Life insurance premiums fall

Sainsbury’s Bank has launched a new Life Insurance Index to track market premiums on a six-monthly basis. The findings reveal that for the typical customer profiles reviewed, premiums have generally fallen and that the cost of cover varies dramatically between providers, making it all the more important to shop around for life insurance. The bank hopes that its new index will encourage people to do this.

The initial index findings from Sainsbury’s Bank, which offers some of the most competitive life insurance premiums in the marketplace, reveal that across 38 different typical customer profiles, over 70% (27) saw monthly average market premiums fall during 16th September 2006 to 20th March 2007. Furthermore, on 20th March 2007, the percentage difference between the average premium of the 25% most competitive providers and the 25% most expensive was a staggering 66.2% or £8.36 a month. The difference between the average premium for the most competitive providers and the market average was 25.75% or £3.25 a month.

Claire Moyles, Life Insurance Manager, Sainsbury’s said: “Over recent years we have seen dramatic price cuts across the term assurance marketplace and although we appreciate our index is not indicative of the life insurance market as a whole, we believe it should serve as a useful reminder to people of the need to shop around.

“Life insurance is one of the most important financial products you can buy so it is important that you invest time to find the right cover for you at a competitive price. A difference of £8.36 over 25 years amounts to £2,508, which is a significant amount of money.”