"Mortgage life insurance" is not a distinct type of policy. It is ordinary term life insurance, sized and timed to your mortgage, and the useful question is which shape of term cover your mortgage actually calls for. Getting that right matters far more than which brand ends up on the paperwork.

The answer follows from how your mortgage repays. That is the whole decision, and it takes about a minute to work out.

Repayment mortgage: the balance falls every month, so decreasing term cover tracks it and costs the least. This is the standard answer for most homeowners.

Interest-only mortgage: the balance does not reduce at all, so decreasing cover would leave a shortfall that grows every year. Level term cover is the correct shape, at a higher premium that reflects the higher real risk.

Part and part: a decreasing policy against the repayment element and a level policy against the interest-only element. Two policies sounds like overkill; it is usually cheaper and more accurate than forcing one policy to do both jobs.

Lenders and estate agents routinely offer life cover alongside the mortgage, and it is convenient. It is also frequently not the best-priced or best-structured option available, and the person selling it is not usually comparing the wider market on your behalf.

A lender can require you to have buildings insurance. No UK lender can require you to buy life insurance from them as a condition of the mortgage. Taking the cover elsewhere is always an option, and comparing before you sign anything costs nothing.

These get conflated constantly and they are different things. Mortgage life insurance pays a lump sum on death, clearing the balance. Mortgage payment protection insurance (MPPI) covers your monthly payments for a limited period if you cannot work through accident, sickness or redundancy.

They cover different risks and one is not a substitute for the other. If losing your income is the thing that worries you most, income protection is usually a more robust answer than MPPI, and worth pricing alongside.

Couples buying together are usually offered a single joint policy. It is not automatically the right call: two single policies often cost only a little more and pay out twice rather than once, and they do not have to be untangled if the relationship ends. The joint life page sets out the trade in full.