Mortgage protection for an affordable house

G

gorbi

Guest
I have been told by the county council that I have to accept the mortgage protection offered by the council for my affordable house, although it seems very high at 0.6%. I have noted that on the general guidelines on askaboutmoney.ie for purchasing a house, no lender can force you to take their mortgage protection. Is the county council legally able to do this?
 
Re: Mortagage protection for an affordable house

thats the first i have heard of it. what council is that?
i got my affordable housing though rathdown and didnt have to take any of there mortgage protection. are you getting the mortgage though them as well.
 
Re: Mortagage protection for an affordable house

Yes they can force you to take it. The Competition Authority will not intervene as they did with private lenders because they see there being a policy justification for requiring affordable homeowners to purchase their mortgage insurance from the council. Personally I understand the logic of compelling you to have some mortgage protection; I don't really see why it has to be from them except maybe it reduces the hassle to the council (so they don't have to chase you down to make sure you're really getting it etc), but that seems to be enough as far as the Competition Authority is concerned.

In terms of the actual rate, the reason it's so high is because it includes things like disability which are often excluded from ordinary mortgage protection insurance. I asked around to a couple insurance providers what they would charge for what the council's insurance covers, and the council rate did turn out to be competitive. It's just that you wouldn't necessarily opt for all the coverage that comes with the council insurance.

It's probably the case that even if you were allowed to get your insurance from a private lender, the council would still require you to get all the extras so it wouldn't save you any money.
 
Re: Mortagage protection for an affordable house

Hi

I received a letter from Cork County Council last week. It informs me that the new rate of mortgage protection insurance on my affordable house is 0.5615% effective from Jan 1 2009.

Further down in the letter it says "New borrowers who have been declined for this scheme are required to show evidence of mortgage protection from another insurer to their lending local authority"

This statement indicates there are situations where mortgage insurance on a affordable home can be sourced from the private sector.

I am trying to get more information on this from Council.
 
Re: Mortagage protection for an affordable house

Thanks for that ...very informative and reassuring
 
Re: Mortagage protection for an affordable house

I have an affordable house from Cork CC and I arranged my mortgage protection through Zurich direct. Mortgage is not with the council.
 
Re: Mortagage protection for an affordable house

Hi SunnyH,

Is your AF home mortgage from county council or through one of banks that work with AF scheme?
 
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