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Life assurance.

S

samcogle

Well-Known Member
Messages
411
Location
Durham
Anyone know who will give life assurance to a diabetic? I have changed mortgage providers and went through the usual forms about my health. The mortgage adviser said it wouldn't be a problem me being diabetic. Then I got a letter from the assurance company saying they wanted my permission to get a full health check from the doctor on my condition, tow hich I said ok and then get a letter today saying sorry but we are not giving you life assurance!!! ARGH!!
 
Shop around. Ask why you were refused. This hadn't occured to me :? I'm about to remortgage :?

I'd suggest checking on Martin Lewis's "Money Saving Expert" website. Lots of very useful info and advice there.
 
Oh s**t!

It's the AIDS syndrome again. If you don't know you've got it no problem, once you know, you're stuffed

Same catch 22 here, by the look of it..
 
I am going to ring and ask why, as it has really confused me. The mortgage adviser said there was no problem, the endo says I am controlling my BS levels too well and so I assumed that the stuff from the doctors would have been down as a glowing patient :?
 
Sam.

Did you ask for a copy of the GP's report before it was sent off ? You should still be able to see it if you didn't ?

Ken.
 
My sister works in the financial services industry and she says that many life insurance companies automatically decline diabetics or if they offer cover, it will be at a vastly inflated premium. I haven't been able to get life cover for my mortgage either and my HbA1c is at near non-diabetic levels. I seem to remember seeing something on the Diabetes UK website about insurance for diabetics which might be worth looking at.
 
Having worked mostly in the pensions and insurance business for the last 20 years I can confirm that Mrs Pugwash is spot on. Few of the mainstream insurers are interested in insuring people with diabetes or any other critical illness. It is much more profitable for them to simply stick to the majority of the population where they can save costs by operating a one-rule-for-all system. Anyone with a critical illness has to be individually assessed by underwriters, and doctors reports have to be asked for and examined. All this costs money, so the big insurers try to discourage people by charging an astronomic premium.

There are a number of insurance (or more correctly assurance in the case of life cover) companies who specialise in those of us that the big insurers don't want to know about. The link that Thrifty gave earlier is to the insurers recommended by this website. But nearly all IFAs have links to insurers who specialise in insurance for diabetics and this is always a good route to take. You will find that the premiums will cost more than for someone who is not diabetic (because the risk to the insurer is higher) but usually nowhere near as high as the silly amounts that the bigger companies quote in the hope of not getting your business!
 
Ahhh I took it quite personally as I do have the letter that was sent to the GP and it was fabulous. I have used the link above {thanks Thirsty} and am waiting for someone to call me. I don't know where I stand with my remortgage as I am assuming that Abbey are not going to refuse me as I cannot have their life assurance. Am I right with this and as long as I have my own then that's ok?
Thanks for all the advice. I have been very pittled off all weekend with this but feel a bit happier now I only went into the Abbey to open a bank account and ended up with a mortgage with them a huge overdraft as they needed fees in advance and a big headache over all of this...wish I had stayed where I was :roll:
 
sam, Dennis is probably more up to date than I, but I'm 99% sure that you are not obliged to take out insurance with the same company who is offering the mortgage. There was a big to-do about this some years ago.
 
Thirsty said:
sam, Dennis is probably more up to date than I, but I'm almost certain that you are not obliged to take out insurance with the same company who is offering the mortgage.
Click to expand...
That's ok then, thanks
 
Thirsty's right again. They will all try to sell you their own insurance but you are not obliged to take it. It's also not illegal to have a mortgage without life insurance, but a lender is within their rights to refuse you a mortgage if you don't have any life cover, if it is their company policy that they will only lend to people who have life cover. Not all lenders insist on this.
 
Dennis, I've just re-read sam's post and noticed this, which I'd missed...

.

Would she have any right to reclaim the fees paid up front? To me, that sounds like sharp practice.
 
Hi Thirsty, I tried to cancel my mortgage as the fees put me up to my overdraft limit and I was in major trouble last week as I only had a few quid until pay day. The guy I dealt with had said this wasn't a problem as he would be able to up my overdraft over its limit until the mortgage came through. When I phoned to ask him to do this he had gone off on leave and the people that were left said they didn't know how he could do this. They appealled and looked at all options and after several phone calls to them their only suggestion was that I would have to be careful for the next three weeks with my £90 and cancel my direct debits to stop me getting charges. When I kicked off and said that it was grossly unfair that I should have to pay charges when it was their fault they basically said tough nothing they could do. I then said I wanted to cancel the mortgage but they said I would lose my fees so basically they have me over a barrel and my friends have had to bale me out until I get paid which is degrading beyond belief [I have no family to ask for help] and once again, I wish I had just stayed where I was...woo sorry big rant now over
 
That's an interesting question from Thirsty. It rather depends on the basis on which Sam agreed to the mortgage. If Sam really wanted life cover and this was made plain to Abbey staff, and she only agreed to a re-mortgage in order to qualify for this, then she would be well within her rights to claim mis-selling and to have the transaction cancelled with all fees refunded. If she actually wanted to re-mortgage and the fact that she might qualify for life insurance was a secondary consideration, then she would not be able to claim mis-selling.

However, as Sam has now found, it is very difficult to prove that this was the position as everything was arranged in person at the branch and Sam doesn't have anything in writing that would prove her intent. It is a case of her word against theirs so any claim would rely on the honesty and integrity of the bank in question. And, as we now all know, integrity and banking are polar opposites. And, in my experience in financial services, this is particularly so in the case of the bank in question. If you look at the various newspapers that have troubleshooters that help readers to take up complaints, you will find this bank comes top of the league every time for customer complaints and appalling customer service.
 
Hi Dennis, thanks for that information. I am a bit confused about the first bit [sorry I am dumb in the matters of all things financial] but I am not sure I fit into either of those 2 categories as I went to the branch to open a bank account and the finance adviser talked me into moving my mortgage over to them, so I didn't remortgage to get life cover and the life cover was a secondary thing but then again I didn't go there to get a mortgage, I was talked into it but am not arguing with the fact it is a good deal compared to the mortgage I am with [6.7% down to 2.9%] it's just the way they went about it.
 
sam, it's a complex old game, banking. 6.7 down to 2.9 sounds like a good offer, doesn't it? Lower monthly payments, more holidays, a better car etc.

But, and it's a big but, adding hundreds of pounds in fees to your new mortgage can leave you much worse off in the long run, as you'll be paying interest on that money for donkey's years, and I doubt that your cheap rate from Abbey will last for more than three of them.

The moral of the story is, don't sign on the dotted line until you've talked to someone who really knows what the score is.
 
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