry growth yet this year.

Single Parent (Pure) Captive: A single parent captive is owned and controlled by one owner, typically the parent organization, and is formed as a subsidiary company. The captive subsidiary underwrites policies for the parent, and solely bears the risks of the parent.

►Group Captive: A group captive is owned and controlled by multiple insureds. They may or may not be related entities or a part of a homogeneous group like industry or trade groups. Typically, companies of similar size pool their risks in an industry captive with customized insurance plans. Similarly, companies of similar size in different industries can also form group captives to enjoy the benefits of a captive model. More recently, associations have been forming association captive insurance companies to offer captive services as part of their membership benefits.

►Agency Captive: Agency captives are companies typically owned by groups of brokers or other insurance intermediaries and are typically structured like rent-a-captives.

►Risk Retention Groups

Risk Retention Groups were also created by the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986, which provides for streamlined regulation. A RRG is an insurance company in every regard but has one very important regulatory distinction. Every RRG chooses a single state in which to be domiciled and regulated. The act provides that the RRG is then eligible to do business in all states.

►Program Business Captives

Associations, regional producers and corporations who desire to assume some selected third-party exposure.

Wayne Walker, Windward Harbor Insurance Management LLC ©Windward Harbor LLC 2004

Windward Harbor Insurance Management LLC is a licensed insurance manager in the British Virgin Islands with office in Pinehurst, NC, Atlanta, GA, and St Petersburg, FL.

Insurance car moto life

Life Insurance Basics

One of the most important things you can do as parents is to ensure the financial welfare of your children in the event of your death. Life insurance is the best way to be rest assured that your children will be taken care of if you die. Although we never like to think of that kind of thing happening, but it does.

What is Life Insurance

Life insurance is a policy that you can enter with your insurance company, which promises a certain amount to your beneficiary(ies) in the event of your death. Usually, a spouse will name the other spouse as well as their children as beneficiaries of the policy. As part of the agreement with life insurance, your insurance policy will be a monetary value, that you will in return, pay a monthly premium for. Premiums usually depend on your age, gender, occupation, medical history and other factors.

There are other types of life insurance that may provide benefits for you and for your family while you are still living. These policies can accrue a cash value on a tax-deferred basis and can be used for future needs such as retirement or your child's education.

Do I Need Life Insurance

Earning an income allows you and your family to do many things. It pays for your mortgage, buys cars, food, clothing, vacations and many other luxuries that you and your family enjoy. However, certain situations can cause you to lose your income, and those who depend on you also depend on your income. If any of the following statements about you and your family are true, then it is probably a good idea for you to consider life insurance.

1) You are married and have a spouse.

2) You have children who are dependent on you.

3) You have a parent or relative who is aging, or disable and depends on you.

4) You have a loved one in your life that you wish to provide for.

5) Your 401K retirement plan, pension and savings aren't enough to insure your loved one's future.

What Are My Life Insurance Options

There are four basic types of life insurance that can meet you and your family's needs:

Term Life Insurance

This is the least expensive type of life insurance coverage, and at least at the beginning, the simplest. Term life insurance policies do not accrue cash value, and are fixed over an extended period of time - usually one to 0 years, and they can be renewed. This life insurance policy pays the beneficiary of your policy a fixed amount in the even that you die in the period of time that your policy includes. The premiums of term life insurance are lowest when you are young and increase as you get older

Whole Life Insurance

This type of life insurance is similar to term life insurance, as well as provides cash value. Over time, whole life insurance generally builds up a cash value on a tax-deferred basis, and some even pay it's policy holders a dividend. This type of life insurance is popular, doe to the cash value that is accessible to you or your beneficiaries before you die. Used to supplement retirement funds, or to pay for your child's education, whole life insurance should be used for protection, rather than for accumulation.

Universal Life Insurance

This type of life insurance is a flexible kind of plan. These policies accrue interest and allow the owner to adjust the death benefits and premiums to their current life situation. You decide the amount of premium for universal life insurance, and of you skip a payment, this will be deducted from your death benefit. Universal life insurance stays in effect as long as your cash value can cover the costs of the policy. These rates are subject to change, but they can never fall below the minimum rate that is guaranteed when you sign up for universal life insurance.

Variable Life Insurance

This type of life insurance is designed for people who want to tie the performance of their life insurance policy to that of the financial market. The policy holder gets to decide how the money should be invested, and your cash value has the opportunity to grow more rapidly. However, if the market is poor, your life insurance policy's death benefit will be poor. As with whole life insurance and universal life insurance, you may withdraw against the cash value. Be reminded that withdrawals of this life insurance policy will be deducted from the cash value.

How Can I Save Money With Life Insurance

Below you will find some suggestions on ways to save money while purchasing the life insurance policy that is right for you.

1) If you don't need life insurance, don't buy it. Don't buy more insurance that you actually need in order to provide financial security for your family.

2) Shop around for competitively-priced life insurance policies while you are healthy. Don't smoke, or do anything that might increase your rates. Take care of yourself by exercising regularly and maintaining a moderate and healthy weight.

3) If you purchase a term life insurance policy, look for guaranteed and renewable policies. That way you won't have to periodically continue to shop around for those life insurance policies.

4) You should only buy optional forms of coverage such as riders only if necessary.

5) Shop around and compare life insurance policy rates and coverage. There are thousands of life insurance companies to choose from. It is advised that you get at least three separate quotations of life insurance, and then decide which is the best for you.

