Refused Life & Serious Illness cover for mortgage

fg1406

In the middle of a very convoluted house purchase that’s been going on since June. Started process of getting life cover in August in order for it to be in place in time for drawdown. 12 months prior I had a benign cyst removed from my right ovary and it was discovered that I also had Endometriosis at the time but thankfully with no symptoms. I disclosed all of this on my form. The insurance company sent out a form for GP to sign which got lost in the Bermuda Triangle. Took weeks for it to be completed. I had an MRI, an ultrasound and 3 blood tests in the meantime to prove I’m not at risk of falling over and expiring but now I’ve been refused cover for both life and serious illness insurance. Solicitor, broker and GP are all baffled by this. It’s delaying the purchase of the house even further and causing me untold stress. Has anyone else been through this? It seems like a very trivial matter on which to refuse me. Do I have any recourse or appeals process?

Henry Ford III

No you don't. You can propose elsewhere but risk the same result and wasting even more time..

What you should do in have your GP speak to the insurers Chief Medical Officer who will explain in detail why you were refused cover. You'll most likely find it's not a trivial thing unfortunately.

p.s. What role did your insurance Broker/Agent/Advisor have in all this?

fg1406

Henry Ford III wrote: »

No you don't. You can propose elsewhere but risk the same result and wasting even more time..

What you should do in have your GP speak to the insurers Chief Medical Officer who will explain in detail why you were refused cover. You'll most likely find it's not a trivial thing unfortunately.

p.s. What role did your insurance Broker/Agent/Advisor have in all this?

Thanks for your reply. It appears the sale of the house may fall through now. Brokers cannot understand why I was refused for something that a lot of women will suffer from at some point in their lives. They don’t know why I was refused as insurance company won’t disclose any of this to them. They won’t disclose it to me either. Trying to get GP to contact Insurers will be like pulling teeth, not because he doesn’t care, he does, it’s just the practice is just so busy.

Henry Ford III

fg1406 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. It appears the sale of the house may fall through now. Brokers cannot understand why I was refused for something that a lot of women will suffer from at some point in their lives. They don’t know why I was refused as insurance company won’t disclose any of this to them. They won’t disclose it to me either. Trying to get GP to contact Insurers will be like pulling teeth, not because he doesn’t care, he does, it’s just the practice is just so busy.

Ask your lender could they do a waiver.

The insurer won't disclose reasons for a declinature. That's standard practice although I appreciate that's frustrating for you.

If your GP can't manage to make a call in relation to an important issue concerning your health you might be well advised to seek an alternative.

Vorsprung

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Ask your lender could they do a waiver.

The insurer won't disclose reasons for a declinature. That's standard practice although I appreciate that's frustrating for you.

If your GP can't manage to make a call in relation to an important issue concerning your health you might be well advised to seek an alternative.

Why would an insurance company disclose this to someone's GP but not the person themselves?

phormium

Have you been deferred or refused?

Either way ask the bank about a waiver, it's not that uncommon, many people can't get cover for one reason or another. There is a system whereby a bank can waive the necessity for someone to have cover if they cannot get it, but banks are not obliged to do it so you need to find our what your bank's policy is with waivers.

fg1406

Thanks for your replies. Can I get access to my information under Data Protection if they won’t disclose it to me under their standard processes?

It’s just so frustrating and I’ve spent €500 in recent months on tests to show that I am ok. Brokers came back to me today to state I need 3 refusals to draw down on mortgage so that’s what we are doing now.

And in relation to GP, he’s fantastic but severely overworked. He’s running a very very practice by himself and it’s hard to pin him down to do stuff outside of direct patient care ie fill out that huge form the insurance company sent him. The receptionist told me those forms take a few hours to complete.

ANXIOUS

fg1406 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. Can I get access to my information under Data Protection if they won’t disclose it to me under their standard processes?

