Life insurance - the basics

• Taking out a life insurance policy is a popular way to help protect your loved ones financially.
• The length of time you choose to be insured for is called the 'term'. With Legal & General you can choose a term between one and forty years for Level Term Assurance, or between five and forty years for Decreasing Term Assurance, providing that the plan ends before your 80th birthday.
• If you die during the term, your policy will pay out a lump sum of money.
• You choose how much life insurance you buy. People often want their policies to pay out a multiple of their salary, or you may have dependants to think of, or loan to cover.
• The amount you must pay on a monthly or annual basis is the premium. Our life insurance premiums start from just £6 per month. You can find out more about the factors that affect your premium in Charges + premiums.
• Legal & General's life insurance policies include terminal illness cover at no extra cost. This means that the policy will pay out if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness for which you are eligible to claim (although not in the last 18 months of the plan). Read more about terminal illness cover.
• Should you decide to purchase one of our life insurance policies, you must read the appropriate key features document and policy conditions PDF. You can open and download these from the right hand menu.
• You can get an immediate quote for life insurance on this website. Then, if the cost and the amount of cover suits you, you can apply online today.
• You may increase the amount of cover on certain events, (subject to certain conditions). This is your guaranteed insurability option.

Your options

Legal & General offers two types of life insurance - Level Term Assurance and Decreasing Term Assurance.

• Level term means the amount you are insured for remains the same throughout the term of your policy, unless you choose to exercise your guaranteed insurability option.
• Decreasing term means the amount decreases over the term of the policy. This cover is usually chosen to protect a repayment mortgage, so that the amount of insurance decreases roughly in line with your remaining mortgage debt. Read more about mortgage life insurance.

If you choose to buy a Legal & General term assurance (life insurance) policy, you will be asked to select one of these types. You can get an immediate quotation and buy both these products online.

Both our level term and decreasing term policies include terminal illness cover at no extra cost. Read more about terminal illness cover.

Extra cover options
You can choose to add these options to your Level Term or Decreasing Term Assurance policy:

• Critical illness cover this pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with one of the specified illnesses or disabilities and are eligible to claim. Cover for your children is included at no extra charge. Of course, there are terms and conditions and you should ensure you've read and understood them. Read more about the specified critical illnesses you can claim for and the limits of these claims.
  
• Waiver of payment premiums are waived if you suffer an illness or accident that stops you working for more than six months. Read more about waiver of payment.

Please note - it's not possible to apply for these extra options online. If you would like to add any of these additional cover options to your policy, please contact us.

Charges + premiums

• The premium we quote you is affected by a number of factors. The main ones are your age, sex, occupation, smoker status, health, the level of cover you need and type of contract that you choose. The older you are, the higher the premium. Your individual height, weight, medical history and lifestyle are all assessed.
• There are no hidden extras - premium payments include all expenses and cover starts from just £6 per month.
• Premiums are guaranteed - you pay the same throughout the term of the plan. However, if you decide to include critical illness cover in your plan, you can choose between guaranteed and reviewable premiums.
• You can increase the amount your policy covers you for in the future, but your premium will increase. There are also certain terms and conditions for increasing your cover, which are outlined in the key features and policy conditions PDF documents. Please read them carefully.
• Legal & General's term assurance (life insurance) includes terminal illness cover at no extra cost. Read about terminal illness cover.

Risk factors

• Since life insurance is an important financial safety net, it is essential that you give us all the information we ask for on the application form and that it is accurate. If you fail to mention something like a medical condition, for example, we may not pay out in the event of a claim.
• For Decreasing Term Assurance, if mortgage interest rates average over 10% during the policy term, there may not be enough cover to pay your mortgage off in full.
• You must read both the appropriate key features document and the policy conditions PDF document carefully before buying our life insurance. Both are listed on the right hand menu. They clearly detail the circumstances under which the policy would not pay out, as well as other terms and conditions.

• Term assurance (life insurance) plans are not investment products. They have no cash in value at any time. Also, if you stop paying the premiums before the end of your policy, your cover will end after 30 days.
• Terminal illness cover is not applicable for the last 18 months of a policy term.