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10-second summary: Aviva offers one of the most flexible mortgage protection policies in Ireland, with strong additional benefits like Aviva Care and a lesser-known option to extend cover without new medical underwriting. But flexibility doesn’t always mean it’s the best choice for every situation.
If you’re looking at Aviva for mortgage protection, you’re probably seeing a well-known brand with strong benefits.
And to be fair, they do offer one of the more flexible policies in the Irish market.
But like everything with life insurance, what looks good on paper isn’t always what works best once underwriting is involved.
Aviva is one of the largest insurers in Ireland and globally.
They’ve been around for decades, have a strong reputation, and are a very common choice for mortgage protection.
In simple terms, they’re a major player with a broad range of protection products.
Aviva includes a package of additional health and wellbeing services with their policies.
This includes:
These are available at no extra cost.
For some people, this adds real value.
For others, it may not make much difference.
This is something Aviva don’t really shout about, but it’s genuinely useful.
If your mortgage changes in the future – for example, you move house or extend your term – Aviva can allow you to increase your cover and match the new mortgage term without asking for new medical evidence (within limits).
That’s different to how most insurers work.
In many cases, if you extend your mortgage term, you’ll need to apply again and go through full underwriting.
Aviva gives you a bit more flexibility here.
That might not seem important now, but it can matter later if your health changes.
There are limits to this, so it’s not a complete workaround, but it’s still a useful safety net.
Like other insurers, Aviva allows you to increase your cover without further medical questions when certain life events happen.
For example:
This is fairly standard across insurers, but still important.
The increase is capped at €40,000, whereas other insurers may allow increases of up to €100,000 under their guaranteed insurability options.
Aviva includes the standard features you would expect:
Nothing unusual here, but all solid.
Aviva can be quick in straightforward cases.
Where everything is clean, decisions can often be made without much delay.
But once medical questions come into play, speed becomes less important than getting the right decision from the right insurer first time.
We use Aviva regularly, particularly where clients value the additional benefits or need flexibility.
They’re consistent, reliable, and generally straightforward to deal with.
That said, they don’t price match or offer discounts, so if you’re looking for cheap, no frills, they’re not for you.
Aviva’s specified illness cover isn’t the best in the market.
As with any serious illness cover, I don’t recommend adding it to mortgage protection unless you want it to clear the mortgage.
If you claim, the payout goes to the bank, not you.
Most comparison sites will focus on features and price.
What they won’t tell you is how likely you are to actually get the terms you’re seeing.
Or whether another insurer would offer better terms based on your situation.
That’s where things start to matter more than just comparing quotes.
If you’re comparing providers, it’s worth looking at how this stacks up against insurers like Zurich, Royal London, Irish Life and New Ireland.
Each one has strengths, whether that’s price, flexibility, or additional support, and the right choice usually comes down to your situation rather than one being “best”.
It could be.
But the real question is this:
Is Aviva the best insurer for your situation, or just the one that looks strongest on paper?
Because once you apply, that underwriting decision sticks.
If you get declined, postponed, or loaded, you have to tell the next insurer.
If you want to get this right first time:
Fill in the questionnaire here and I’ll check all five insurers before you apply — so you don’t get stuck with the wrong decision.
Or if you prefer, book a quick call here.
Written by Nick McGowan, QFA RPA APA
Nick is a qualified financial advisor and founder of Lion.ie, a multi-agency Irish life insurance and income protection brokerage based in Tullamore.
He’s been helping people secure fair, transparent cover for over 15 years and was named Protection Broker of the Year 2022.
If you’d like straight answers without the sales pitch, learn more about Nick here.
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