Mortgage Protection

Tony255

Hi,
I am due to draw down my mortgage over the next few weeks anyone know of anywhere where i can get a good deal on mortgage protection insurance. Also i know i need house insurance in place is there anything else that i am missing?

Rgds
Tony

cgc5483

For mortgage protection I'm using LAbrokers.ie as they were the best quotes and they also have a massive discount in the first year. Others to try are 123.ie and insure.ie, noth of which also do house insurance.

Glenbhoy

cgc5483 wrote: »

For mortgage protection I'm using LAbrokers.ie as they were the best quotes and they also have a massive discount in the first year. Others to try are 123.ie and insure.ie, noth of which also do house insurance.

Yeah, I'll second that, LABrokers are worth talking to. For house insurance, try the likes of Glennons (I found them cheapest) and maybe try and keep a decent excess, say 500 or 1000 whoever you go with, that way it should keep the premium down.

Dandelion6

Are you required to get it as a condition of your mortgage? There was an article in the Examiner a while ago where the Consumers Association included mortgage protection on their list of rip-off insurances which people shouldn't bother getting.

starky

Dandelion6 wrote: »

There was an article in the Examiner a while ago where the Consumers Association included mortgage protection on their list of rip-off insurances which people shouldn't bother getting.

I am still trying to decide weather or not to get it. I would prefer not to get it, and there is no requirement to get it, at least with my lender. Up till now I have never gotten payment protection on anything, for small bank loans I reckon it is a bit of a rip off. I have never borrowed this much money at once though and it’s a fairly stressful undertaking, and I was thinking of getting it for peace of mind. Should I go with my gut instinct and not bother? What do people in general think of mortgage payment protection?

paulksnn

Tony255 - You'll also need life assurance. This would be a mandatory condition of the mortgage.

Be careful Starky of how much protection you get.
A former co-worker of mine said his payment protection only lasted 12 months when our company went tits up.
There are also quite strict limitations on when you can claim against it.
It also took much wrangling with the bank (for him) because they wanted to know what his girlfriends income(co-signatory to the mortgage) was.
IMO it's just not worth it, but then my job is fairly stable at the moment. Maybe get it for a year or two until you grow more confident in your ability to pay.

starky

paulksnn wrote: »

Tony255 - You'll also need life assurance. This would be a mandatory condition of the mortgage.

This (life assurance) I have no problem with, its clear in its meaning and functionality. You die you get money. Simple as :-)

But these payment protection policies have so many conditions and stuff. I am convinced that if at some point in the future say five years, I go to make a claim on it for some reason the insurance company will give me the run around over some stupid detail that’s in the policy, in short I don’t trust insurance companies all that much, and then I will realise that I have been wasting quite a large amount of money each month on it. They will only cover your mortgage for a year or two anyway. I am fairly well qualified and even if I lost my job which is highly unlikely as I am getting the place as an affordable house I reckon I could rent out a room and make up the difference even in a minimum wage job in a worse case scenario.
The one thing was that if for some reason I ended up sick and could not work at all, that’s the thing that is worrying me and is what is swaying me towards getting it perhaps… what does happen if you end up sick long term? Wages and income wise? I am guessing that you have to claim social welfare sick pay?

seamus

Dandelion6 wrote: »

Are you required to get it as a condition of your mortgage? There was an article in the Examiner a while ago where the Consumers Association included mortgage protection on their list of rip-off insurances which people shouldn't bother getting.

It is illegal to provide a mortgage on a property where adequate mortgage protection isn't in place.

Perhaps you're talking about payment protection where the insurance company will pay your mortgage for X amount of time if you lose your job, such as this:

But these payment protection policies have so many conditions and stuff. I am convinced that if at some point in the future say five years, I go to make a claim on it for some reason the insurance company will give me the run around over some stupid detail that’s in the policy, in short I don’t trust insurance companies all that much, and then I will realise that I have been wasting quite a large amount of money each month on it. They will only cover your mortgage for a year or two anyway.

There are a number of reasons why these kind of protections are wasteful.

First off, as you point out, often the insurance company will give you the run around before giving you any money. In the time that it takes to get it sorted, any credit rating damage will have been done, and you can usually ask your bank to defer mortgage payments for a month or two if you really need to. It takes a lot of missed payments before a bank will try to reposess, so mortgage protection doesn't protect your home, not really.
Also, in the event of long-term inability to pay your mortgage you will likely sell off your home and change your circumstances such that you will never need or be able to avail of the full term (one or two years) of protection that's offered.