The cover is essential if you have a mortgage, as it clears the debt should you die, but you do not have to buy it from whoever sold your mortgage. Indeed, a new survey from the Financial Regulator found that home owners could save as much as 5,000 by shopping around for the cheapest cover.

For example, a female smoker aged 28 taking out a 35-year policy for 200,000 would pay 36.60 a month with Irish Life, but just 24.61 with New Ireland. That monthly saving would add up to 5,036 over the full term.

Tesco would have charged the woman 26.04 a month, making it the next cheapest insurer after New Ireland.

A non-smoking male aged 38 would pay 28.44 a month with Caledonian Life and 36.84 a month with Irish Life for cover of 300,000, a saving of 2,520 over the 25-year term.

Tesco again ranked second-cheapest with a premium of 29.70 a month.

Mary O'Dea, consumer director at the Financial Regulator, said there is nothing to stop people switching to a cheaper insurer, even when they have already signed up for cover elsewhere.

"If you are thinking about taking out a mortgage this year you will probably be offered mortgage protection insurance by your mortgage lender, " she said.

"While this may be a discounted rate for the first few years, it is worthwhile looking at our survey to see who offers the best mortgage protection rates to make sure you are getting the best deal you can. Remember, you do not have to buy your mortgage protection insurance from your mortgage lender."

SAVE RISING interest rates should make all savers think twice before locking up their cash in fixed deposits. These typically offer attractive headline rates, such as the 7% that Irish Nationwide is paying for two-year deposits of 20,000 or more. The catch is that you will stay locked into this rate at a time when returns on other deposits are steadily rising as the European Central Bank hikes interest rates.

For example, Irish Nationwide's fixed deposit works out at 3.44% a year, which already compares unfavourably with the returns on some variablerate accounts. Northern Rock is paying 3.45% for demand deposits from next month, while RaboDirect will pay 3.35%, and these returns are likely to get progressively better as more ECB rate increases filter through later in the year.

Savers in fixed-rate deposits will miss out on these increases . . . including anyone who signs up for First Active's new Elevator account, which is open to deposits of 5,000 and over until the end of April.

First Active is paying 18.3% interest to people who save for the next five years. But this averages out at only 3.42% for each year, with no possibility of something better as ECB rates improve.

The good news is that you are free to move your money out of First Active if you find something better before the five years are up.

But because it holds back the best rates of interest for later years, you might not get much for your money if you leave early.

And you will have to time any withdrawals carefully to avoid triggering a loss of interest.

ONE TO AVOID CASH-STRAPPED pensioners should only consider releasing equity in their homes as a last resort, and avoid home reversion schemes altogether, according to the Consumers' Association of Ireland. It urges them to consider alternative ways of raising cash such as downsizing to a smaller house, borrowing from children or even swapping houses with them.

The latest issue of the CAI's magazine, Consumer Choice, says equity release is a very expensive way of extracting money from your home, irrespective of whether you borrow against it or sell a stake in it.

"Some equity release schemes can leave you with little or no equity in your home if you keep one for 20 or 25 years, " it states.

"Consequently, you might not be able to pass on anything to your children and you might find your choices are limited if your circumstances change."

Four companies are active in the market. Bank of Ireland, Seniors Money and Ship provide mortgages to pensioners, allowing all repayments to accumulate or "roll up" over time until the home owner sells up or moves out.

Ship also provides home reversion schemes, as does Residential Reversions (RRL), which involves buying a stake in the pensioner's home while giving the pensioner the right to continue living in the property. The catch is that the pensioner gets only a fraction of the market value, sometimes less than 50%, in return.

Because reversion schemes are not policed by the Financial Regulator, the CAI says they should be avoided.

According to Consumer Choice: "If [equity release products] prove to be your only option, CAI strongly advises seeking all the legal and financial advice and second opinions available to you so that you can enter into any transaction with your eyes wide open."