A virgin in life assurance, but that won't stop Branson
His latest wheeze is a range of cheap and cheerful policies
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Richard Branson's Virgin Direct is offering cheap and cheerful life assurance policies from next month to 18- to 65-year-olds. No one will sell it to you and you have to phone up and buy it. It comes in three separate packages, and pays out if you die.
The Family Capital Protector provides a lump sum amounting to up to two years of your income, which helps to pay off your debts; the Family Income Protector provides a monthly income for five years; the Repayment Mortgage Protector pays off repayment mortgages (endowment mortgages have their own built-in life assurance of course).
Individuals can opt for any one, two policies or all three. If you take out a policy it has to last for at least five years and the upper limit is your 70th birthday. Unlike some conventional insurance cum investment policies, there is no cash-in value.
Only Equitable Life, which reviews premiums with age, comes out cheaper, according to Virgin. A male non-smoker aged 39 taking out pounds 10,000-a-year worth of income protection would pay pounds 24.13 a month, which is the cheapest of a range of 10 leading insurers, the dearest of which is pounds 33.35. A male non-smoker of 30 can buy pounds 50,000-worth of the Family Capital Protector for pounds 7.31 a month and a woman of the same age would pay just pounds 6.
Virgin Survival Plan pays out if you suffer from an accident or any one of 19 named critical illnesses. In this case, if you survive the event for at least 28 days it pays a lump sum to meet debts and a monthly income for five years, whether you make a full recovery or not. It will still pay if you die within the five years. The premiums are individually tailored to personal lifestyles and circumstances and are guaranteed never to rise.
Details: (0345) 959595, 8am to 10pm, 364 days a year.
CLIFFORD GERMAN
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments