Life insurance on your loan protects you while you're in debt by paying off that loan should you die.

Any other insurance you might have can go directly to your survivors, rather than being needed to pay the loan. Once you've paid that debt, your need for protection has ended - and so does your policy.

A loan consumes part of your income, so it's important to have a plan to eliminate that loan. Then the money set aside for loan payments is back into your family's hands for day-to-day expenses.

Life insurance generally isn't expensive: a few dollars a week or month can pay off a loan of thousands of dollars, and most loans and borrowers are eligible for full coverage.