Davidove20

Check with your mortgage lender, if you have a mortgage, whether they permit this, and also confirm the position with the buildings insurance. Normally you can only have a single assured shorthold tenancy (covering everyone in the property) rather than one tenancy agreement for each individual, though there are some lenders who do accept multiple occupancy. If the property is regarded as an HMO (house with multiply occupancy) then regulations such as fire protection are more stringent than for single occupancy properties.

I think it's worth clarifying here - a renewable premium is one where you initially take out cover for 5 or 10 years (typically) but have guaranteed insurability until a set age, so you can renew the cover at the expiry of the initial term, but it will typically be far more expensive as you will be 5 or 10 years older.

Reviewable cover is where you have cover set and assumed at a given premium for the whole term, however if general claims experience is different than expected the insurer can change the premium at particular dates based on their overall claims experience, but not based on your personal circumstances.

Historically premiums vary up and down, and whilst reviewable life cover is not really available now, when it was customers quite often got a reduction in premium rather than an increase, because life expectancy has generally increased beyond expectations. Health insurances on the other hand have had mixed experience as improved medical diagnosis means conditions get found earlier (so more claims on critical illness), but improved treatment means that they are cured quicker (so income payment plans have improved claims experience).

So to answer the question you have asked, sometimes, but it will depend on future claims experience. To answer the question you may have meant; sometimes, it will depend on whether you 'may' need cover after the initial term, but initially only expect to need it for a shorter period.

For renewable cover, a 10 year renewable policy will typically cost more than a 10 year non renewable policy - generally I find you can get around 15 to 17 years of non renewable cover for the same price as 10 years of renewable cover.

One final point to confuse the issue, you can have guaranteed renewable cover, and reviewable non renewable cover, but generally renewable cover is guaranteed for the initial premium period, so reviewable renewable cover isn't available. Sorry, that probably didn't help...

To be honest the outlook would be bleak.

you will get letters from the lender asking why you havent paid, possibly phone calls too.

as each month passes your credit rating will deteriorate making it difficult to secure credit in the future - this can even knock on to car and home insurance as more insurers are credit referencing people now if you want to pay monthly.

eventually the lender will take court proceedings but it has been known in the past for unsecured lenders (such as a credit card company) to be able to enforce the sale of your home to recover debt.

really, your best advice is to speak to your lender to see if they can help you.

poor credit can follow you indefinitely and if bankruptcy were to occur, forever, as discharged bankrupts must always declare themselves to new prospective lenders.

It's not really a case of debts "passing to your loved ones". Joint debts will defer back to any surviving debtors and single named debts will become a debt on your estate and all debts must be settled before any assets (ie cash) can be paid out. The top ranking (and priority) debts on an estate are IHT and other HMRC due taxes and usually the only debts allowed to be paid before an estate can be wound up will be the cost of funeral arrangements.

consolidation is effectively reducing the number of lenders you have but retaining the same overall level of debt.

there are many companies that will entertain debt consolidation but the best rates and terms will only be achieveable if you have a currently clean or reasonably clean credit history now.

what you need to consider before entering the arrangement is a good review of your income and outgoings.

do you currently have any scope to reduce outgoings now from areas of overspend - ie step down a level at the supermarket or reduce the sky tv package, review your utility providers.

its really useful to look at this now so that if you are accepted with your new lender you will be able to fairly judge whether you can maintain that new agreement without the temptation to build up more debt because you have "spare" money from having reduced your outgoings by rolling the debts into one.

if all the above have been tried and you still have trouble or if you cannot get a loan deal, i would strongly advise you to seek help from either the citizens advice bureau or CCCS consumer credit counselling service. They will be able to help with negotiations with your lenders and might come up with a mutually agreeable outcome.

the main thing, is timing, act soon but not hastily.

bankruptcy isnt something to rush into. if you havent already sought help from someone locally i would suggest that you see someone from your local citizens advice bureau or the consumer credit counselling service as they will be able to help identify possible alternatives or at least make you fully aware of the implications of bankruptcy.

you will be obliged to always disclose bankrupt status in the future (for ever) which may mean that some lenders will completely shun you from any service starting with bank accounts or a mortgage but even the ability to pay an insurance premium for your car is often now credit scored.

do make sure you are fully aware of the drawbacks before you commit.