Brian M. Gardner is the Founder of Financial-Articles.com - An Online Money Making Resource. Learn how to make money and acquire wealth by investing in stocks and mutual funds, as well as how to be successful in sales, marketing and advertising.

Visit Brian's website at http://www.financial-articles.com. [http://www.financial-articles.com]

Insurance car moto life

Term Life Insurance - Save Money the Smart Way

Term life insurance is the easiest type of life insurance to understand. To put it simply, the insured person pays a minimal premium per thousand dollars of coverage on an annual, semi annual, quarterly or monthly basis. If he or she dies within the term of the policy, the life insurance company will pay the beneficiary the face value of the policy.

Distinctive Features of Term Life Insurance

To better understand some of the distinctive features of term life insurance consider the following points:

First, term life insurance is "pure insurance" because when you purchase a term insurance policy you are only buying a "death benefit". Unlike with other types of "permanent insurance" such as whole life, universal life, and variable universal life, there is no additional cash value built up with this kind of policy. Term insurance only gives you a specific death benefit.

Second, the coverage is for a defined period of time (the "term") such as 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, and so on. Once the policy is in force, it only remains in force until the end of the term -- assuming you pay the premiums, of course.

Third, most term insurance policies are renewable at the end of the term. With what is known as "Level Term Life Insurance", the death benefit remains the same throughout the term of the policy, but since the insured person is getting older, the premium will gradually increase. As time goes by the cost of a level term insurance policy may become greater than you are willing to pay for a simple death benefit. An alternative is the "Decreasing Term Life Insurance" policy in which the premium remains the same, but the death benefit goes down as time goes by.

Fourth, most term policies can be converted to permanent policies within a specific number of years. If you decide it is important to retain the insurance coverage, converting may be something you should plan for. You can anticipate the accelerating cost of term insurance premiums and convert your policy before the premiums become prohibitively high. It is true that in the short term the premium will usually be higher than if you stayed with the term policy. But over the long term this difference will decrease because of the rapid acceleration of the term insurance premium as you get older. A permanent policy also accumulates cash value which increases the total death benefit paid to your beneficiary.

Popular Uses of Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is most appropriate whenever you want to protect your beneficiaries from a sudden financial burden as the result of your death. Here are some of the most common uses of term life insurance.

Personal Costs Due to Death - When a spouse or family member dies there will be immediate costs. Many people purchase a relatively small term life insurance policy to cover these costs.

Mortgage Insurance - Banks and financial institutions often insist that mortgage holders retain a term life insurance policy sufficient to pay out their mortgage. Such policies make the bank the beneficiary of the policy. If the mortgage holder should happen to die before the mortgage is paid off, the insurance policy will pay it out. This is also a great benefit to a spouse whose earning power will likely be decreased due to the death of his or her partner.

Business Partner Insurance - Term insurance is also used by business people to cover outstanding loans with their bank, or to purchase a deceased partner's shares on death, if they had an agreement to do so. Most partnerships have an agreement of this sort, and the policy premiums are paid by the business.

Key Person Insurance - When a company loses key individuals due to death, this can often result in hardship to the company. Key person insurance is purchased by the company for any individual it deems to be "key". The company itself is made the beneficiary of the policy. So when a "key" person dies, the company receives a cash injection to handle the problems associated with replacing that person.

Getting a Term Life Insurance Quote

Here are some things to look for when getting a quote for term life insurance:

1. The cheapest rate today will not be the cheapest rate tomorrow. For instance, the cheapest premium today will likely be for a Yearly Renewable Term policy. This policy is renewed every year at which time your premium is also adjusted upwards. This is fine if you intend to convert to a longer term solution (permanent insurance) in a year or two, or if you have a very short term requirement for insurance. But if you think you will need this insurance for a longer period, you would be better to commit to something like a Ten Year Term Policy. This locks your premium and death benefit in for ten years. Your rates will not increase until you renew.

2. Compare coverage and premium projections for different policies. Think about the long term and get the coverage that saves you money in the long run.

3. Make sure you completely understand the conversion options built into the different policies you are considering. Most policies will let you convert part or all of your term insurance into permanent insurance within a specific period of time, and without the need of a medical examination.

4. For some situations you should consider options such as Decreasing Term Life Insurance in which the death benefit decreases as time goes by. This makes sense if the policy is being used to cover a mortgage or business loan.

Term life insurance is not the answer to all life insurance requirements, but it should be part of a sound plan for every person's financial future.

For online insurance quotes and more information about Term Life Insurance and all other kinds of Life Insurance, visit LifeInsuranceHub.net

Rick Hendershot is a writer and publisher of the Linknet Publishing Network. For article writing and distribution services see Linknet Article Program. For another very cost effective way to enhance your search engine rankings, see Power Listings.

Insurance car moto life

Insurance - All the Basics

What is insurance?

Insurance is a means of providing protection against financial loss in a great variety of situations. It is a contract in which one party agrees to pay for another party's financial loss resulting from a specified event.

Insurance works on the principal of sharing losses. If you wish to be insured, against any type of loss, agree to make regular payments, called premiums, to an insurance company. In return, the company gives you a contract, the insurance policy. The company promises to pay a certain sum of money for the type of loss stated in the policy.

