Wesleyan Assurance Society

Advantages: cheapest I could find
Disadvantages: have to die to get the money !

...Although Legal & General provide a range of financial products and services, this review is specifically concerned with life assurance as that is the area in whjch I have personal experience of dealing with them. WHY INSURE I remember, when first married, being quite reluctant to 'waste' money on life assurance, when there was so much we needed for the home. However my husband insisted on it so we took out just enough on his life only (the breadwinner) to cover the mortgage and no more. As it turned out I was widowed early and with three children to bring up, was very grateful to him for his prudence.The mortgage was paid and I was well aware of the need to get my life covered to protect the children should something happen to me. I would now always recommend a decent amount of life cover and have made sure my children, all... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Mutual society means cashback, excelletn customer care
Disadvantages: Savings and mortgage rates are a bit average

...Britannia is a mutual building society, with branches in most towns. I have both a mortgage and a savings account with them and have been in several branches near where I live recently, for one reason and another, so I thought I'd tell you all about it! THE MUTUAL BUILDING SOCIETY What this means is that Britannia are not a PLC, and beholden to their shareholders, they are a society owned by the members. so when they make a profit, they distribute a portion of that as fairly as possible to all the members. The way they have devised is a loyalty scheme, whereby once you've been a member for two years (with either a mortgage, a savings account, a credit card etc) you get your share of the profits via a points scheme. The more points you have, the more profit you get, up to a maximum of £500 a year. You accumulate points by having... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: fast quotes - helpful staff - easy to read paperwork
Disadvantages: hidden costs and loadings to premiums - time to process - poor knowledge of medical underwriting

...When I finally took the plunge and bought my own place my mortgage provider kindly provided a quote based on what is known as Fixed Level Term Assurance - this effectively meant that I paid a fixed premium every month for 25 years and if I died they would pay off a fixed amount of £200,000 that would clear any outstanding mortgage debt. At age 29 with high mortgage payments the monthly premium of £14.50 was simply too much and I decided to do some investigation work to try and reduce this amount and if possible incorporate some critical illness cover (but that is another story). My first port of call was the internet where I made a note of a few insurers and then did an online quote via a broker. I input my details which without going into excessive details are: Personal: 29, Male, smoker in good health with above average blood... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful