What is Decreasing Term Life Insurance?

As the name implies, it is a type of life insurance coverage that decreases its payout as time passes.

It was used in the past as a type of mortgage life insurance. Basically, as the mortgage was being paid down, the life insurance amount was also being decreased.

You are much better off simply getting a term life insurance policy to cover your mortage in the event of your or your spouse's death. For example, if you have a 20 year $500,000 mortgage, simply get a 20 year term life insurance policy for half a million dollars. This way, even if you die 19 year from now, your spouse will still get the full amount of the policy ($500K).

You can read more on decreasing term life insurance at this site. Also here.