History

Insurance is thousands of years old. The Code of Hammurabi, a collection of Babylonian laws of 1700BC, is believed to be the first form of credit insurance. A borrower did not have to repay a loan if personal misfortune made it impossible to do so. Insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London in 1666, which devoured 13,200 houses. In the aftermath of this disaster, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings.

Types of Insurance

Insurance generally covers situations involving pure risk - that is, situations in which only losses can occur. Such situations include fire, floods and accidents. People also buy insurance to cover unusual types of financial losses like, a dancer might insure her legs against injury. There are mainly three types of insurance policies sold:

1. Life Insurance

A life insurance policy provides that the insurance company will pay a certain amount when the person dies. This may be paid in a lump sum or in installments to the beneficiary [people named by the policyholder to receive the death benefit]. Some types of life insurance policies also enable policyholders to save money. Such policies have a cash value. A policyholder may borrow money against the cash value or surrender the policy for its cash value.

Annuities

These are savings plans sold by insurance companies to provide a fixed and regular retirement income. If the annuitant [owner of the annuity] dies before receiving the guaranteed number of payments, the insurance company must continue the payments to the beneficiary.

Dividends

Some insurance policies refund part of the premiums in the form of dividends. Such policies are called participating policies. An insurance company pays dividends if the money it collected in premiums exceeds the amount needed to pay benefits and administrative costs. Dividends may also include a share of the profits the company earned on investments made with premium funds. Dividends are most commonly paid on life insurance.

2. Private Health Insurance

Health insurance pays all or part of the cost of hospitalization, surgery, laboratory tests, medicines, and other medical care. The rising cost of medical care has increased the need for adequate health insurance. You could suffer a major financial hardship without such coverage, especially in case of a serious illness or accident.

Dental insurance is one of the fastest-growing types of health insurance. It helps pay for a wide variety of dental services.

3. Property & Liability Insurance

Individuals and businesses buy property and liability insurance to protect their assets against financial loss. Property insurance provides direct compensation if a policyholder's possessions are damaged, destroyed, or lost as a result of perils. Liability insurance protects individuals and businesses against possible financial losses if their actions result in bodily injury to others or in harm to property owned by others.

The main types of individual coverage are:

o Homeowners Insurance

This provides protection against losses from damages to an owner's home and its contents.

o Automobile Insurance

This is the most widely purchased and most important kinds of insurance. Drivers are legally responsible for any costs arising from accidents they cause. This insurance protects a policyholder against financial losses from accidents.

Financial viability of Insurance Companies

Financial stability and strength of the insurance company should be a major consideration when purchasing an insurance contract. An insurance premium paid currently provides coverage for losses that might arise many years in the future. For that reason, the viability of the insurance carrier is very important. In recent years, a number of insurance companies have become insolvent, leaving their policyholders with no coverage (or coverage only from a government-backed insurance pool with less attractive payouts for losses).

How Insurance Is Sold

Most insurance companies sell policies through agents. Exclusive agents are employees of an insurance company who sell only that company's policies. Independent agents sell policies for several companies.

David Dugan is a contributing author to the insurance information site http://insurance.divinfo.com/, a site that has information on auto, homeowners, life, pet and many other kinds of insurance as well as the retirement site http://retirement.divinfo.com

Insurance car moto life

Why is It Vitally Important to Buy a Travel & Medical Insurance When Booking a Trip

The high travel season is at the corner now. People from all walks of life around the world are currently busy searching for the best offers of air and land travel, accommodations, vacation packages to suit their dreams, needs and budgets. Some of them have even started to make their reservations.

Here I would like to emphasize one vitally important thing, which is a must to remember when booking a trip, but ignored by a great number of travelers.

Much has been written on the importance of having insurance coverage while you are on a trip, away from home. This is an issue that remains somewhat ignored by many travelers. After all, they have been traveling frequently for many years, and nothing happened so far to worry about. So, to buy a travel insurance should not a be a must. It is only an optional precaution!

But, reality urges us to believe traveling anywhere in the world without protection today, is a vital mistake. Regardless of where you are traveling in the world, you must have an insurance coverage to survive any unexpected attacks and disasters, especially after the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.A.

Let's say, you have been planning the trip of your dreams for a long time; you have finally found the opportunity to make your long time dreams of a special trip come true.

You are so excited! You have thought of all the details. You have been actively preparing for this travel; thinking, programming, shopping . . . spending a lot of time, money, and energy! You are proud of yourself that you have finally managed to materialize your dream!

Your trip can really be an unforgettable experience from start to the end, on one condition.

When booking your trip, you should have remembered that, like most exciting events in our lives, travel has some important risks, too. For example, potential medical and/or financial risks associated with travel, can suddenly turn all the excitement and pleasures of the trip to a nightmare.

Your baggage and/or your hand bag with your money, passport, credit cards in, can be stolen leaving you desperate & frustrated in a foreign country.

No one can guarantee that a natural disaster would not happen at the place you would be staying during your trip.

An unexpected accident, injury or illness would suddenly ruin everything. In fact, in the recent years medical costs have increased dramatically, worldwide. How would you be able to pay the emergency medical expenses, expensive hospital bills if you needed an urgent treatment, or surgery and care during your travel when you have lost your money, credit cards, and passport? Isn't it a real nightmare?

In such a frustration, the only thing you would have needed to survive was a reliable medical and travel insurance policy, wasn't it?.

