More than 10 million people in the UK could be paying for the wrong insurance policy because of a change in their circumstances, according to Barclays.

Life changing events such as a new job, a baby or taking out a mortgage for the first time could all mean that certain policies become unsuitable, particularly when it comes to life insurance, health insurance and income protection. According to research by Barclays, 40% of protection policy holders have had such an event since they last reviewed their cover. In the current economic climate it is especially important to regularly check the terms of your policy, since job losses and repossessions are set to rise further in 2009.

David Stuart, head of advice and products and Barclays Financial Planning said that taking out insurance was not “the end of the matter”.

“It is crucial that people think about updating any cover, or switching to different types of products if, for instance, they have a child, get married or buy a house,” he continued.

However, the research suggests that many people do not even check the full terms and conditions of their policy at point of sale, and are thus unaware that it may no longer be suitable for them when personal circumstances change. Moreover, one in four respondents to the study did not take professional advice when deciding on a policy.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Insurance, Life Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.