Mortgage Protection - any issue being on SSRIs for anxiety?

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dubdub123

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Hey - I'm just filling in mortgage protection policy in relation to house purchase. I have been on SSRIs (low dosage of 50mg) for a number of months, due to anxiety.

There is a question on the form as follows:
Any mental illness including anxiety, depression, stress or eating disorder, or have you attempted to harm yourself?

It's lumping in quite a few things here together. I can leave some additional information as well.

Is there an increased risk of having policy refused due to anxiety? I plan to come off the SSRIs following house purchase.
 
Personal opinion here, many will disagree.

I wouldn't give any answer that might raise a question until you get your mortgage & have the key to your new home.

If it still worries you in six months time; you can take out another policy & answer all the questions in as much detail as you like & then cancel this one.

Best of luck with the new house.
 
I'd be genuinely concerned about not disclosing full medical facts, to do so, can't be un done, even if OP cancels the policy and takes out a new one.

If God forbid there was a need to claim against say a new Policy, insurance company will absolutely seek current and historical medical records to include all and any medications,, especially those prescribed for any mental illnesses which cover numerous diagnosis'S. It would almost be irrelevant how small a prescribed dosage is or was.

I'm absolutely no expert but am familiar with a case whereby records were requested from two Gp"s, the current and previous one as well as a list of all prescribed medications after a claim was lodged.

Tough call but I'd air on the side of caution re fully and honestly disclosing all medical information with regard to taking out any mortgage protection or life policy. OP might face a higher premium cost but its not the ultimate decider in relation to mortgage approval.
 
Thirsty said:
Personal opinion here, many will disagree.

I wouldn't give any answer that might raise a question until you get your mortgage & have the key to your new home.

If it still worries you in six months time; you can take out another policy & answer all the questions in as much detail as you like & then cancel this one.

Best of luck with the new house.
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That is absolutely the wrong thing to do. The proposal form says that all material facts have to be disclosed and non disclosure of material facts can lead to the policy not paying out. While it is unlikely that the OP will die during the life of the policy, if they did, it wouldn't take long for the claims dept to see that they lied on their application.

You must disclose all information. Ask your broker for a Anxiety questionnaire and fill in as much information as possible. The more info an underwriter has, the easier it is for them to make a decision. They may look for more information from your GP or get you to do a nurse medical. Anxiety shouldn't mean that your application is refused but it will probably take longer.

Do not lie.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
Steven Barrett said:
That is absolutely the wrong thing to do. The proposal form says that all material facts have to be disclosed and non disclosure of material facts can lead to the policy not paying out. While it is unlikely that the OP will die during the life of the policy, if they did, it wouldn't take long for the claims dept to see that they lied on their application.

You must disclose all information. Ask your broker for a Anxiety questionnaire and fill in as much information as possible. The more info an underwriter has, the easier it is for them to make a decision. They may look for more information from your GP or get you to do a nurse medical. Anxiety shouldn't mean that your application is refused but it will probably take longer.

Do not lie.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
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What type of information will they look for on the anxiety questionnaire? Im worried that it will slow everything right down. If any issues, can we switch to a different policy ie are some a bit more understanding? Whats really concerning is that the form has anxiety, depression, self harm all lumped under the one question.
 
Is it possible to answer yes to that specific question, as that is the factually correct answer. And then add a side note where you elaborate in as much detail as you like?
 
dubdub123 said:
What type of information will they look for on the anxiety questionnaire? Im worried that it will slow everything right down. If any issues, can we switch to a different policy ie are some a bit more understanding? Whats really concerning is that the form has anxiety, depression, self harm all lumped under the one question.
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They will look for details of your condition and treatment. And yes, it will slow things down as it has to be underwritten now. But if you lie and something happens, they don't have to pay out, which is a massive risk. The debt doesn't die with you.

The questions are broad for a reason. It's supposed to be a catchall.

Don't lie. conveyancy takes ages anyway and the property won't fall through as a result of this.
 
We are very far in the process now and aiming to close on house within couple of weeks.

Would this have to go back to my GP? Or can i provide evidence of amount of SSRI myself, do you know? Im actually planning to come off medication once house purchase completes.

In your experience, would you see people still being accepted for insurance after declaring anxiety?
 
dubdub123 said:
We are very far in the process now and aiming to close on house within couple of weeks.

Would this have to go back to my GP? Or can i provide evidence of amount of SSRI myself, do you know? Im actually planning to come off medication once house purchase completes.

In your experience, would you see people still being accepted for insurance after declaring anxiety?
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They may go back to your GP. The more information you give them, the easier it is for them to make a decision.

Anxiety doesn't mean you won't get cover. It just means your case won't go through automatically. If you get everything in asap, a few weeks should be fine. If they write to your GP, phone your GP and tell them it's needed urgently for a mortgage.

This isn't an issue that will scupper you closing on the property and I hope it isn't adding to your anxiety. Get the questionnaire, fill it out with as much detail as possible and get it back to the life company.
 
OK, let's assume that you give them full information and they refuse to give you a policy and as a result you can't buy the house.

Which would you prefer?