Especially in the light of the horrible threats on and after September 11 terrorist attacks, the war on terror, other ruthless terror attacks in Istanbul, Spain, Egypt and London, frequent flight disruptions and cancellations, airlines' bankruptcies, and more. In addition, travel suppliers such as tour operators and airlines worldwide have made cancellation policies more restrictive.

Therefore, if you have to cancel a trip, it's likely that a big portion of your pre-paid travel expenses will not be refunded by travel suppliers.

Recent SARS and bird flu threats have also been urging travelers and vacationers to seriously consider to buy a travel and medical insurance.

Travel Insurance types and prices defer from one travel insurance provider to another.

You have to review, compare and select the best offers to suit your personal needs.

For instance, some insurance providers do not offer coverage outside the U.S.A. Some companies do not provide emergency medical coverage and care, while others do.

Some airlines do not accept to be held responsible for the acts of God, weather problems, natural disasters, riots and unrests, SARS, bird flu, and similar outbreaks.

The Insurance types you will need on a trip are reviewed below:

Last Minute Cancellation Insurance

With the last minute cancellation and/or interruption insurance you will get coverage on non-refundable deposits you had made when you bought your travel insurance. Read the fine print on the policy carefully when buying this insurance. You should discuss your personal needs with your insurance agent before buying it.

Medical Insurance

This is one of the most important insurance policies you should have. Buying health and medical insurance must be considered as an important part of your travel budget. You can face a health problem or an accident anywhere and anytime during your trip. Be sure your medical and health insurance policy covers illness, accidents, surgeries, hospitalization bills in the countries you will be visiting, emergency medical transportation to your home country. Please remember to have your policies with you when traveling, leaving the copies of your insurance policies with a relative in your home country, in case the policies you have with you are lost.

Comprehensive Insurance Policy

This policy generally covers emergency medical transportation and trip cancellation and interruption, plus other needs you would expect. This insurance costs 5 to 7 percent of the total cost of the trip. You should have it for your safety.

What types of insurance policies do we need for a full protection?

The Essential Insurance Types offered by most providers are Travel, Last Minute, Medical, Health, Life, Hotel, Cruise, Air, Vacations, Luxury, car insurance, sports, and Spa Insurance policies.

Some travel insurance companies also offer affordable coverage for a wide range of winter sports including Ski, Off-Piste and Snowboarding.

We might need not one, but several types of insurance policies according to the general conditions at the destinations we're going to.

If your your kids are going with you, many travel insurance providers let them go free with adults.

Some companies provide policies for students, backpackers, cheap travel, holiday insurance, long stay, international, family travel, single travel, annual travel, annual multi-trips, and more. It's good to know that in this cyber age, you can buy the insurance policies you need online, without even leaving your home.

Most Travel Insurance policies cover Luggage Loss, too.

But you should definitely ask about what's covered and what's not when choosing Travel Insurance Policy to buy. Do ask questions, all questions you might have in mind, until you get all the information you need. It's much better to ask questions when buying insurance than to be sorry later.

How can I find the best insurance type to suit my personal or family needs?

When choosing a travel insurance policy to buy, you should get information on the offers of various insurance providers to compare.

Knowing how time consuming is to search, compare and choose the best travel and medical insurance types and prices to suit your needs and budget, we advice to visit the websites where you can find lists and information about various offers, then compare them, and choose the best ones to suit your needs.

You should keep in mind that buying your travel insurance through travel insurance providers, instead of travel agencies, would save you money in most cases.

In the light of terrorist attacks, unexpected natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, deadly hurricanes, floods, epidemics, accidents, illness, SARS, bird flu, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives at many places around the world, especially in the recent years, every traveler must seriously consider to buy a travel health and a medical insurance, and some other insurance policies if needed, providing a reliable full coverage against both expected and unexpected threats.

Sevim OR: Owner and operator of several websites since 1997, providing clients with ultimate marketing to substantially increase sales, revenues & ROI, offering no cost affiliate program to earn big profits, at: http://www.aall-dreamlands.com [http://www.aaa-advertise.com] [http://www.aaa-newswire.com]

Insurance car moto life

Credit and Car Insurance: What Are Insurers Looking For?

If you've shopped for car insurance lately, you've probably noticed that prospective insurers are checking your credit when determining your car insurance premium. But what exactly are insurers looking at and how will it affect your insurance rates?

Introducing: The Insurance Score

We're all aware that our credit score is used to determine the spending limit on our credit cards or interest rates on loans. Our creditworthiness is used by lenders to gauge our ability to pay back loans and the amount of money we have to do so.

On the contrary, insurers don't care how much money you have in the bank--they just want to know how you've used your credit in the past and how it's influenced the way you pay bills, loans and other debts.

Because insurers use credit differently than traditional lenders, they've come up with a score all their own: the insurance score.

Formulating an Insurance Score

How do insurers formulate an insurance score? Fair Isaac, a financial management solutions company, provides insurers with a formula with which to calculate your insurance score. And while that formula does involve your actual credit score, your insurance score is calculated in a way which quantifies how you've used credit in the past.

The good news for consumers is that because of this formula, no one item can prevent you from receiving a good auto insurance rate. But what is of concern to car insurance shoppers is that insurance rates can vary from insurer to insurer.

Why?

For the most part, insurers are allowed to come up with their own scoring models. This is also good news for consumers--your insurance score might be better with XYZ Company rather than ABC Company. This further highlights the importance of shopping around for the best auto insurance rate.

