# Mortgage protection for my wife recently treated for stage 1 low grade cancer.



## joshhh (2 Aug 2017)

my wife and myself are taking a combined mortgage, but unfortunately she was diagnosed with 
stage 1 cancer, for which she has had surgery 6 weeks ago. we are at a stage where we need to arrange mortgage protection, but all of the companies are declining the same unless 
the doctor certifies that treatment is completed. i do understand that without mortgage  protection in place the banks wont release the fund. is there anything i can do? even though her income is less than one fourth of our total annual income would she still need a cover? the best quote i received was that she wont be covered for a year, after a year once treatment is completed they can cover if we pay 5 times more premium. Any advice is greatly appreciated.


----------



## Brendan Burgess (2 Aug 2017)

The legal requirement for mortgage protection is set down in the Consumer Credit Act. 

There is an exemption for it when it would be prohibitively expensive - as it would be in your case. 

So the lender is not legally obliged to require it.

However, they may refuse a mortgage to people who don't have it. 

You should ask a mortgage broker which bank is the most likely to lend to you. 

If the main banks won't, you could try Pepper.

Brendan


----------



## Monbretia (2 Aug 2017)

That's not entirely true that banks won't release funds without mortgage protection in place.  They have discretion to waive it under some circumstances, the main ones being that borrowers are over 50, property is not main residence, customer cannot get it at a reasonable price or customer has been declined and cannot get it at all.

The lenders have the option to do this under the Consumer Credit Act that says they have the mortgage protection in the first place but after that then it comes down to each lender's own lending policy.  Ask your lender is a waiver available to you should your wife not be able to source life cover or only at an exorbitant price.   If she is deferred or postponed by insurance companies until treatment is finished then a waiver would allow you proceed now and you could always get cover in the future if available.

No mortgage protection is not a barrier to taking out a mortgage.


----------



## joshhh (2 Aug 2017)

thank you brendan and Monbretia for the helpful advice. i already have an approved mortgage and house will be ready in few weeks, so i don't have an 
option of looking for another mortgage i guess. All i can do is talk to the lender and see if i can attain a waiver until my wife completes treatment. 
Does anyone has any suggestions for insurance companies who would provide cover in such situations ?


----------



## Monbretia (2 Aug 2017)

You will find it practically impossible to get cover at the moment, no point giving you false hope.   This doesn't say anything about your wife's health, it's more about insurance underwriting and their dislike of anything perceived an increased risk rightly or wrongly.

Ask your lender about the waiver, don't know who your lender is but UB anyway  were always ok with waivers in circumstances like this.


----------



## Brendan Burgess (2 Aug 2017)

joshhh said:


> i already have an approved mortgage and house will be ready in few weeks, so i don't have an
> option of looking for another mortgage i guess



Why not? 

It does not take that long to get mortgage approval. 

It will be far easier to get a  mortgage from a lender than to get insurance cover. 

Brendan


----------



## Jimbobp (2 Aug 2017)

Have you tried all the insurers on the market? Some are more liberal than others when it comes to medical underwriting. There is also the UK non standard insurer Pulse Insurance, who will offer cover in the majority of cases. The only downside with Pulse is that their max term is 10 years and not all lenders will accept that.


----------



## joshhh (2 Aug 2017)

Thank you all , I should try once again to see if I can find someone to cover,if not I have to get on to the bank to discuss possible options.


----------



## Monbretia (2 Aug 2017)

I'd do the opposite, check with the bank first about a waiver, that will solve your initial problem.  If they are ok with that then at your ease you can check around for cover, if you get it well and good although realistically I don't see you getting affordable cover anywhere this soon.   It is more likely that companies will defer her for a period of a few years after which she can apply again.


----------



## joshhh (2 Aug 2017)

Would it make any difference if the doctor states her treatment is completed.  As I mentioned, it is stage 1 and she had it surgically removed. Would she still be differed for a period of time?  I am afraid if the bank says NO to waiver, as both our incomes are taken into consideration for the mortgage approval. My wife being off work for the past 2 months takes out the option of a new mortgage application.


