Car Gap Insurance
Car Gap Insurance
Most of us know that a new or used car will depreciate by about twenty percent the minute we drive it off the lot. So unless you put 20% down on your auto loan, you stand to owe considerably more than the value of your car for quite some time. If you buy a moderately priced car of ,000, then your loan could be for ,000 more than the price your vehicle would be valued at. Cars are getting more expensive, and many of us are taking out loans for one hundred percent of the value of the loan!
However most insurance companies consider the value of your car to be your book value, and not your loan value. This may seem unfair since your loan may require you to keep comprehensive insurance! However, if you car is wrecked or stolen within the first year, and your insurance only reimburses you for book value, you could owe thousands of dollars on a car that you cannot drive. You will still be responsible for the balance of the loan no matter what amount your inssurance company pays if they choose to total your car.
To protect yourself against an insurance company decision to total your car, you should consider buying car gap insurance. This type of insurance will pay off the balance of your auto loan. However car dealers often charge 0 – 0 for this type of insurance. You do not have to buy auto gap insurance at the dealer! You can buy the very same sort of gap insurance online and direct for less than 0.
Gap insurance is available in the US, UK, and other countries. As cars get more expensive, people finance larger percentages of their auto purchases, and often finance 100%, so gap insurance is becoming a very popular option. If you want to protect one of your most expensive investments, you should consider automobile gap insurance.
Finding Auto Insurance That Fits Your Needs (3)
Finding Auto Insurance That Fits Your Needs
It can be difficult to select the auto insurance policy that best suits your needs. There are many factors that you have to think about besides price.
When trying to estimate cost of repairs for damages caused in an auto accident make sure it is itemized and highly detailed! Often times the insurance will get a quote and it is obviously going to be lower because they want to save money. Get several quotes substantiating your claim, and stick it to them!
Consider purchasing your auto insurance policy online. Many companies offer a discount for online purchases. The companies do this because it costs them less to use an automated system to begin your policy. In most cases, you will see a five to 10 percent reduction in your quote for the policy.
Saving money on auto insurance does not have to be a difficult thing, especially if you are loyal to the same company. Most policies are only for a term of around a year, so make sure you re-up with the same company. If you show loyalty to the insurer, you will be rewarded with lower monthly premium payments.
When working with the adjuster on a claim, remember that the burden of proof is not on you, it’s on the insurance company. If there is a dispute over coverage, it is their responsibility to prove why it isn’t covered. There are a few policies where this doesn’t apply so make sure to check that when signing up for coverage.
Before you purchase a car, you should be thinking about what type of auto insurance you want. In fact, before you put a down payment on an automobile at all, make sure you receive an insurance quote for that particular car. Knowing how much you will have to pay for a certain type of car, can help you make a fiscally responsible decision.
Consider population when you are buying auto insurance. The population where your car is insured will greatly impact your rate for the positive or negative. Places with a larger population, like big cities, will have a much higher insurance rate than suburban areas. Rural areas tend to pay the least.
Consider the effect on your insurance premium before purchasing a new vehicle. Auto insurance rates are based on numerous factors, including the likelihood of theft and the cost of repairs. Even if the purchase price on a vehicle is reasonable, if it is a commonly stolen model or one that is expensive to repair, you may find yourself paying considerably more in insurance premiums.
If you really want to save a lot of money on automobile insurance, you can waive almost every type of insurance available except for state-mandated liability coverage. Liability coverage protects other drivers on the road more than you, so this is required for all drivers. But other types of coverage are not required and you can save big money by leaving them off.
As you can see, there’s more to an auto insurance policy than the price. Make sure you keep these things in mind as you choose your insurance provider, to make sure that you don’t get a policy that doesn’t come through when you need it to. Keep this article handy!
Home Owner’s Insurance Can Be Intimidating Without The Right Information (4)
Home Owner’s Insurance Can Be Intimidating Without The Right Information
Home owner’s insurance isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. It may even be required if you have a mortgage on your home. In the case of a disaster, your home owner’s insurance might be the only thing that gets you back on your feet. Here are some tips that can help you in selecting a home owner’s insurance policy that suits your needs.
