MPPI covers a combination of insurances. You may simply want the unemployment cover for your mortgage if you already have accident and sickness insurance at work, for example.

Note that if you remortgage at any point and increase the size of your mortgage, you will also need to increase the level of MPPI cover.

You can take out mortgage payment protection insurance direct over the internet, but some financial advisers claim they can offer this insurance more cheaply because of their bulk-buying arrangements. Some mortgage deals come with free MPPI for the first six months or the first year, but you must remember to renew the policy or take out another one at the end of the free period.

State help with your mortgage payments

If you are a homeowner and in receipt of certain income-related benefits, you may qualify for Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) payments if you lose your job or are unable to work due to accident or sickness. Any SMI payments only help with the interest on your debt, not the capital amount you owe, and are paid directly to the lender.

You might qualify for help with the interest on a mortgage up to an upper limit of £200,000 and SMI only pays mortgage interest up to a rate of 3.12%.

SMI is usually paid out after a waiting period of 39 weeks after you first claim benefit.

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