----------



## Monbretia (2 Aug 2017)

I don't think it will.  While not the same I have dealt with a case of melanoma where treatment was small surgery and no follow up, not even off work and even with that the applicant was deferred for five years.

Ask your bank, this is not an uncommon query for them, even people with something like diabetes can sometimes not get life cover or it is at such an increased cost as to be unaffordable and they use waivers.  

If your wife was the main earner for the mortgage then the bank might have some reluctance but as you say she is the much smaller income then really I would be surprised if you have a difficulty.   Contact your mortgage advisor on Tuesday and explain the situation, they will either know straight away if a waiver is possible or will need to contact an underwriter.   The exceptions in the consumer credit act were put in just this sort of thing so that a life cover refusal does not mean someone can never get a mortgage.

PS I mean contact them tomorrow, for some stupid reason I thought today was Friday and banks closed until Tuesday


----------



## joshhh (3 Aug 2017)

Thanks Monberitta.. I think I will do the same,


----------



## LandClash (3 Aug 2017)

Hi Josh,

I had a similar situation myself, I had low grade lymphoma and was applying after completing treatment. 

I had got refused by all insurers in Ireland expect for Zurich who eventually covered me but at an increased premium. That was after I had been refused by all other insurers in the Irish market. Before Zurich agreed to cover me and I was in discussion with the lender to provide a larger deposit or deposit amount on hold in the event of my failure to pay. 

Alternatively you could try Pulse in the UK as mentioned previously but the 10 years cover limit was an issue for my lender, you would need to check your lender would accept them too.

Hopefully you get sorted Josh, this along with the illness your wife had are very stressful to deal with.


----------



## joshhh (3 Aug 2017)

first of all thanks for all the advice and support. The doctor has given us a letter stating that necessary treatment is done for my wife and 
that her condition is not life threatening. Still none of the insurance companies will cover our mortgage. sure it is a business for them... they don't see 
the real people in it. i am reluctant to go to the banks in case they say NO to our mortgage too. i do understand the exception to the legal 
requirement to mortgage protection as my friends discussed earlier on, but the banks don't always have to accept that. 
is it wise to discuss with my solicitor before i meet my mortgage broker?


----------



## Monbretia (3 Aug 2017)

I drive a 15yr old car, have been driving 40 odd yrs without incident (touch wood!) yet insurance companies now suddenly see me and my old car as a risk and quote exorbitant amounts, that's the ones that will even quote.   It's the same with life insurance, they are very adverse to any perceived increased risk, it's a sort of blanket ban on certain things, the individual nuances of each case don't come into it.    Don't get bogged down in the fact that she has been refused everywhere, I know it feels like a personal attack and somehow sinister but it isn't really, it's just the way insurance companies are.

Seriously, just ask your bank, this is very common.  Your solicitor is going to tell you the same thing as they don't know where you are going either at the moment without knowing if the bank is ok with a waiver.  It's a very straightforward issue for the bank, they have pre printed forms for it.   The only risk is that your bank is one who has a stricter policy on waivers but even if they say no initially and I don't believe they will I would ask the person you are dealing with to appeal that decision based on the percentage of your wifes salary compared to yours in the calculations.   

You need to do this first, once you have the banks ok for a waiver then you can shop around again for the cover but a waiver will leave you free from the banks requirements so that instead say of having to take out cover for the full mortgage over the full term which might be totally unaffordable even if you could get it, you could alternatively take cover of say 50k for 10 yrs or whatever was doable.

I want to see here tomorrow evening that you have asked your bank, pretty please


----------



## joshhh (3 Aug 2017)

i am meeting my solicitor and mortgage adviser tomorrow, hopefully i will have some decision.. Monberita your assurance is 
really appreciated.  
Josh


----------



## PaddyBloggit (13 Aug 2017)

Any update on this Josh?


----------