Insuring a vacant house is very expensive, as a vacant property is a magnet for vandals. Vacant house insurance can cost more in a month than regular homeowners insurance costs for a year. If a family member can’t stay at the house, consider renting the property out, or exchange free rent for house sitting services to avoid having a property sit idle.
If you look only at cost when seeking homeowner’s insurance, the company you choose may well be one where you deal only with a distant call center. But if a tree falls on your home, you want someone with an office nearby, someone who will actually come out and look at the damage.
When considering insurance for your home, keep in mind that having your mortgage paid off can actually effect your premium amount. Insurance companies will commonly reward you with a lower premium if your mortgage is paid off, because it is generally thought that a home will be better taken care of if it is fully owned.
Before starting your search for home owner’s insurance, make a list of the five most important factors for you to have. If you live in an area that is high in crime, then your coverage for theft should be comprehensive. If you often have tornadoes, wind damage should be fully covered by your plan.
Technology is moving quickly and buying your insurance from an online broker can save you money. They don’t have to employ as many people and don’t have brokers’ commissions to pay, so they pass those savings onto their customers. The only downfall is that you won’t be able to talk to someone in person, but for most people that will never be an issue.
To get a discount on your home owner’s insurance, get other forms of insurance through the same company. Most companies offer multiple policy discounts to anyone has multiple insurance contracts through them. Before you select your policy, you should check other insurance companies and see if any of them offer other forms of insurance you might need.
If you have working smoke alarms in your home, you could lower the cost of your homeowner’s insurance. You can save 10% of the price you pay each month just by taking this simple step. Not only could installing smoke alarms save you money, they can also help to save your life.
As mentioned above, a home owner’s insurance policy is a necessary safety net in case of fire, theft, or other disasters. Having a good home owner’s insurance policy in place will benefit you in case the worst occurs. Having read the advice in this article, you should be better prepared when selecting a home owner’s insurance policy.
Do Not Neglect This Health Insurance Information (2)
Do Not Neglect This Health Insurance Information
Saving money on health insurance can be simple. It can be as easy as checking quotes from different agents in order to find the best one. You can save huge amounts of money, making your insurance more affordable by researching rates and prices. Read our tips to get the most for your money.
Getting health insurance after the fact is not really a great way to handle sickness or injury, but in some states in the country, you can actually get an insurance policy after you’ve fallen ill to help take the edge off of the bills. This is one of the new mandates with America’s new healthcare legislation, and it can definitely help you out.
Bundle many types of insurance to save more money. Often when you are looking for good prices on your health insurance, you can make a couple of calls that will speed up your search. If you have life insurance, auto insurance, or homeowner’s insurance, ask them if they have bundle deals.
Choose a PPO or HMO plan to save money on your health insurance premiums. While these plans limit your choices of doctors and hospitals, they can save you money when it comes to paying for health insurance. Most offer a wide range of doctors from which to choose, so you should still be able to get quality medical care with one of these plans.
Do not ignore letters from your health insurance plan. If you receive a letter asking if you have multiple insurance or if your current claim was the result of an accident, don’t put off responding. If they do not hear back from you, your insurance claim can be denied.
If you’re considering relocating to another state and want to take your current health insurance coverage with you, call your provider and confirm that your insurance benefits will be transferable to that new location. Some health insurance policies are only effective in designated geographic areas, and it’s best to find that information before you make your move.
If you are paying for your own health insurance, then get everything you are entitled to – including tax write-offs. The U.S. government allows you to deduct any medical expenses that tally up to 7.5% or more of your gross income, including your regular insurance premiums and even some elective treatments like LASIK.
You should be familiar with the full details of your health insurance plan. Most insurers send you copies of your plan regularly, and also make plan terms available online. You should review these documents regularly so that you understand all the ins and outs of your insurance and get a good idea of exactly what your insurance company is responsible for.
As you can see, finding affordable health insurance can be a pretty simple task. With our tips, you will be a well-informed insurance consumer and pay less of your hard earned money for your insurance policy. Doing your homework can pay off in the way of spending less on health insurance.
