critical illness/life assurance

51burdon

hello can anybody point me in the right direction with joint life assurance. my partner and I currently pay £144 a month critical illness cover/life assurance ( a lot I know) and we are looking to change to just life assurance. We get penalised because of me as I have been diagnosed with depression and I will be on tablets for life so naturally I have to include this on my applications(dont produce enough serotonin -bit like the winter blues) I also still get classed as a smoker although I gave up in feb this year.. I feel the minute you say you suffer from depression life assurance companies automatically think you are suicidal therfore they penalise you. Anyone got any suggestions or know any depression friendly insurers. By the way I am in my late 30's and my partner is mid 40's and we currently have a mortgage of just under a 100k.

toonfish

no idea about "depression friendly" companies, but if you wait until February you will be classed as a non-smoker

dunstonh

I feel the minute you say you suffer from depression life assurance companies automatically think you are suicidal therfore they penalise you.

Not at all. Event specific depression rarely has any impact on premiums or cover. However, clinical depression does.

Anyone got any suggestions or know any depression friendly insurers.

Most are fine. Only way to find out how they are going to consider you is to phone the underwriting depts of the insurers to see which one offers most favourable terms. This inevitabily means using an IFA as you cannot do this yourself.

jasonking

I agree, make sure your IFA earns their commission by ringing around the cheapest insurers to get their view on your specific condition before you submit an application. Also find out whether you can switch to non-smoker rates after Feb '07 easily and without having to reapply. It shouldnt be too hard to get what you want.