Elements of an Insurance Score

So how do you know what components are incorporated into your insurance score?

According to Fair Isaac, the following factors are used to determine an insurance score:


Payment history
Length of credit history
Amount owed on revolving accounts
Delinquent items and collections
Amount owed for delinquent items
Time passed since last delinquency or late payment
Total amount of outstanding debts

Fair Isaac does not consider the following:


Race, age, sex, marital status, religion or country of origin
Employment history, job title or salary information
Child support agreements
Rental obligations
Whether you have or are participating in credit counseling
Where you live

If you're curious about your insurance score, direct all questions to your insurer. While they may not disclose your actual score, they should be able to answer any and all questions related to credit-based scoring.

Cleaning Up Credit

While some states are questioning the insurance industry's right to use credit information in determining auto rates, 92 percent of the nation's 100 largest auto insurers are currently using credit to develop insurance scores--and folks with bad credit are paying anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent more than drivers with good credit.

Obtain the best possible insurance score and:

Look over your credit report. Most states entitle you to at least one free credit report each year. Get a copy of your credit report and check for any errors that may hinder your ability to obtain a good insurance score.

Pay on time, all the time. Automatic withdrawals and online banking are making it easier for consumers to make timely payments. If you have a hard time remembering what bills are due and when, online bill pay is probably a good move to make!

Pay down large balances. If you have large outstanding balances or revolving debt, work on paying those balances off as soon as you can. Revolving debt has negative affect on your credit score--especially if you owe large amounts of money.

Tips for the Road

You may be unable to prevent insurers from looking at your credit history, but when it comes to finding cheap auto insurance, you're not out of the running. Be sure to compare multiple auto quotes from different insurers and work on cleaning up your credit. You'll be rewarded, not only with affordable car insurance, but in many other financial areas, too.

About InsureMe

Megan L. Mahan is a copywriter and insurance information expert with InsureMe in Englewood, Colorado. InsureMe links agents nationwide with consumers shopping for insurance. Specializing in health, life, home, long-term care and auto insurance quotes, the InsureMe network provides thousands of agents with insurance leads every year. For more information, visit InsureMe.com.

Insurance car moto life

5 Tips for Cheap Home Insurance

Home insurance is a general term for two different insurance products. Buildings insurance to protect your property's construction and home contents insurance to protect your moveable household objects and valuables.

The problem is that not all home insurance policies are created equal making it difficult to compare like with like. The areas and level of protection offered vary from policy to policy along with the price. So having a definite idea of what you need to insure and for how much will help minimise the overall time and money spent buying it.

TIP 1: Cut the risk and cut the premium

All insurance protects against the risk of financial loss. So to cut the cost, cut the risk to the insurance company and you'll be rewarded with a lower premium. Here's a quick summary of the most effective measures.

o Call your home insurance company or local neighbourhood watch scheme and they will send you a list of steps to take to make your house more secure.

o Fit locks to all windows and level 5 (BS3621) mortise deadlocks locks to the doors. Most insurance companies will give you up to 10% off your contents insurance if you have these kind of locks fitted.

o You can also have an alarm fitted by a recognised alarm fitter, which your insurance company can recommend, and again this can give you up to 10% of your policy. Bear in mind that these are expensive alarms which require an annual check-up.

o Increased policy excess. You will usually have to pay the first £50 of any claim, but if you're willing to pay more, your premium will fall.

o Neighbourhood watch. Some insurers offer discounts if you live in a neighbourhood watch area; however this is becoming less common.

o No claims bonus. Just like your car insurance; a record of no previous claims will reduce your premium substantially. If you need to make a claim, consider whether it may be cheaper to pay for the loss yourself to avoid an increase in premiums.

o Your age. Statistically, the older you are, the less likely you are to make a claim. So if you're a lower risk this will be reflected in your premiums. Some companies offer extra benefits to those over 50 such as Saga.

o Special precautions. Declare any special safety precautions you've made for your valuables such as a home safe.

o Your lifestyle. If you have a dog, are teetotal and don't smoke, be sure to declare this as such factors are used by some insurers to reduce premiums.

o Occasionally applying to your existing insurer as a new customer can reduce your premiums. Many insurers offer discounts to new customers which won't be repeated when you come to renew.

o If you apply online you will normally get a discount of around 5%.

Before you carry out any security improvements to your home, always check with your home insurance company first. They will confirm which improvements will have the biggest cost cutting impact.

TIP 2: Only pay for the home insurance you need

Calculating an accurate figure for the buildings and contents insurance value can be awkward, which is why a lot of homeowners are either under insured or paying for levels of cover they don't really need.

Buildings insurance covers the re-build cost of your property not its market value. The re-build value of your home is the cost of re-building it in the event that it is destroyed by fire or subsidence for example. The re-build value of your home can usually be found on your mortgage agreement, or property deeds. The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) produces a range of detailed guidance on the cost of rebuilding houses and flats together with a re-building cost calculator.

Alternatively, you can opt for a policy that has an unlimited or high standard buildings sum insured so you don't have to be concerned about insuring the right amount.

Home contents insurance covers almost everything else you would take with you if you moved house. Make a list of the rooms in your house and write down all the items contained in each with its value. Once you've done this, total the individual amounts to see what contents insurance protection you need. Remember to value items such as CD's, videos and clothing as their collective cost is often under insured. Whether your wardrobe is full of jeans or designer labels, make sure you include the cost of replacing them.

