Mortgage Protection - Past Depression

Johnnyhpipe

Myself and my partner are both 30 and are applying for life assurance to cover our 1st mortgage on a house in Cavan. Im looking at the forms that need to be filled in and am worried about the disclosure of previous mental illness. Between the age of 20 and 23 (ie 3 years) My girlfriend suffered from a severe form of depression, including many suicide attempts, related to a trauma which required 6 months of hospitalisation & outpatient treatment for the remaining 2.5 years under a physciatrist. She recovered and was discharged by her doctor in 2006 and hasnt had any recurring episodes since. Ive been trying to do a bit of research on this and am not finding much out there and anything i do find is worrying. Im afraid that if we disclose everything we will be refused insurance or loaded so much that we wont be able to afford it. We have already placed a deposit on our house and have been approved for a mortgage but if we dont get insurance we wont be able to drawdown the mortgage and will lose our money.

Has anyone any experience of getting mortgage protection under similar circumstances?

Also, do insurance companies have access to your medical records,
Thanks

blindside88

I work in in life insurance. Disclose everything on the medical form, she will definitly be loaded for it and they will likely require a pmar (doctors report) but you are still better off. Mortgage life insurance is one if the cheaper forms of life insurance. If you don't disclose it's not worth the paper it's written on. God forbid something should happen to either of you it won't pay out. Also life insurance companies share medical reports so its very easy to get caught out

jimmycrackcorm

You will get insurance but like declaring smoking there will likely be a loading.

Johnnyhpipe

blindside88 wrote: »

I work in in life insurance. Disclose everything on the medical form, she will definitly be loaded for it and they will likely require a pmar (doctors report) but you are still better off. Mortgage life insurance is one if the cheaper forms of life insurance. If you don't disclose it's not worth the paper it's written on. God forbid something should happen to either of you it won't pay out. Also life insurance companies share medical reports so its very easy to get caught out

Thanks! I've read about someone before who were quoted 30 times the normal rate for depression! That would put our monthly mortgage protection payments in the order of €1000, which would be more than our mortgage!! Does that sound remotely accurate or can we expect something at least somewhat reasonable?

blindside88

Johnnyhpipe wrote: »

Thanks! I've read about someone before who were quoted 30 times the normal rate for depression! That would put our monthly mortgage protection payments in the order of €1000, which would be more than our mortgage!! Does that sound remotely accurate or can we expect something at least somewhat reasonable?

It all depends on the individual case and the company but an increase like that would be extremely rare. Depression is very common and doesn't necessarily mean a large increase. The fact that there were a number of suicide attempts will unfortunately mean a higher loading. The best thing to do is call a life company, before they start the quote make them aware of the facts and they can then refer to the underwriting department who will give an idea of the loading range to expect. I can't stress enough how important it is to fully disclose the details however tempting it is to omit them for cost reasons

Johnnyhpipe

blindside88 wrote: »

It all depends on the individual case and the company but an increase like that would be extremely rare. Depression is very common and doesn't necessarily mean a large increase. The fact that there were a number of suicide attempts will unfortunately mean a higher loading. The best thing to do is call a life company, before they start the quote make them aware of the facts and they can then refer to the underwriting department who will give an idea of the loading range to expect. I can't stress enough how important it is to fully disclose the details however tempting it is to omit them for cost reasons

Thanks again. Its not cost reasons as such that are my main concern, its losing the deposit and house at this stage. Do the insurance companies have access to medical records when applying?

blindside88

Johnnyhpipe wrote: »

Thanks again. Its not cost reasons as such that are my main concern, its losing the deposit and house at this stage. Do the insurance companies have access to medical records when applying?

They don't have access to medical records initially. They will send you a copy of your answers to the medically questions and a declaration for you both to sign stating they are true and complete. Usually in a case like yours they will request a private medical attendants report from your GP before accepting the policy, in this case the GP will tell them the medically history and it will not end favourably.

skippy2

Can you take out the mortgage in one name ? Obviously depends on your personal circumstances. Maybe a legal doc between you could cover any difficulties

phormium

Check if your bank will accept a waiver of life cover if the premium is too high, it is not uncommon for some borrowers to have to do a waiver in the situation where they cannot get cover at all or it is too expensive, this would allow you draw down mortgage on your own life cover only.

Not all banks will accept this but some do, obviously it doesn't solve the problem for you of then having no life insurance for your partner but may be only option.