Mortgage Repayment Protection Cover

Is this cover only provided by our mortgage provider or can we decline cover from our current mortgage provider and get a quote elsewhere?

You do not have to get it from your lender - and it will probably be more expensive if you do. In my opinion it is usually a waste of money anyway - because the qualifying terms and conditions and short payout length. Brokers etc will tell you otherwise becuase they stand to get a good commission off it.

I always thought it was a waste of money too but recently have started to think about it. My partner works in the construction industry and with things going the way they are it might be worth getting some extra protection. Can cover be cancelled at a later date?

Just look carefully at the terms and conditions before you buy. I am pretty sure you could cancel if you felt it was no longer needed.

You can decline to take this cover, or if you're using a broker they can get this from an alternative provider (although the cost is usually the same across the board). I'd agree with Irishlinks that there is a lot of conditions attached to this cover and usually there is a max payout of 12 months, but it may suit some people. Have you considered income or wageprotector insurance? Won't cover your partner against loosing his job but will cover against accident/illness etc up until he is 65?

We have considered income protection as a result of accident/illness but I'm starting to think protection against redundany might be more important now. Another twelve people in his company have lost their jobs this week.

If it's roughly the same price across the board, we might just go with our current mortgage provider.

Thanks for the replies.

I would really check terms and conditions, usually if there is as much as a whiff of impending redundancies when you take it out it will invalidate it, if there has already been redundancies in the company that might be considered as you having prior knowledge of the risk. No point paying for something that wont pay out. I sell this stuff occasionally in my role and if I was told there had been redundancies previously I would not sell it to the customer as the likelihood of a payout is poor. These are insurance companies after all and they will check out everything before payout and will probalby find out about the redundancies.

Yep. I'd agree with that.Some other conditions of this policy include excluding seasonal work and you can't claim in the first 90 days. There are also restrictions on back & psychological problems.Just too many exclusions. IMO people are better off building up a rainy day redundancy fund to the same level as what one of these policies will pay out (12*mortgage repayments) and take out income protection to cover medical problems.
(In the interest of disclosure I work in a broker office)