TIP 3: Consider separate buildings & contents insurance

If you need both buildings and contents insurance, get quotes for separate policies for maximum potential savings. Most insurers do provide them as separate policies and just because one is cheap for buildings cover doesn't mean they are equally competitive to insure the contents. Find the cheapest providers for each component and consider buying each from different insurers.

TIP 4: Shop around for home insurance

As with any other retail product, the biggest savings are revealed by shopping around.

Firstly, don't simply opt for the home insurance supplied by your mortgage lender. They can be convenient when your busy sorting your mortgage but they're often over priced and chances are they won't have been compared against other policies on the market.

When shopping for insurance you basically have three options; go direct to the insurer, browse the web or use a broker. If you have the time and commitment you can do all three, but the fastest and most effective route is to log on and use the reach of the internet.

The best insurance websites compare dozens of brokers and home insurance companies in minutes. You only have to fill in one form to get a list of premiums displayed on your screen from major insurers and brokers. However, if you have unusual or very specific requirements the final premium may increase when confirmed direct with your chosen insurer.

TIP 5: Haggle & Save

Like every other product, insurance has a margin of profit built into it which can be negotiated down if you're armed with the right information. Not every insurer will buckle and concede an additional discount but if you don't ask you won't know.

o Firstly, find the cheapest quote after using internet comparison sites and phoning a few brokers.

o Take the cheapest quote and contact your existing insurer first asking them to beat it. If they won't budge contact the second cheapest insurer and do the same.

o If after all that the insurer won't cut the premium, ask them to throw in some extra cover to sweeten the deal or move on to the next home insurance company.

Copyright © UK Home Insurance Company Index - http://www.uk-insurance-index.co.uk All rights reserved. Please feel free to publish this article online provided that the article and this copyright statement remain unchanged with live links.

Insurance car moto life

Life Insurance Policies Explained

Six Basic Kinds of Life Insurance

Regardless of how fancy the policy title or sales presentation might appear, all life insurance policies contain benefits derived from one or more of the three basic kinds shown below. Some policies due combine more than one kind of life insurance and can be confusing.

Term Life Insurance

Endowment Life Insurance

Whole Life Insurance

Variable Life Insurance

Universal Life Insurance

Variable Universal Life Insurance

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is death protection for a term of one or more years. Some companies are offering policies with terms up to thirty years. Premiums on term insurance remain level during the life of the policy. Term Life Insurance has no cash value account. Death benefits will be paid only if you die within that term of years. Term insurance generally provides the largest immediate death protection for your premium dollar.

Some term life insurance policies are renewable for one or more additional terms even if your health has changed. Each time you renew the policy for a new term, premiums will be higher. You should check the premiums at older ages and the length of time the policy can be continued.

Some term insurance policies are also convertible. This means that before the end of the conversion period, you may trade the term policy for a whole life or endowment insurance policy even if you are not in good health. Premiums for the new policy will be higher than you have been paying for the term insurance.

Life Insurance "Endowment"

An endowment insurance policy pays a sum or income to you, the policyholder, if you live to a certain age. If you were to die before then, the death benefit would be paid to your beneficiary. Premiums and cash values for endowment insurance are higher than for the same amount of whole life insurance. Thus endowment insurance gives you the least amount of death protection for your premium dollar.

Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance gives death protection for as long as you live. The most common type is called straight life or ordinary life insurance, for which you pay the same premiums for as long as you live. These premiums can be several times higher than you would pay initially for the same amount of term insurance. But they are smaller than the premiums you would eventually pay if you were to keep renewing a term insurance policy until your later years.

Some whole life policies let you pay premiums for a shorter period such as 20 years, or until age 65. Premiums for these policies are higher than for ordinary life insurance since the premium payments are squeezed into a shorter period.

Although you pay higher premiums, to begin with, for whole life insurance than for term insurance, whole life insurance policies develop cash values which you may have if you stop paying premiums. You can generally either take the cash, or use it to buy some continuing insurance protection. Technically speaking, these values are called nonforfeiture benefits. This refers to benefits you do not lose or forfeit when you stop paying premiums. The amount of these benefits depends on the kind of policy you have, its size, and how long you have owned it.

A policy with cash values may also be used as collateral for a loan. If you borrow from the life insurance company, the rate of interest is shown in your policy. Any money which you owe on a policy loan would be deducted from the benefits if you were to die, or from the cash value if you were to stop paying premiums.

Variable Life Insurance

Variable life insurance, provides permanent protection for you and death benefits to your beneficiary upon your death. The value of the death benefits may fluctuate up or down depending on the performance of the investment portion of the policy. Most variable life insurance policies guarantee that the death benefit will not fall below a specified minimum, however, a minimum cash value is seldom guaranteed. Variable is a form of whole life insurance and because of investment risks it is also considered a securities contract and is regulated as securities under the Federal Securities Laws and must be sold with a prospectus.

Universal Life Insurance

Universal Life insurance is a variation of Whole Life. The insurance part of the policy is separated from the investment portion of the policy. The investment portion is invested in bonds and mortgages, the investment portion of Universal Life is invested in money market funds. The cash value portion of the policy is set up as an accumulation fund. Investment income is credited to the accumulation fund. The death benefit portion is paid for out of the accumulation fund. Unlike Whole Life Insurance, the cash value of Universal Life Insurance grows at a variable rate. Normally, there is a guaranteed minimum interest rate applied to the policy. No matter how badly the investments go by the insurance company, you are guaranteed a certain minimal return on the cash portion. If the insurance company does well with its investments, the interest return on the cash portion will increase.

