By Dave Kavanagh

Every year, I see examples of people who have done all the right things in preparing to apply for a home loan to purchase their new home. They have saved regularly to build a deposit, maintained stable employment, avoided taking out new loans (and made sure any existing or previous loan obligations were paid in full and on time), conducted their current accounts efficiently, etc. but sadly, they don’t get to proceed with their house/apartment purchase (certainly not in the time frame they wanted to) because they cannot get their mortgage protection life cover accepted. This can be for a number of reasons but primarily it comes down to this.When you apply for any form of life cover, it is underwritten based on your current and past medical history. If someone has had any adverse medical conditions, if deemed serious enough, it could prevent cover being granted. More commonly, someone may have been recommended by their GP or consultant to have certain tests done, but they never got around to it. This would usually prompt a life company to postpone a decision until the tests are done and satisfactory results are available. Depending on the type of tests, this could take months to get sorted. For these reasons, anybody planning to apply for a mortgage should research how they will be underwritten for mortgage protection at an early stage, particularly if they are concerned that a past medical issue could be a problem. In the current climate regarding Covid-19, many are even getting their mortgage protection in place early and extending the term so that they are certain of having cover in place, when it is time to draw down the home loan. Once cover is in place, any new medical issues that arise will not be relevant.

Dave Kavanagh QFA has been advising people financially for over 25 years. For quotes or information (with no cost or obligation) he can be contacted by emailing info@financialcompanion.ie or use the contact form on financialcompanion.i or @Davekav_advice on Twitter and Instagram. Combined with his previous role of gym/nutrition adviser, he regularly gives talks and workshops at seminars and events for groups, companies and government departments on financial wellbeing, positivity and motivation. As heard on RTE 2FM , LMFM and TV3.