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What is ASU Insurance?

Accident, Sickness and Unemployment Insurance will pay out a regular amount if you can't work for health reasons or redundancy. It can protect your ability to maintain credit repayments and help you to avoid getting into debt if you are unable to keep up your repayments due to accident, sickness or unemployment.

The policy are very easy to buy, as there are very few eligibility requirements. Typical requirements are that you are:

  • aged 18 to 65, or higher in some circumstances,
  • in work that is not temporary, casual or seasonal,
  • employed for at least 16 hours a week or have been self-employed for a period of time.
ASU insurance is known under various names, and can include a number of different types of policy:

- Loan Protection
- Mortgage Payment Protection (MPP)
- Mortgage Protection Insurance (MPI)
- Payment Protection Insurance (PPI)
- Permanent Health Insurance (PHI)

These policies will pay benefits for a specific time period; generally 12 - 24 months. These benefits will either be for the amount of the loan repayment, or a certain percentage of your usual salary, depending on the plan you have chosen. Policies are also available that will pay out a proportion of your salary until you reach retirement age. If you are self-employed then the benefits will be based on the amount of your taxable income, normally for the 12 months before you became unable to work.

The income from an ASU plan is tax-free, but you should be aware that any income you receive may have an impact on any state incapacity benefit that you wish to claim. The benefits under your plan could also be scaled back if you receive income from other sources during the period of your sickness or injury.