1) To own a house without any life cover in the event that you die
or
2) To not own a house because you could not get life cover?

The person who potentially loses out through your non-disclosure is yourself. If you don't disclose and you die, your next of kin won't have the mortgage paid off.

The person who loses out if you do disclose is yourself. You might not get life cover.
 
It is very different from motor insurance. If you don't disclose a claim and you subsequently injure someone, the insurance company may refuse to pay out and you would become personally liable. You could lose out. The injured party could lose out. Or the premiums of other customers could be higher, because they have to pay for those who are not properly insured.

If you are a single person, you don't need mortgage protection, but stupidly, it is a legal requirement. If you are married and your spouse is financially independent, you don't need mortgage protection or life insurance either. You might well choose to have it, but owning a house is more important.

And as Thirsty says, you can make a full disclosure or cancel the policy once you get the keys to your new house. So you are not cheating the insurance company. The bank might feel a bit exposed if you don't have life cover, but it's a theoretical risk.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
If you don't disclose and you die, [and the life assurance co refuses payment] your next of kin won't have the mortgage paid off.
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This may not be an issue.

If OP has death-in-service cover, that lump sum would clear a good chunk of mortgage.

If there's a joint purchaser, they can continue payments (separated / divorced couples do this routinely)

House can always be sold if need be.


I accept that @steven Barret & others work in this area and so are obliged to give the official line. If you consulted me in my professional capacity, I would do the same.
 
Appreciate the feedback and the variety of opinions on this. Thank you all so much for your inputs.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
It is very different from motor insurance. If you don't disclose a claim and you subsequently injure someone, the insurance company may refuse to pay out and you would become personally liable. You could lose out. The injured party could lose out. Or the premiums of other customers could be higher, because they have to pay for those who are not properly insured.

If you are a single person, you don't need mortgage protection, but stupidly, it is a legal requirement. If you are married and your spouse is financially independent, you don't need mortgage protection or life insurance either. You might well choose to have it, but owning a house is more important.

And as Thirsty says, you can make a full disclosure or cancel the policy once you get the keys to your new house. So you are not cheating the insurance company. The bank might feel a bit exposed if you don't have life cover, but it's a theoretical risk.

Brendan
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It's not stupid. If a mortgage holder dies, the bank want their money back. They don't want to run the risk of there being a depressed market and it taking 2 years to sell the property and even then at a fraction of what they were owed.

With regards to couples, lots of couples are financially independent from each other when they get the mortgage but that is not always the case, especially when children come along and one spouse (usually the woman) stops working.

The risk of dying young is pretty low but it happens and the impact on a family is devastating. Having the mortgage paid off is a big relief for the surviving spouse. Imagine the stress levels for a mother of 3 who's husband was the sole provider who died early and left her with mortgage repayments of thousands a month? All for a a policy can this pretty cheap in the scheme of things.
 
Thirsty said:
This may not be an issue.

If OP has death-in-service cover, that lump sum would clear a good chunk of mortgage.

If there's a joint purchaser, they can continue payments (separated / divorced couples do this routinely)

House can always be sold if need be.


I accept that @steven Barret & others work in this area and so are obliged to give the official line. If you consulted me in my professional capacity, I would do the same.
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Death in service can't be assigned. The bank want the mortgage paid off and the life policy assigned to them without issue. With a death in service benefit, the recipient may not want to pay the money to the bank.

Remember, the bank is the one with the money that you want. One of their terms is that you take out life cover. If you don't want to, don't look for the money. Lying about health issues is a bad idea.
 
Hi Steven

It would be much better for a single person to use the premiums to pay down the mortgage than to pay for insurance which they will never benefit from.

It would be much better for the original poster dubdub, to get a mortgage while temporarily telling a lie from which he will never benefit, than to not get a mortgage at all.

Brendan
 
dubdub123 said:
Hey - I'm just filling in mortgage protection policy in relation to house purchase. I have been on SSRIs (low dosage of 50mg) for a number of months, due to anxiety.

There is a question on the form as follows:
Any mental illness including anxiety, depression, stress or eating disorder, or have you attempted to harm yourself?

It's lumping in quite a few things here together. I can leave some additional information as well.

Is there an increased risk of having policy refused due to anxiety? I plan to come off the SSRIs following house purchase.
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As you say there are a number of conditions grouped together here. There may be no impact on policy approval or even policy cost in answering the question referencing anxiety.

I have experience when changing my mortgage protection policy with a broker earlier this year. I had overlooked that I had a small mole removed a couple of years ago when initially completing form. I emailed broker later that day, answered the follow on questions on the form, triggered by the YES response, and quotation came back for same amount as earlier quotation.
 
There’s a fair bit of virtue signalling in these threads.

Given the choice between spoofing a bank or insurance company and potentially not being able to buy a home for one’s family, most rational people will go for the spoofing option.

The inevitable posts about blatant fraudsters falling foul of the law are completely irrelevant.
 
Friend of mine was an underwriter for a major Irish insurer. An issue of mild depression, and a standard SSRI prescription, would trigger a request for a GP report. Assuming the GP confirmed matters, policy would issue with no loading. Mild depression is incredibly common.
 
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