Family history / serious illness cover

M

Madam

Registered User
Messages
23
Hi everyone,

My brother is about to finalise the mortgage on his first property. He has signed up for serious illness cover, and while completing the forms in the PTSB office honestly answered the question about family medical history, stating that our father died of bowel cancer. Nothing was said about this at the time, the forms were signed etc. Now, two weeks later he received a call saying that his premium will be more expensive because our dad died of bowel cancer. (€100 per month)

Has anyone else had experience of this? I understand the hereditary factor and that we have an slightly increased risk of developing the disease compared to the average Joe Soap but we’re not guaranteed to get it! And my brother is a healthy 30yr old so the odds are certainly on his side! I feel the insurance co is scaremongering. The reason I say this, is that both my sister and I bought houses within the past year with the same bank / insurance company and not a word was mentioned about this even though we answered the family medical history question honestly. This leads me to believe that the issue is not so much about risk for them but more about making money!

Has anyone had any experience of this? My brother is going to tell them to stick their serious illness cover but I would I would be interested to hear if anyone has been in a similar situation because I’ve never heard it crop up before.

Thanks in advance you’re your advise / replies.
 
On the face of it that sounds crazy.

The correct procedure is to have your brother's G.P. write to their C.M.O. asking them about the loading, and their justification for it.

The problem is that without such a challenge your brother's name will be placed on a register of non standard risks.
 
Yes. My Father had heart disease when he was under sixty, which doubled the cost of my cover. I went for the minimum life cover as required under the mortgage (which was still higher than normal).

I have serious illness cover at work under a group policy anyway and hope to be mortgage free by my early 50s.

Tell your brother to speak to a broker to shop around for better quotes.
 
You can sign a waiver for mortgage protection cover when loaded with a premium or when you are uninsurable. Most lenders allow this. I signed one myself.
 
The only insurance which lenders generally look for in a mortgage situation is life insurance (mortgage protection insurance). If your brother does not want serioius illness cover, the lender should not care, nor should any waiver be required.

It seems odd that PTSB would cross-sell a serious illness product at the same time as the mortgage. As a general observation, products cross-sold like this rarely offer good value. Your brother should decide if he actually needs this cover and then shop around. Not all policies are the same, and not all insurers either(in teh way they meet claims), so for serious illness cover, I would take the advice of a broker.
 
Something I notice about certain banks and mortgage brokers is that they are tied to a limited number of Life companies. You may get a better solution if you approach an insurance broker, where they have access to more providers.

Michael

[broken link removed]
 
Did you and your sister take out serious illness cover also? If so I don't understand how you were not all treated the same.

AFAIK hereditary bowel cancer will be loaded. As the other posters say, mortgage lenders require only mortgage protection cover.

Another thing to remember is that if your brother applies for serious illness cover with another life company, it will probably show up on their general register that he was loaded by current life company.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top