What is Contents Insurance?

If you are like most homeowners, you have purchased property or homeowners’ insurance to protect you against a variety of situations. This type of coverage will pay to repair or even to entirely rebuild it from the ground up if necessary. Such coverage is ideal to repair or rebuild your home after fire, flooding and other types of disasters. However, the contents of your home is not covered by property insurance. Separate contents insurance cover will need to be purchased to replace your personal effects inside the home. In a 2011 article printed in The Telegraph, it is estimated that approximately 6.8 million residents in the United Kingdom either do not have contents insurance or do not have enough insurance to replace all of their home’s contents.

What Is Covered?

Contents insurance is vital to ensuring continuity of your life and preventing major financial loss when your home is damaged. It is estimated that the average contents inside a home may be valued around 45,000 pounds. However, this can vary significantly based on the size of the home, the amount of electronics, the cost of furnishings and more. The average person’s wardrobe alone may be valued at over 10,000 pounds by some estimates. Contents insurance will pay to replace your clothing, your furnishings, your housewares, your electronics and more. Even the cash that is in your wallet may be replaced if it was damaged.

How Much Do You Need?

As you can see, you can experience considerable financial loss if your home is damaged and you do not have contents insurance. Likewise, you may also experience loss if you do not have enough coverage to fully replace all of your home’s contents. With this in mind, it is wise to go through each room of your home and estimate how much it would cost to replace all of your items. Consider everything from your sofa and chairs to your shoes, socks, jewelry and books.

Protecting Yourself From Loss

Keep in mind that your contents cover will only reimburse you for the cost of items that were damaged or lost. In order avoid issues when filing a claim, consider taking photos of every room in your home. Open up drawers, cabinets and closets, and take photos of those contents. Don’t forget to photograph the items in your attic, garage, basement and other related storage areas. Then, keep your photos in a safe place, such as with a family member, in a cloud-based storage solution or in a fireproof safe. Keep in mind that if your home is damaged by a fire, photographs stored in your home may also be damaged.

Nobody wants to think about the possibility of being displaced after damage is done to their home, but there is peace of mind in knowing that property insurance may pay to repair the damage to the physical structure and contents insurance may pay to replace the contents inside your home. If you do not have contents cover or ample cover for your needs, consider shopping for this important insurance today.

What Can Online Auto Insurance Services Offer Me?

I'd like to introduce you to three online auto insurance companies. Three companies that you may or may not have heard of previously, but that would certainly be worth a few minutes of your time. Insurance.com, 21 st Century, and Costco. Available around the clock for anyone in need of late night auto insurance information, these three sites have three distinctly different layouts, which cater to various aspects of the shopping public.

Insurance.com allows consumers to purchase auto insurance online, a highly valued commodity in today's fast-paced society. Visitors can also compare quotes from other leading auto insurance companies or consult the insurance learning center for numerous articles and tips. A Verisign secured site and a member of the Better Business Bureau; Insurance.com sends a clear message that any and all customer information is secure and kept totally private. Easily navigated, Insurance.com is a must see stop in your online auto insurance travels.

21st Century Insurance Company another online auto insurance site, is perhaps the most well rounded and well developed of the three. 21 st Century visitors can get an online quote and even compare that quote with offers from other top auto insurance providers. 21 st Century even allows visitors to compare coverages offered by various companies, a break from the norm in a business that thrives on reeling in the customer and keeping them blinded to other companies' altogether. If you have already had the good fortune to become a 21 st Century customer, you can make a payment online, add a car or driver to your policy, or even print ID cards if yours have been misplaced. Another Verisign secured site that is a member of the Better Business Bureau, these clearly displayed emblems give visitors peace of mind for a safe and secure transaction. 21 st Century even offers their entire website in Spanish for non-English speaking clients. Very clear and concise in everything they offer, 21 st Century has a crystal understanding of online auto insurance customers wants and needs.

Costco is perhaps the well-known grocery retailer for many people, with perhaps the biggest network. Offering free quotes for online auto insurance in all the major states, Costco works primarily through various affiliated provider companies such as Ameriprise. These companies have signed up with Costco to make their offers available to a broader consumer audience.

Costco surveys the premiums presented by each company, and provides the online auto insurance shopper with the best of these (You can read more at: Costco Auto Insurance Review). The website is completely secure, and the quote process itself is extremely detailed in order to provide the consumer with the most concise quotes possible. Though it offers little more than the chance to receive a precise and extensive quote, Costco nevertheless eliminates valuable time otherwise spent surfing around for better offers.