It’s just so frustrating and I’ve spent €500 in recent months on tests to show that I am ok. Brokers came back to me today to state I need 3 refusals to draw down on mortgage so that’s what we are doing now.

And in relation to GP, he’s fantastic but severely overworked. He’s running a very very practice by himself and it’s hard to pin him down to do stuff outside of direct patient care ie fill out that huge form the insurance company sent him. The receptionist told me those forms take a few hours to complete.

The doctor gets well paid to fill them out, I wouldn't bother requesting the information under the data protection.

Your broker in my opinion has let you down here, they should've had an informal chat with their contact and got you a heads up that it was going to be declined so you could withdraw your application.

You now have to disclose the decline going forward. What life company was your application with? No point going to another one with the same underwriter.

Next thing is also remove the serious illness cover, it should make underwriting easier.

fg1406

ANXIOUS wrote: »

The doctor gets well paid to fill them out, I wouldn't bother requesting the information under the data protection.

Your broker in my opinion has let you down here, they should've had an informal chat with their contact and got you a heads up that it was going to be declined so you could withdraw your application.

You now have to disclose the decline going forward. What life company was your application with? No point going to another one with the same underwriter.

Next thing is also remove the serious illness cover, it should make underwriting easier.

The broker had no idea I’d be declined as my “Illness” was something minor ie a cyst. I was refused both serious illness and life cover. The company that refused me was Zurich.

Bank won’t allow me to draw down with just my husbands policy without me getting 2 more refusals.

ANXIOUS

fg1406 wrote: »

The broker had no idea I’d be declined as my “Illness” was something minor ie a cyst. I was refused both serious illness and life cover. The company that refused me was Zurich.

Bank won’t allow me to draw down with just my husbands policy without me getting 2 more refusals.

I didn't say he would, but I would've expected him to have a relationship with Zurich that they would've given him a heads up.

Where in the country are you based?

If you lookup who the Zurich CMO is you'll see that he has a private practice, might be worth going in there for the next medical.

In my experience Zurich are the worst for underwriting. I'd go with Irish life, Aviva and New Ireland.

Henry Ford III

Vorsprung wrote: »

Why would an insurance company disclose this to someone's GP but not the person themselves?

No idea but it's standard practice. I've seen it with other insurers.

ANXIOUS

Henry Ford III wrote: »

No idea but it's standard practice. I've seen it with other insurers.

I think it's if something is bad, they want your doctor to tell you and for you not to interpret medical tests yourself.

phormium

Yes definitely drop the serious illness cover part of the application for the next try, you'll have to declare the previous refusals but that's not the be all and end all of everything. Some companies look at things differently.

However I would only have expected you to be deferred rather than outright refused, company is just hedging it's bets in case tests don't show up something that could appear later which is why I would have thought something like a 5 yr deferral would make more sense but then again I don't know what was on the medical forms.

mirrorwall14

You should be told exactly what the reason for the refusal is via your GP. My husband is uninsurable and we got the exact information. There's several scenarios here. You could have been deferred pending test results and the broker is phrasing it incorrectly. You could also have been refused based on multiple reasons not just the cysts.

The banks are a bit of a nightmare with this, it is possible but the banks mortgage brokers do NOT listen and underwriting will take their sweet time to make a decision on whether to grant a mortgage with a waiver. We went in declaring he was uninsurable and it was still at the final hurdle of approval it nearly fell through. We actually had to write a letter outlining what we planned to do if he died during the term of the mortgage

Henry Ford III

ANXIOUS wrote: »

I didn't say he would, but I would've expected him to have a relationship with Zurich that they would've given him a heads up.

Where in the country are you based?

If you lookup who the Zurich CMO is you'll see that he has a private practice, might be worth going in there for the next medical.

In my experience Zurich are the worst for underwriting. I'd go with Irish life, Aviva and New Ireland.

They share common reinsurers to a large extent so that can't be correct. Most of these risks are packaged and sold on.

