The Lion Life Insurance Blog

You and I have a lot in common.

Like me, you’re self-employed, or your partner is.

Like me, you’ve taken a risk by forfeiting a cushy role as an employee where you had the comfort of a regular income.

You’ve left behind benefits like income protection and death in service.

And you waved goodbye to illness benefit from the state should you get sick.

Are you CRAZY?

Irish banks have offered split mortgages for borrowers who are having difficulty keeping up with the mortgage repayments.

If you can’t afford the full mortgage repayment each month but have the means to make a partial payment, the bank will split your mortgage in two (hence the name).

You continue to make payments on one part of the loan (called the active part) while the bank sets aside or “warehouses” the mortgage balance until you're in a better financial position.

If your last smear was abnormal, most insurers will not be in a position to offer you cover until you have had a normal smear.

But we deal with some insurers who can offer you cover now.

And we'll be able to get you the normal price.

Don't worry, it's possible to get life insurance with a pre-existing condition but for your own sake, please use a broker who deals with ALL of the life insurance providers

I cannot stress how important this is.

If you approach a broker after you've been declined, postponed or had your premium increased then you have a problem as you'll face this question on all subsequent applications:

Birthdays are important because age is the one thing that will always increase the cost of your cover

You might say:

But what about smoking

I say:

Good point but you can always quit and make yourself a non-smoker.

You can’t make yourself younger.

Or can you?

So how do you go about getting a mortgage?

Well, if you’re in Dublin, you’ll probably look at house prices, cry a bit and give in to the inevitability of having to live out of your parent’s gaff for the next decade.

Be grand.

For everyone else? Follow along.

Imagine finding out you have cancer, or a brain tumour or multiple sclerosis.

Your world is falling apart, but who do you turn to?

Friends and family will be supportive, but they won’t have a clue about how you’re feeling or how to help you cope.

You can pay a visit to Dr Google and scare yourself with the half-assed advice you’ll find on a forum.

Or you can access the value-added benefits available for free on your life insurance.

You're here because you're getting a mortgage, welcome, thanks for joining us.

But before we go any further, I have something to tell you.

Are you sitting comfortably?

You won't believe what I'm going to say.

Are you ready?

Here goes:

Your bank may be telling you porkies

When you're getting a mortgage, you have to get a mortgage protection policy and assign (pass ownership) it to the bank.

If you die, the policy pays out a big lump of money to the bank to clear your mortgage. That all seems fair enough.

However, and here's the sneaky part - if you add serious illness cover to your policy and make a claim on the serious illness (say you get cancer or suffer a heart attack), who do you think gets the money?

You can apply for multiple life insurance policies but it will entail a lot of form filling.

But is the extra hassle worth it?

Can you get a better cover?

Let's find out...