The world of online auto insurance providers is vast and varied. Someone always seems to have a "can't miss" special or a "must see" website. When your policy renewal date next comes around, listen to your pocketbook, and take a glance at these three providers before signing on the dotted line.

Ways Of Stopping Foreclosure Fast

Because of the recession many people are faced with the terrible option of foreclosure. Stopping foreclosure on the other hand is something that can easily be done. If you want to keep your home, here are some great tips that will allow you to keep the home you love. It does not even matter if you have already received your notice! You can still stop the process and get back on your feet!

Lenders all over the country are losing money because people are losing their jobs and their means to pay their bills. Stopping foreclosure so something that can easily be done when you simply talk to your lender. If you have just been laid off, do not wait until the payments are overdue. Simply give them a call and see what they can do for you.

While you are on the phone with your lender you may want to think about a new payment plan. Because the job market is so low many people are out of jobs for months on end. If you will be using your savings, smaller payments each month will help make your savings stretch.

If you are behind in back payments then why not ask your lender to either let one or two of them slide or add them to your payment plan? In some occasions a lender might actually wipe away one or two payment in order to keep you current. Of course this means that you have to have a very good payment record. Those who do not make payments on time might not be able to get this option.

If you cannot get rid of a payment or two then why not add those to your payment plan? This way you would have to pay a couple of months extra but still be able to keep the home you love. If you owe 3 payments, then you would owe 3 more payments at the end of your mortgage.

If you have run out of options think about filing for bankruptcy. Many people stop their foreclosure and keep their homes by wiping the slate clean. Just make sure that you have the money to cover the bankruptcy attorney fees. Remember, the bankruptcy can follow you for about 7 years at least!

Right now stopping foreclosure is not a very hard feat. Lenders are more than willing to help out their customers with loan modifications and new payments plans. Call your lender and find out what they will be able to do for you.

How Can Mortgage Insurance Help You?

Mortgage life insurance is a specialized insurance product intended to help your loved ones pay off your mortgage in the event that you pass on before the loan reaches completion. Whether or not mortgage life insurance is the right option for you and your family depends on a variety factors, but there are many areas in which mortgage life insurance can help you through a difficult time. Like many insurance products, mortgage insurance coverage varies depending on the plan, and there are some extremely useful additional options that can be selected for security and peace of mind.

Coverage in the Event of Your Death

This type of coverage is the basis for most mortgage life insurance policies. The loss of a loved one is a painful event, and shouldn’t be compounded by financial hardship or difficult decisions such as whether to pay off the mortgage or the credit cards. In the event of your death, mortgage life insurance will pay off the remaining balance of your mortgage ensuring that your family members have a roof over their heads. Mortgage insurance helps your family not only by paying off your loan, but also by simplifying the decisions that need to be made if you pass. Since this money is earmarked for your mortgage only, you won’t have to worry that the insurance money may go elsewhere or may sit unused while your family grieves.

Coverage in the Event of Illness or Temporary Disability

In the event that you are too sick or injured to work for more than four weeks, your mortgage life insurance can take over your monthly mortgage payments. This option is called repayment coverage, and generally lasts anywhere from one year to two years depending on your plan. In an economy when many households are operating paycheck to paycheck, this form of coverage can be invaluable. Since injury and disability generally come with a hefty medical cost themselves, not having to worry about your mortgage too can significantly alleviate some of the financial stress.

Coverage In the Event of Traumatic Events

If a traumatic event occurs and adversely affects your ability to meet your financial obligations, trauma coverage can pay a lump sum into your mortgage loan amount to act as a buffer. This safety net can be of vital importance during times in which your health and safety are your first priority. Trauma coverage is the rarest type of mortgage life insurance, and is normally found in military households or those with higher than average risk factors. The amount that trauma coverage will pay out will depend on the type of plan. Trauma coverage can work in tandem with repayment coverage to help you get back on your feet after a particularly unsettling and damaging event.

While other types of life insurance or disability insurance may be more versatile, mortgage life insurance serves a specific purpose at a reasonably low cost. With mortgage life insurance, you trade a small premium for the knowledge that you will never leave your family without a home. Mortgage life insurance is best used in conjunction with a more general life insurance policy, but is also an excellent standalone product for those with concerns about their family’s future wellbeing. This insurance product can become even more useful by taking options such as repayment coverage and trauma coverage.