Home Insurance, Flood Alert

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors warns that if you can't get insurance for your house, you're in big trouble. Mortgage lenders won't lend on houses that are uninsurable and as a result its value could fall by up to 80%.

It's a high flood risk that's most likely to make your house uninsurable. According to a recent survey, 6.5 million homes are already at risk from flooding of which 1.5 million are in high risk areas. The government has completed flood defences in many such areas and protection for a further 80,000 homes is due this year. But concerns have also been expressed about a further 120,000 new homes planned for the Thames Gateway which are potentially in a high at risk zone. Yet many areas remain vulnerable. And if global warming continues, by 2030, the 1.5 million at risk could mushroom 3.5 million. Back in 2003 the Association of British Insurers (ABI) agreed the principles which committed UK insurers to offering home and contents insurance for properties in areas which are assessed to be at a flooding risk once in seventy five years or more. The rider was that the flood defences had to be already in place or would be completed by the end of 2007.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has the responsibility of developing and maintaining these flood defences but within the insurance industry there's widespread concern that insufficient progress is being made. As a result the insurers have has warned the government that there could be widespread withdrawal of insurance cover if progress is stepped up.

In the mean time, those in areas threatened by flood water could find their insurance premiums soaring. Whilst the insurance industry agreed to provide insurance cover, their commitment was simply to maintain premiums at reasonable levels. But there was no definition of what reasonable means. As a result premium increases of 60% have been common with up 400% increases in bad areas. In a tiny number of cases, cover has been withdrawn altogether, mostly in country areas where DEFRA considers the cost of defending a cluster of a few homes to be uneconomic.

Environmentalists warn that unless DEFRA gets it's skates on, the UK 's current bill for flood damage could rise from 950 million a year, to 3.2 billion. After all, the average insurance claim for household flood damage is 30,000 that's even higher than fire damage. And localised events like the 2004 flood at Boscastle, Cornwall , can cost the insurers over 15 million.

If you are in any doubt whether your home or proposed home, is in a flood risk area, you should visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk. This is DEFRA's web site where you can check whether they think your home is at risk of flooding. Their maps were originally designed for planning purposes and provide information on a post-code basis.

Whilst many insurers use the DEFRA information, others like More Than, have their own flood maps. These assess homes individually rather than post code areas. This means that if your existing insurer increases your premium for flood risk and uses the DEFRA information, you may still be able to get a cheaper rate from an insurer using it's own flood data if its data identifies that your property is beyond the at risk zone.

The ABI has recently added to the pressure on DEFRA to accelerate the building and upgrading of flood defences. It has warned that unless the government increases its spending on flood defences, the insurance industry may not continue their commitment to the 2003 principles.

That would be bad news for many homeowners.

Michael Writes for Brokers Online who offer Life Insurance, Life Assurance and Home Insurance all online

What Is Affordable Pet Health Insurance?

If we are honest nothing is ever more dear to your heart than your pet! Doesn't matter if it is a cat, dog, rabbit or a python everyone loves their pets and they become part of the family. However there are a number of occasions where people will come up against a financial issue when it comes to paying for your loving friends care should they fall ill. This is the time when affordable pet health insurance comes in really helpful.

I have a friend who is a vet and over a drink one evening I was talking about pet insurance and what she would class as affordable pet health insurance, her reply was "It depends what you call affordable? Is affordable what you can afford to pay if something goes wrong or is affordable pet health insurance what you pay for your pet on a yearly insurance?"

This was a valid point! If I took the cost of my dog (for example) and she had a bad accident, god forbid but lets say for arguments sake that she got hit by a car. The vet costs could be in the thousands for the initial care and then the after care and attention that my faithful hound would need. The thought of having to pay that out would have taken a serious dent from my savings, and in many cases people would have to borrow the money in order to afford the cost of getting my beloved dog back to full health.

Then there is the other option where I take out a monthly subscription to a yearly affordable pet health insurance and I pay one simple payment of about $20 a month and my animal is covered in case anything should happen to it. Of course there are extreme cases where not everything might be covered but basically it is much cheaper to have the second option.

So this is why we feel that affordable pet health insurance is worth every penny rather than take the risk that your pooch is safe make sure it is safe.

Find more valuable information and the best places to get your insurance quotes from at Online Insurance Advice

Floods And Home Insurance

The recent severe weather has brought misery to many people as a result of unprecedented levels of flooding. The floods have highlighted that for many people flooding is fast becoming a fact of life with more than 2 million homes now at risk from coastal or inland flooding.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) estimates that some 27,500 homes and 7,000 businesses were affected by the floods and the total cost of claims is thought to be 1.5 billion pounds. The clean up is now well underway although there have been some media reports that Insurance Companies have been dragging their feet and slow in processing claims.

The Government met the ABI on 10th July 2007 Following the meeting Stephen Haddrill, ABI Director General said "Insurers are doing all that they can to deal with the impact of the floods, including getting people re-housed in temporary accommodation and making provision for early payments to help deal with immediate hardship. Where cover has been taken out against business interruption through flooding insurers are helping those businesses to keep trading."

The floods have highlighted just how important it is to have the right building and contents insurance cover in place. Tragically many households had no insurance in place at all, some estimates put people holding no home insurance as high as 25 percent.

Home insurance is normally separated into two types of cover, buildings insurance - this covers the structure of your home and fixtures and fittings, and contents insurance - which covers all furniture and personal possessions, basically everything you'd pack up and take with you if you moved.

You can have both types of cover combined into one policy through one insurer or insure your buildings and contents separately though two different insurers. Cover will normally protect building and contents against the major risks of fire, storm damage, flood damage and theft, policies may also cover many additional risks as well.

Home Insurance quotes are rated on many factors including post code, occupation, type of property, and age of property. Insurers will often require adequate security including window locks and door locks. Insurers will often offer discounts for example for being a member of a neighbourhood watch scheme or having an intruder alarm fitted.

Nowadays there are many methods to obtain home insurance, often it is set up at the time of house purchase where the mortgage lender will insist that building insurance is in place before they will lend the money. Alternatively people may use an insurance broker, high Street bank / Building Society or you can get a home insurance quote on line via the internet.

Shaun Parker has been at the forefront of the Home Insurance industry for many years. Visit http://www.theidol.com for more information.

Home Insurance - Helpful Tips

Home is where the heart is. Home is your sweet abode where you love to spend certain special moments with your loved ones. After the hardships at work, this is one place where the mind tends to be relieved and relaxed. You love it the most and want it to be secured. But, nothing in the world is, and hence the need for a home insurance.

Buying a home insurance policy is also not as easy a task as it seems. Its a difficult decision to be taken as not all providers are reliable or trustworthy. This decision is to be taken after a lot of deliberation as it involves your most prized possession. No doubt you have got to pay a certain amount in installments, but the peace of mind that you get in return more than makes up for the money spent.

Also, the decision to go for a particular insurance and a particular company rests entirely on you. The type of insurance needed is your prerogative entirely and the company is only there to provide service and advice. Hence, you should be ready to take on the complete responsibility in case anything goes wrong.

The offer document offered by the company needs to studied in detail so that theres no scope of you regretting it later on. It mostly happens that you might realise it a little later that you are paying much more than what you might get in return. Your home might not exactly need all the coverage that you have applied for. This mismatch can actually devoid you of a large chunk of your monthly salary.

Lastly, you might know your home the best, but always pay heed to the advice of the experts. They are the ones who can assist you in finding the best home insurance policy or customizing the one that best suits your requirement.

Adam Jaylin is an Online Shopping expert at Ukonlinemarket.co.uk providing here the best and latest info on Life Insurance