Craig Bryce

Craig Bryce explores the benefit of encouraging landlords to pass the protection conversation onto their tenants.

There is a common belief among landlords that aside from buildings insurance, they simply don’t need protection. They believe that should they become critically ill or die, they would either sell their property or it would become part of their estate.

Ok, I admit it’s not that simple. Of course landlords recognise the importance of a good protection plan. In fact, plenty of landlords take out protection to cover their rental payments.

But if it isn’t something they need directly from the adviser, should they be passing on the protection conversation to their tenants regardless? Tenants will likely be unprotected and certainly in need of some cover.

Of course the big question for landlords is: How can ensuring tenants are protected benefit me and my business?

Securing income

A large number of people renting are at a halfway point between living at home and moving into their own home. It is a common ambition in the UK to own your own home, for the security and confidence it delivers. But their hard work could all be undone if they were to fall ill and had to pay the rent with their savings.

The majority of landlords insist on a six month notice to end an agreement on a flat. If the tenant’s employer covers them for less, what would they do about the shortfall in income? This could affect the cash flow of landlords significantly.

So what is the alternative? Well, if their tenant has an income protection policy in place, it will cover most of their lost income. If the plan has a two year payment period, this would ensure that they have both the six months to cover the notice period and another 18 months grace period, in case the illness turned into a longer-term absence. Either way, they would now have two years of breathing space and steady income from the policy.

Affordable options

I am always surprised just how affordable an income protection policy can be. I ran a quick quote on iPipeline’s SolutionBuilder, and saw that a short term two-year payment income protection plan (to age 65 with a 4 week deferred period for £1,000 a month), can only cost between £15 and £20.

We have some great specialist income protection companies on our protection panel to go alongside the mainstream income protection providers. These include The Exeter and British Friendly, giving advisers a comprehensive selection to offer their landlords’ tenants.

With low housing supply and high deposits, many renters simply do not realise how important it is to protect their income. Landlords could be encouraging tenants to cover themselves, which is often in the financial interests of both landlords and tenants. This would also ensure what all landlords want: A long term tenant, to avoid the hassle of marketing the property out again.

If you would like to know more about how to join our award-winning Mortgage Network as an appointed representative or becoming a member of our Mortgage Club, call our Broker Support Team on 0845 130 7446, option 1.

Craig highlights the importance of reviewing circumstances with your clients and keeping in touch with policy reminders.

Some of the most successful protection companies regularly review client needs and circumstances. I firmly believe it is a very important part of the protection sales process.

Keeping in regular contact with your client is essential, because even though you may have sold them a protection policy that will safeguard them against worst case scenarios, how can you guarantee a client’s needs and circumstances haven’t changed?

Client protection needs can change quickly

Over the past several years I have attended five of my friends’ weddings. Since then, three of those couples have now had children. This is a perfect example of protection needs clearly changing in only a short amount of time. If they had taken out their original policy before getting married, their circumstances will now be markedly different.

Annual reminders of benefits for clients

As an adviser, how do you best keep in contact to review a client’s status? One effective way is to send out annual reminders of the additional benefits that the client’s protection policy has. This might include Best Doctors Global Treatment® with AIG Life and Aviva, LV’s Doctor’s Services and Royal London’s Helping Hand.

Many of the firms I have met with in the past have provided these annual reminders as a matter of course. It serves as a reminder of the advice you delivered, keeps you relevant to your client, whilst also supporting the prevention of policy clawback.

Regular client catch-ups

Another tip is to schedule the client in for a catch up in 12 months’ time, whether a face to face meeting or simply a quick chat on the phone. This may of course lead to nothing, but nevertheless a regular check on their circumstances is very important.

As an example of how important this is, I recently put my house up for sale and within a week I received a call from my current lender highlighting the benefits of remortgaging with them directly. I hadn’t even spoken to my financial adviser yet, which shows the importance of remaining top of your client’s list when it comes to big financial decisions such as a remortgage.

Building a solution with your client

Your clients’ circumstances regularly change. They may have previously taken just life cover, but could they now add some critical illness? Some protection writers I have spoken to find that a client generally settles down a couple of years after the initial policy, at which point they often have a greater budget for protection.

If you are a member of our protection panel, the “indicative cost” and “matrix” tools on Solution Builder can make this really easy for you, especially when working to a budget. Equally, if the client has previously said no to the protection sale altogether, something might have changed in their lives to make them re consider.

