What is Job Loss Insurance?
Unexpectedly losing your job may leave you short of money to pay your bills, including your regular mortgage and credit card payments. Should you involuntarily become unemployed, Credit Protection Job Loss Insurance provides payment protection by making specific debt payments on your behalf for a limited period of time.
How does Job Loss Insurance Work?
Here’s an example of how Job Loss Insurance works:
Dave has a number of loan payments to make each month, including for a mortgage, a personal loan, and a credit card. He’s worried that should he become unemployed, even for a few months, he won’t be able to make his monthly debt payments.
So Dave asks a customer service representative at his financial institution about Job Loss Insurance. He’s told that this type of credit protection insurance is designed for people like him with a full-time job, as a temporary means to help make payments on specific debt obligations should they involuntarily lose their employment.
Dave qualifies for Job Loss Insurance, so he decides to sign up for it on his mortgage and his personal loan. This means should he find himself out of work involuntarily, he won’t have to worry about his largest monthly debt payments.
What types of Job Loss Insurance are there?
Job Loss Insurance is a form of payment protection that is typically available as an add-on feature to Credit Protection Life Insurance for mortgages, personal loans, and credit card products. Job Loss Insurance can also be available in conjunction with Disability Insurance as one package. If you involuntarily lose your job, payments are applied toward your mortgage, personal loan or credit card balance on a regular basis for a limited period of time. Not everyone qualifies for Job Loss Insurance, and it is not typically available outside of credit protection group coverage.
Who qualifies for Job Loss Insurance?
Job Loss Insurance is designed for people with full-time jobs, as a temporary means to help them make payments on specific debt obligations should they involuntary lose their employment. Typically, people who are retired, unemployed, self-employed or working on a temporary or contract basis will not qualify for Job Loss Insurance. There can also be age restrictions.
What’s covered by Job Loss Insurance?
Job Loss means a complete involuntary separation from your employment. Typically, this may include a lay-off, dismissal without cause, a unionized labour dispute, a legal strike or a lockout. It typically does not include people who quit their job, get fired for cause, stop working for medical reasons including pregnancy, or stop working for family-related reasons. There is usually a qualifying period before your job loss benefits begin – typically 60 days of continuous involuntary separation from your employment. There may also be policy limits, such as a maximum monthly amount of debt payment that will be covered and a maximum number of months it will be paid while you are unemployed.
The benefit amount for a Job Loss Insurance claim usually corresponds to the amount of the payments that fall due during the period of the involuntary employment or a percentage of the outstanding balance subject to any limits contained in the certificate of insurance.
The monthly premium for Job Loss Insurance is usually based on the borrower’s age and the amount of coverage needed (e.g. the current size of your outstanding mortgage or credit card balance). All types of credit protection insurance coverage, including Job Loss Insurance, are provided under a group policy rather than being individually underwritten. This means that more Canadians can be insured at economical standard group rates.
