Irish Life Assurance is part of the Great-West Lifeco group of companies, one of the world’s leading and most secure life assurance organisations. For over 80 years, Irish Life has been helping people in Ireland look after their life insurance, protection, pension, health and investment needs. Irish Life has more than one million customers in Ireland.
Irish Life has a solvency ratio of 169% (as at 31 December 2019). This shows that as well as having enough capital to pay all their liabilities, including predicted future claims, they have 1.69 times the capital required under Solvency II rules.
Here’s Nick’s take on Irish Life:
Mortgage protection is a type of life insurance cover that will clear your mortgage if you die before you have it paid off. If you’re getting a mortgage in Ireland you need a mortgage protection policy unless:
In any of these 4 scenarios, your bank can allow you to go ahead with mortgage protection under S126 of the Consumer Credit Act 1995.
If you have any health issues, please get in touch with us before you choose an insurer. We’re the experts in finding the insurer that will cover you at the lowest price.
Otherwise, if you’re in good health, you should choose the best insurer.
Read: Mortgage Protection from Irish Life
1) Flexibility
In the first 5 years of your policy, you can extend the term and increase the cover on your policy subject to signing a Declaration of Health. Irish Life makes it easy to amend your cover assuming you haven’t suffered new health issues.
2) Medcare and Nursecare
Medcare provides a second medical opinion.
Nursecare offers two confidential medical helpline services.
They’re bleedin’ expensive!
Here’s a random quote I ran:
Quote Type: Mortgage Protection
First Person: Non-Smoker, born on 07/09/1976
Second Person: Non-Smoker, born on 11/06/1975
Cover Amount for First Person: €250,000
Cover Amount for Second Person: €250,000
Paying monthly, over 25 years.
Over the 25 year term, this couple will pay €7530 more for an Irish Life policy.
It’s important that you know you have placed your money with a dependable company that we trust.
In 2019, Irish Life paid over €6 million on average each week for over 7,900 claims in total to people and families affected by illness and death.
Only 30% of the claims were for death, the other 70% were for serious illness and income protection cover.
Pregnancy benefits: Irish Life will pay out €5000 should you suffer one of the following in pregnancy:
Unfortunately, compared to others, you will pay through the nose for an Irish Life policy.
Quote Type: Life Insurance
First Person: Non-Smoker, born on 12/04/1987
Second Person: Non-Smoker, born on 22/03/1986
Cover Amount for First Person: €300,000
Cover Amount for Second Person: €300,000
Paying monthly, over 30 years.
Conversion Option: Yes
In fairness to them, during COVID, their underwriting has been fair so if you have been refused cover elsewhere then Irish Life may be worth a shot.
Nope, choose New Ireland or Zurich Life instead – see our serious illness cover providers comparison.
Fair definitions for the main causes of claims (heart attack, cancer and stroke)
You may be noticing a recurring theme – it’s a no from us.
Did I mention the price??
Quote Type: Income Protection
First Person: Non-Smoker, born on 12/04/1987
Cover Amount: €45,694 per year until age 65.
Occupation Class: Software Engineer (Class 1)
Deferred Period: 26 weeks
OK, why the hell are Irish Life premiums so dear and how do they get away with it?
You’ll have to ask Irish Life because I can only guess.
Every bank in Ireland (except BOI) are tied to Irish Life. This means every person who buys life insurance from their bank will be sold an Irish Life policy.
That’s a lot of revenue.
The other insurers don’t have access to this flow of customers so they have to be more competitive in their pricing to lure customers away from Irish Life.
If you look at our reviews of the other providers, we don’t have this “other advantages” section.
We’ve added it because we feel kinda bad for Irish Life.
We don’t like bashing anyone but our duty is to you the consumer, not to the insurer. Our goal is to make sure you get the best cover at an affordable price.
But let’s look at their good points:
But I just cannot recommend them because their prices are off the charts.
Learn more about Mortgage Protection and Life Insurance from Irish Life by clicking on the images below:
You can get an instant quote for Irish Life (along with the 4 other main Irish life insurance providers) below:
