Are Your Members Insuring Their Greatest Asset?

For most consumers, buying a home is the most exciting investment in their lives. The purchase marks a major event for the whole family since this property is not only their largest asset, but also where they start a new life together. Yet, with the startling average of $95,000 an American family owes on a home mortgage[1], home ownership has a grayer shade than pure happiness. In the unfortunate event of losing the main source of income, the burden of debt will fall onto other family members’ shoulders. More than two-thirds of Americans do not have any life insurance protection[2] – which means if they were to pass away, their families are vulnerable to mortgage collection, tuition debt, or even daily living expenses.

In 2011, there were almost four million home foreclosures nationwide[3]. Such a devastating loss will hit quickly and brutally in the absence of a steady stream of income to finance a mortgage payment. Besides death, disability and job termination can also result in tremendous financial disruption. According to the Department of Labor, in June 2012 there were 5.4 million people in “long term unemployment” –being out of a job for twenty-seven weeks or more. This number makes up 41.9% of all the unemployed in the country[4], showing how easily the loop of misfortune can exceed the provision of stocked-away savings. In an extended period of unemployment, emotional distress and financial strain only makes it harder to maintain a family.

However, there are available tools to deter the weight: enrolling in mortgage insurance is a simple and highly efficient option. Members with mortgage life and disability insurance have the benefits of getting a reduced or paid-off mortgage should a covered death or disability occur. For those that cannot afford regular additional insurance coverage, mortgage accidental death insurance offers an affordable solution regardless of their health condition or occupation. Insuring the family’s greatest asset – a home full of memories – should be mandatory in a homeowner’s financial plan to protect the future of their loved ones.