If you would like to know more about how to join our award-winning Mortgage Network as an appointed representative or becoming a member of our Mortgage Club, call our Broker Support Team on 0845 130 7446, option 1.

Craig Bryce talks about how income protection can be integrated to be part of an adviser’s overall client retention process

One of the best parts of my role at Mortgage Intelligence is spreading the protection word and sharing best practices. One of the best platforms for doing this are protection workshops, which give people the chance to have detailed conversations and ultimately inspire each other to do more for clients.

I recently hosted three protection workshops, which gave me the chance to sit down with advisers and discuss reasons why they might not be selling as much income protection as they could. One of the main reasons for not writing more income protection, was concern that they may be potentially over-insuring the client, should their circumstances change. An example being that the client may potentially earn less during the time of the plan and therefore will be paying a higher premium than necessary.

This got me thinking. Could income protection therefore be used as a retention tool? This would also help ensure that the client’s circumstances best match their income protection plan.

So how might an adviser help ensure this works? An idea might be to set a diary reminder from the time the plan started, so that every anniversary the adviser could contact the client either over the phone, email or by post, to remind them of all the added benefits and services their policy delivers.

Simply booking a time with the client to discuss income protection and their current circumstances, can deliver plenty of benefits such as staying relevant and fresh in the client’s mind and letting them know you are always looking after their best interests. This will also create a barrier between your client and someone else looking to upsell to them.

As with many other best practices, setting up review systems, spreadsheets and processes takes work. But I have seen this pay off on the long term for firms, with increased retention and repeat business.

If you would like to know more about how to join our award-winning Mortgage Network as an appointed representative or becoming a member of our Mortgage Club, call our Broker Support Team on 0845 130 7446, option 1.

National Account Manager for Protection Craig Bryce takes a look why emphasising the real cost of living with a critical illness is an important message to deliver to clients.

We often protect our car, home and pets before ourselves, sometimes assuming that personal protection such as critical illness cover is too expensive to consider. But without protection, would your client be able to cover the costs in the event of a critical illness?

A recent report by Macmillan Cancer Support suggests cancer costs an average of £570 a month in increased outgoings and reduced income. £570 is comparable to the average monthly mortgage payment in the UK. Critical illness cover pays out a lump sum to help with these additional costs and loss of income should your client be diagnosed with a critical illness included in their cover.

The additional costs can often be associated with things like regular trips to medical appointments or in some cases having to pay for additional childcare. As a result of cancer 30% of people also experience a loss of income, with those affected losing an average of £860 per month, whilst 33% of individuals either have to stop working permanently or temporarily.

Living with an illness is stressful enough for your client and their family, but worrying about the implications of not having financial cover does not bear thinking about. Having suitable protection to give peace of mind and security in the face of a critical illness has never been more important.

If you would like to know more about how to join our award-winning Mortgage Network as an appointed representative or becoming a member of our Mortgage Club, call our Broker Support Team on 0845 130 7446, option 1.

National Account Manager for Protection Craig Bryce takes a look at the emerging relationship between wearable technology and the protection industry

One of the hottest topics being discussed in the protection industry is the possible move towards embracing wearable technology. One provider is already offering reduced gym memberships, as well as encouraging policy engagement through health and activity tracking. But could wearables change the industry and the relationship between providers and consumers?

The start of something special

These first moves towards integration may start more providers down the road of offering discounts and encouraging customers to engage with their policies. Providers are already discussing whether wearable technology has created the perfect opportunity to develop policies that are not only tailored, but create a continual engagement with the consumer.

The information obtained from wearable devices also give providers the opportunity to better assess risk and therefore improve the underwriting and claims processes. This could enhance the policyholder’s experience further and cut down on fraudulent claims.

A changing landscape

Research by PwC revealed that nearly half of those surveyed now owned some sort of wearable technology. More people now own an activity tracker or smart device, which helps them engage with and monitor their health.

Hard to ignore, the protection industry has begun discussing the integration of this trend, its ramifications and possible impact on consumer engagement. But providers are treading carefully during the sector’s infancy due to consumer concerns. This is understandable, considering how the relationship between wearable technology and protection has the potential to transform the industry.

If you would like to know more about how to join our award-winning Mortgage Network as an appointed representative or becoming a member of our Mortgage Club, call our Broker Support Team on 0845 130 7446, option 1.