Paymentshield amend FreeFirst

Paymentshield has revised the free period on its popular FreeFirst Buildings and Contents insurance.

From 8 August 2008 Paymentshield's Buildings and Contents FreeFirst policy will be revised from three months to a two month free period.

Significantly brokers will not lose out and will still receive the full 12 months' commission when selling FreeFirst.

An increasingly tough market and the rising cost of claims required a review of our Buildings & Contents FreeFirst free cover period.

The free cover period continues to be a compelling proposition from Paymentshield, offering the same features and benefits that have earned the award-winning product a four-star Defaqto rating.

Paymentshield Head of Marketing Sandy McPherson said:

"The change has been necessary because of a combination of economic factors operating in the marketplace.

"In the end it came down to either putting up the price of the product, reducing the levels of cover provided or reducing commission. But by continuing our policy of consultation with our intermediaries we hit on a fourth way - reducing the free period by one month.

"We believe we have ended up with the best possible outcome for Paymentshield, our intermediaries and our policyholders."

From 8th August, new customers will still get 2 months of free cover in year one but will pay 10 months' worth of premiums.

We continue to offer high levels of commission, a first class product in terms of the level of cover, a competitively priced product and the customer still gets two months free cover.

BestQuote, Paymentshield's core B&C product, remains unaffected.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

Paymentshield is arguably one of the UK's largest independent suppliers of mortgage related insurance products in the intermediary sector.

Founded in 1992, Paymentshield remains an independent company, which has experienced tremendous growth and commercial success in particular over the last 3 years. In November 2006, Paymentshield was acquired by Towergate, Europe's largest independently owned insurance intermediary.

For further information contact:

Sandy McPherson, Paymentshield Head of Marketing, Paymentshield on 0131 338 5104