It is very common for couples to take out a mortgage loan in joint names and this therefore increases the need for types of joint mortgage protection insurance to cover that loan.
With a joint home loan the repayments are often made from the incomes of both individuals.
This situation is likely to increase as the proportion of women in the workplace continues to rise.
In this situation there is significant mortgage repayment risk to both partners if the income from one partner were to be lost for whatever reason.
The main types of plans that can be taken out to cover this mortgage risk consist of joint life insurance, critical illness cover and payment protection.
With joint life and critical illness cover the policy would payout should either policyholder suffer a critical illness or death.
The main types of illnesses covered include cancer, heart attack and stroke.
Thus, with this form of cover the couple would be able to repay their home loan if either partner were to suffer a serious illness or pass away.
It should be noted that after paying out for either serious illness or death the joint mortgage policy would terminate.
The second type of policy relevant to couples is joint payment protection.
This type of plan would payout a monthly benefit for a maximum period of 24 months if either partner were to suffer accident, sickness or unemployment.
The amount paid out each month can be split in proportion to the amount of income each partner brings home each month, although most policies are set at a 50:50 benefit split by default.
In combining just these three plans couples can protect their mortgage loan repayments from the risk of accident, sickness and unemployment in the short-term and serious illness and death in the long-run.