Variable-Universal Life

Variable universal life insurance pays your beneficiary a death benefit. The amount of the benefit is dependent on the success of your investments. If the investments fail, there is a guaranteed minimum death benefit paid to your beneficiary upon your death. Variable universal gives you more control of the cash value account portion of your policy than any other insurance type. A form of whole life insurance, it has elements of both life insurance and a securities contract. Because the policy owner assumes investment risks, variable universal products are regulated as securities under the Federal Securities Laws and must be sold with a prospectus.

Rates and coverage vary form state to state. Shop around on your own and talk to an independent insurance agent to make sure you get a plan that's right for you. It's amazing how much rates may vary from company to company for the same coverage.

Matt McWilliams is one of the co-founders of HometownQuotes.Com, an online insurance quotes web site. He is originally from Pinebluff, NC and attended Middle Tennessee State University. He is considered an expert in the field of online insurance shopping and finding new ways to help consumers save money on their insurance. For more information visit http://www.hometownquotes.com

Insurance car moto life

Health Insurance Fraud: What You Should Know

Health insurance fraud represents one of America's largest taxpayer rip-offs ever, costing Americans literally billions of dollars every year.

Due to rampant deception, scams and abuse in the health care system, consumers are forced to pay the price--literally--through escalating medical costs and rising health insurance premiums.

And government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, designed to help the low-income and elderly, represent two of the biggest losers of all.

Health Insurance Scams

According to the Insurance Information Institute, health providers and facilities such as doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, diagnostic labs and attorneys routinely attempt to defraud the health insurance system...with devastating results.

How do they do it? In a number of ways, including:

Billing health insurance companies for expensive treatments, tests or equipment patients never had or never received
Double- or triple-billing health insurers for the same treatments
Giving health care recipients unnecessary, dangerous, or life-threatening treatments
Selling low-cost health insurance coverage from fake insurance companies
Stealing medical information and using it to bill health insurance companies for phantom treatments

If health insurance fraud knocks on your door, these types of scams may leave you with medical debts, damaged credit ratings, falsified health records, a high level of stress and overpriced health insurance premiums...or the inability to get any health insurance at all.

So what can you do about it?

Report it; then fight back!

What to Watch For

The first step to fighting health insurance fraud is keeping your eyes and ears open for abuse.

Be especially watchful for providers who:

Charge your health insurance company for services you never received or medical procedures you don't need
Give you prescriptions for controlled substances for no justified medical reason
Bill your health insurance company for brand-name drugs when you actually get generics
Misrepresent cosmetic or other health care procedures not usually covered by health insurance plans as covered

If you notice a health care provider doing any of these things, keep all supporting paperwork handy for reference, and then contact your health insurance company to let them know.

Then, if you're a Medicare or Medicaid recipient, call the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services and report the abuse.

Finally, contact your state department of insurance or the local police.

Fighting Health Insurance Fraud

To keep yourself from falling victim to health insurance fraud, take the following steps to fight back:

* Check with your state insurance department to make sure your health insurance company is licensed in your state.

* Check out your health insurance company for consumer complaints, fraud convictions and bankruptcies through your state department of insurance.

* Keep detailed medical records.

* Carefully review your billing statements.

* Never sign blank insurance claim forms.

* Avoid salespeople offering free health services or advice.

* Protect your medical records and information.

* Make sure you know what your health insurance policy covers--and what it doesn't.

* Never pay your health insurance premiums in cash.

* Be wary if you're asked to pay a full year's premium up front.

* Be on guard against medical providers claiming to be connected with federal programs or the government.

* Beware of health insurance companies offering you coverage at an unreasonably low price.

* Ask your health insurance provider about anything you don't understand regarding your bills.

Making a Difference

Protect your right to health insurance, lower your premiums and keep your medical information safe. All it takes is a little education, a watchful eye, and the willingness to make a difference!

About InsureMe Penny Hagerman is a copywriter and insurance information expert with InsureMe in Englewood, Colorado. InsureMe links agents nationwide with consumers shopping for insurance quotes. Specializing in auto, home, life, long-term care and health insurance quotes, the InsureMe network provides thousands of agents with insurance leads every year. For more information, visit InsureMe.com.

Insurance car moto life

Dental Insurance, What the Insurance Companies Didn't Tell You

What is dental insurance?

Dental insurance covers the patient against dental costs. It is not uncommon to have a dental insurance or dental plan together with your health insurance. Some employer will offer some form of dental insurance over and above the company medical insurance.

Unlike health insurance that covers diagnosing, treating and curing serious illnesses, dental insurance mostly covers preventive treatment. Dental treatment is highly predictable and very often non-catastrophic. Most dentists will advise patients to have at least one check-up every six months, that kind of preventive treatment is covered by most good dental insurances.

Dental plans very often encourage patients to have regular dental check and promote good dental hygiene, it is in there best interest to offer such plans with the dental insurance.

Do i need dental insurance?

As mentioned, unlike health insurance, dental insurance is very predictable and as such is not always a good candidate for insurance.

