Life assurance with history of substance misuse

robporter

Hi, I would appreciate any advice as I'm at a dead end. My wife and I recently applied for life assurance as we have just become parents for the first time. She was accepted but I was turned down. The problem is that I have a history of substance misuse and depression. I am happy and healthy and fully employed (I'm 35 now) and my problems were a long time ago. I was expecting a higher premium but not total refusal. Does anybody know of anyone offering policys to people with my history? I went through a lot of personal questioning only to be turned down and would like to know I had a chance before trying again. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

OshayAway

Is it longer than 5 years ago? How many insurers did you try?

robporter

I used a broker, Cavendish. Yes was more than 5 years ago

OshayAway

Which insurers did you apply to via Cavendish? Did you use their 'advised' service or 'execution only'?

If it was advised, I would ask them for a breakdown of their research.

Most insurers ask "have you ever..." regarding recreational drugs. However, there are some that restrict the criteria to "in the last 5 years..."

It may be that Cavendish have not done you any favours here though because most insurers ask about previous non-standard terms or declined applications. This means that if you apply to an insurer who you do not need to disclose the substance abuse to (due to the specified 5 year time-scale) you would need to mention it under the declined cover that's recently transpired.

Don't give up though, there's still hope!

robporter

thanks, and thanks for pm. Have new baby so got hands full, will be getting onto this in next couple of days