Female Genital Cutting (FGC): An Introduction
Female Genital Cutting (FGC): An Introduction
In the United States it is estimated that about ten thousand girls are at risk of this practice. FGC in a variety of its forms is practiced in Middle Eastern countries (the two Yemens, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Southern Algeria). In Africa it is practiced in the majority of the continent including Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Upper Volta, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mozambique, and Sudan.
Even though FGC is practiced in mostly Islamic countries, it is not an Islamic practice. FGC is a cross-cultural and cross-religious ritual. In Africa and the Middle East it is performed by Muslims, Coptic Christians, members of various indigenous groups, Protestants, and Catholics, to name a few.
Definition:
FGC is a term used to refer to any practice which includes the removal or the alteration of the female genitalia. There are three main types of FGC that are practiced through the world: Type I or Sunna circumcision, Type II or excision, and Type III or infibulation. These three operations range in intensity, from the “mildness” of Type I, to the extreme Type III. Type II is a recent addition to FGC. I will explain in the next sections what each of these practices involve, and outline some of the short-term and long-term effects that they have.
Type I — Sunna Circumcision
The first and mildest type of FGC is called “sunna circumcision” or Type I. The term “Sunna” refers to tradition as taught by the prophet Muhammad. This involves the “removal of the prepuce with or without the excision of part or all of the clitoris (See the World Health Organization definition).
Type I is practiced in a broad area all across Africa parallel to the equator. Fran Hosken enumerates the following countries: Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania in East Africa to the West African coast, from Sierra Leone to Mauritania, and in all countries in-between including Nigeria, the most populous one. There are also reports of Type I taking place in areas of the Middle East such as in Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
Type II – Clitoridectomy
The second type of FGC, Type II, involves the partial or entire removal of the clitoris, as well as the scraping off of the labia majora and labia minora. This takes place in countries where infibulation has been outlawed such as Sudan. Clitoridectomy was invented by Sudanese midwives as a compromise when British legislation forbade the most extreme operations in 1946.
Type III – Infibulation or Pharaonic Circumcision
The third and most drastic type of FGC is Type III. This most extreme form, consists of the removal of the clitoris, the adjacent labia (majora and minora), and the joining of the scraped sides of the vulva across the vagina, where they are secured with thorns or sewn with catgut or thread. A small opening is kept to allow passage of urine and menstrual blood. An infibulated woman must be cut open to allow intercourse on the wedding night and is closed again afterwards to secure fidelity to the husband. Hosken also reports that infibulation is “practiced on all females, almost without exception, in all of Somalia and wherever ethnic Somalis live (Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti). It is also performed throughout the Nile Valley, including Southern Egypt, and all along the Red Sea’s Coast.
FGC is mostly done in unsanitary conditions in which a midwife uses unclean sharp instruments such as razor blades, scissors, kitchen knives, and pieces of glass. These instruments are frequently used on several girls in succession and are rarely cleaned, causing the transmission of a variety of viruses such as the HIV virus, and other infections. Antiseptic techniques and anesthesia are generally not used, or for that matter, heard of. This is akin to a doctor who uses the same surgical instrument on a number of women at the same time without cleaning any of them.
Effects of Female Genital Cutting:
Beyond the obvious initial pains of the operations, FGC has long-term physiological, sexual, and psychological effects. The unsanitary environment under which FGC takes place results in infections of the genital and surrounding areas and often results in the transmission of the HIV virus which can cause AIDS. Some of the other health consequences of FGC include primary fatalities as a result of shock, hemorrhage or septicemia. In order to minimize the risk of the transmission of the viruses, some countries like Egypt made it illegal for FGC to be practiced by any other practitioners than trained doctors and nurses in hospitals. While this seems to be a more humane way to deal with FGC and try to reduce its health risks, more tissue is apt to be taken away due to the lack of struggle by the child if anesthesia is used.
Long-term complications include sexual frigidity, genital malformation, delayed menarche, chronic pelvic complications, recurrent urinary retention and infection, and an entire range of obstetric complications whereas the fetus is exposed to a range of infectious diseases as well as facing the risk of having his or her head crushed in the damaged birth canal. In such cases the infibulated mother must undergo another operation whereby she is “opened” further to insure the safe birthing of her child.
Girls undergo FGC when they are around three years old, though some of them are much older than that when they undergo the operation. The age varies depending on the type of the ritual and the customs of the local village or region.