No insurer will give a Broker a heads up on a likely declinature so that the end client could avoid entry on the rated cases register. I worked for 3 of them over many years so I know what I'm talking about here.

deandean

OP this happened to me as well, several years ago when I was applying for a new mortgage. It was actually my Bank mortgage manager who suggested I try another mortgage protection company, which I did, and they accepted me almost straight away. So drop the serious illness cover and just get the basic mortgage protection insurance and try a different company. Best of luck!

Wesser

Why on earth would your GP be calling the CMO to find out why you didn't get insurance? Call them yourself!!!

Henry Ford III

Wesser wrote: »

Why on earth would your GP be calling the CMO to find out why you didn't get insurance? Call them yourself!!!

They won't talk to the proposer.

Wesser

Your gp is there to.look after your health not organise a house for you.

Your gp.is busy +++ looking after people who are sick.

If you want your GP to spend their time making these phone calls for you which probably takes time ++ to get through then you should pay them.


My solicitor charged me 200 e an.hour and charged me by the minute if I called them for advice .

Mrs OBumble

Wesser wrote: »

If you want your GP to spend their time making these phone calls for you which probably takes time ++ to get through then you should pay them.

This.

Why not book an appointment with the GP and ask them to call there and then?

ANXIOUS

Henry Ford III wrote: »

They share common reinsurers to a large extent so that can't be correct. Most of these risks are packaged and sold on.

No insurer will give a Broker a heads up on a likely declinature so that the end client could avoid entry on the rated cases register. I worked for 3 of them over many years so I know what I'm talking about here.

Zurich are the worst for underwriting as there admin is by far the worst I've ever seen and they'll continually request more information.

Broker consultants will give the broker a heads up.

Alkers

I've heard of a company who specialise in 'difficult' cases life cover - possibly they were were called lion?

Henry Ford III

ANXIOUS wrote: »

Zurich are the worst for underwriting as there admin is by far the worst I've ever seen and they'll continually request more information.

Broker consultants will give the broker a heads up.

Nonsense.

I place some protection business with them and they are ok. Certainly no harsher than others you've mentioned. As I've said they use the same reinsurers.

I worked as a b.c. for 3 different insurers in the past. What you are suggesting is incorrect. All rated cases go on the register. A b.c. doesn't get any favours from underwriting.

ANXIOUS

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Nonsense.

I place some protection business with them and they are ok. Certainly no harsher than others you've mentioned. As I've said they use the same reinsurers.

I worked as a b.c. for 3 different insurers in the past. What you are suggesting is incorrect. All rated cases go on the register. A b.c. doesn't get any favours from underwriting.

OK, so you as a broker consultant wouldn't have rang a broker if a protection case was looking like a decline?

ANXIOUS

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Nonsense.

I place some protection business with them and they are ok. Certainly no harsher than others you've mentioned. As I've said they use the same reinsurers.

I worked as a b.c. for 3 different insurers in the past. What you are suggesting is incorrect. All rated cases go on the register. A b.c. doesn't get any favours from underwriting.

And no they don't use the same re-insurer as the company who I said was the best to deal with.

Henry Ford III

ANXIOUS wrote: »

OK, so you as a broker consultant wouldn't have rang a broker if a protection case was looking like a decline?

From experience all that happens is a letter issues. A broker consultant won't know that a case is likely be rated. Underwriters keep their distance from sales people.

p.s. They don't facilitate a proposer avoiding the rated lives register either.

ANXIOUS

Henry Ford III wrote: »

From experience all that happens is a letter issues. A broker consultant won't know that a case is likely be rated. Underwriters keep their distance from sales people.

p.s. They don't facilitate a proposer avoiding the rated lives register either.

OK, what you've just said is a completely contradictory to reality.

Henry Ford III

ANXIOUS wrote:

OK, what you've just said is a completely contradictory to reality.

More nonsense. You are spoofing here and you're way out of your depth.