For example, most dental insurance will offer $1000.00 cover per year, but the fact is that most patients never require more than $100.00 per year. Self funding might be a better option as it removes the dental insurance overheads.

The employer option

But if something goes wrong then you might need a comprehensive dental insurance cover or access to funds that you might not have.

This is why some employers offer Direct Reimbursement (D.R.), the employer takes a percentage of salary into a dental insurance fund and this covers the employees.

The insurance companies response

To offer cheaper dental insurances than the one offered by employers, insurance companies responded with HMO's and Preferred Provider Plans (PPO's). Under those plans the insurance can offer cheaper premiums, but the treatments offered are often very limited. Another problem is that the dentists often increase the waiting lists and limit specialist treatments.

The common options

Although the employer dental insurance is often the better option you need to look at that they actually offer you.

Who will select the dentist?


Open Panel, you choose the dentist without any restrictions.

Close Panel, you are given a list of dentist to select, they in turn signed an agreement controlling their charges with the dental insurance company.

Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), Group of dentist that offer to charge less, if you want someone else, you might need to pay the difference.

Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO), Group of dentist that offer to charge a lot less, but then the client cannot go anywhere else, (unless they pay the full price).



As you can see the more you go down the list the more restrictive the options are, typically an Self-Funded Insurers will offer an open panel whereas Dental Service Corporations and Insurance Carriers will offer EPO's.

How is the dentist compensated?


Payment plan, the patient pays a monthly fee to the insurer and in turn the insurer pays the dentists/specialist.

Capitation Plans, the dentists charges the insurance company a certain amount per-capita, (per patient), and in turn offer to treat the patient.

Direct Reimbursement Plans, the patient pays the full price and the dental insurance plan will reimburse all or some of the money.



The second option is very limiting as some rogue dentists are inclined to offer substandard treatment to maximise their profit. The last option allows you to choose the best treatment plan.

All above can limit the percent value that is actually been repayed and/or cap the yearly value that can be (re-)claimed.

How are the benefits and payments calculated?


A list is given of what is covered and for how much, any amounts over are not reimbursed by the dental insurance.

The dental insurance offers a maximum amount that can be reimbursed per year, as long as the patient is within that figure the insurance will cover them. This is great for long term treatments, allowing the patient to choose the best value for money and overall treatment for their need.



What ever cover is offered by the dental insurance you must make sure that it has a regular review to ensure that the benefits are fair and reasonable.

Find out more about dental insurance [http://www.insurance-owl.com/other/dental.php]

Insurance Owl [http://www.insurance-owl.com] gives simple, clear information about insurance. Everything ranging from dental insurance to health insurance and indemnity claims including Auto, Travel, and Life Insurance.

Insurance car moto life

What You Need To Know About Insurance

Getting an insurance is one of those 'life' requirements that you should be looking into early in your career, especially now when you are still able to work and earn money. in addition to being better able to pay for the insurance, younger individuals also pay less. This is one of the principles of insurance. Since younger people are less likely to die, they are given cheaper rates as compared to older individuals.

Insurance protect financially you and your family in the future. Depending on the kind of insurance that you will choose to get, insurance can even provide for your health concerns, for your retirement and even for your death and burial.

But while it is important that we are protected against any unexpected eventualities, some people still shy away of availing insurance on their own, preferring their companies to do it for them. Like legal matters, all those insurance mumbo jumbo tend to confuse and sometimes even frighten people.

Here are some of he frequently asked questions about insurance.

What are the kinds of insurance?

There are two major types of insurance. The life and the non-life insurance. The life insurance, as the name suggests, protects the family of the person in case something happens to him. When a person who is insured dies, the money that he insured will be given to the beneficiary that he has chosen.

The non-life insurance is an insurance that protects properties. Under this category, there are several different types. There car insurances, which protect automobiles from wreckage in case of accidents; property insurance, which protects properties especially houses from fire and other forms of destruction; deposit insurance, which most banks have in order to protect their depositors from losing their money in case the bank suffers financial setbacks; and health insurance, which helps in covering for medical and hospital costs. Among the various non-life insurance, the most popular is the health and car insurance.

Some insurance also provide for the future. Some of the insurances are retirement plans and death plans, which covers for burial costs.

What is the difference between a premium and a face amount?

Premium refers to the amount that you have to pay every year for the insurance. Some insurance companies also offer to divide the premium into monthly installments to help their clients. The face amount on the other hand is the amount that you have insured yourself into. For example, if the face amount in your policy is set at $500,000, then your beneficiary will receive $500,000 when you die.

What do you mean by double indemnity?

Some insurance policy offer an accidental clause that would double the face amount in case death has been established as accidental. This is done to protect the insured's family in case of an untimely death. Double indemnity means that the face amount will be doubled when death is accidental.

Is the beneficiary always the legal spouse?

No. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not always the spouse who is the beneficiary. It is up to the person to choose, who he names as beneficiary. It can be any member of the family as long as insurable interest is established. If in case, the children are named beneficiaries and are still not in legal ages, a guardian will be named to assume control of the money for them.

Ian King makes it easy to find and understand insurance, quickly and easily. To learn the essential keys to insurance that you must know visit insurance agent ethics [http://www.insurance-plus-national.info/resources/insurance-agent-ethics.html] and for more info on life insurance visit life insurance protection [http://www.insurance-plus-national.info/resources/life-insurance-protection.html].

Insurance car moto life