Justifications:
In various cultures there are many “justifications” for these practices. A girl who is not circumcised is considered “unclean” by local villagers and therefore unmarriageable. A girl who does not have her clitoris removed is considered a great danger and ultimately fatal to a man if her clitoris touches his penis.
One of the most common explanations of FGC is local custom. Women are often heard saying that they are unwilling to change these customs since they have always done it this way and are not about to change. Oftentimes the practitioners are kept ignorant of the real implications of FGC, and the extreme health risks that it represents.
Family honor, cleanliness, protection against spells, insurance of virginity and faithfulness to the husband, or simply terrorizing women out of sex are sometimes used as excuses for the practice of FGC.
Some people believe that FGC is a barbaric practice done to girls and women in some remote villages in foreign countries of the world. However, up until a few decades ago, it was still believed that the clitoris is a very dangerous part of the female anatomy. Who can forget S. Freud who stated in one of his books entitled Sexuality and the Psychology of Love that the “elimination of clitoral sexuality is a necessary precondition for the development of femininity.”
As recently as 1979, the “Love Surgery” was performed on women in the United States. Dr. James E. Burt, the so-called Love Surgeon, introduced “clitoral relocation” (i.e. sunna circumcision) to the medical establishment. He believed and acted upon the idea that excision does not prevent sexual pleasure but enhances it. Dr. Burt practiced in Ohio for almost ten years before he was exposed after which he gave up his license.
Because of the large number of cases of FGC and some of the deaths it has caused, FGC is now outlawed in some European countries (Britain, France, Sweden, and Switzerland) and some African countries (Egypt, Kenya, Senegal).
Eradication:
It is also important to note that even though FGC is currently illegal in many countries in Africa and the Middle East, this has not reduced the number of the girls that are mutilated every year. The governments of these countries have no way of monitoring the spread and practice of FGC. The United Nations, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization have considered FGC to be a violation of Human Rights and have made recommendations to eradicate this practice. However, trying to fight FGC on legal terms is ineffective since those who practice it oftentimes do not report it. FGC is also widely practiced in villages and remote places where the government does not have an easy access.
A better and more effective approach would be a cooperation on the national level as well as the international level. The UN and the WHO have already taken the first step in abolishing these practices. Countries also need to have rigid laws that deal with FGC cases. This is also insufficient by itself. Anthropologists, educators, social scientists, and activists have to go into these villages and areas and educate the practitioners of the dangers of FGC. Female Genital Cutting can only be abolished by a grassroots approach which would take into consideration all aspects of a particular culture and try to work within that system of beliefs to eradicate this practice.
In many cultures, FGC serves as an initiation rite, and any efforts to eradicate it must take this into consideration. Some of the most successful eradication efforts have taken place in areas where FGC was replaced with “initiation without cutting” programs whereas a girl still goes through some initiation rites but this time, without any blood.
On the United States level, there are many efforts that are being made in order to abolish the practice locally and internationally. The National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC), a networking organization have brought together social scientists and medical practitioners from all over the world who are fighting FGC as well as male circumcision. NOCIRC has also founded the FGC Awareness and Education Project in August 1996. One of the goals of the project is to create an FGC Module which will provide information and training material to health care professionals. NOCIRC has also organized the International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations.
The Research, Actiona & Information Network for Bodily Integrity of Women (RAINBO) has been conducting research and grass-roots programs internationally as well as in the United States on women’s reproductive sexual health as well as on female genital mutilation. On the National Level, Congresswoman Patricia Shroeder introduced H.R. 3247, a bill to outlaw FGC in the United States in the fall of 1994. The bill was then combined with The Minority Health Initiatives Act, H.R.3864. This bill was then combined with H.R. 941 on February 14, 1995 which was to be cited as the “Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation of 1995.”
The bill was passed in September 1996. Some overdue effort is being made to abolish FGC, but there is still much work to be done. Educating ourselves, as well as others is a way that we can begin acting upon the convictions that human rights should not violated, and that violence against women is intolerable. Many people are still unaware that practices such as FGC are still widely practiced, and only an awareness can bring this inhumane practice to a halt.