Home/Life/Critical Illness Insurance through Mortgage Broker. Am I being ripped off?

Chris94

Just had my mortgage advice appointment to arrange a mortgage and the advisor has recommended home, life and critical illness insurance which in total come to about £60 a month.

I do recall last time I set up a mortgage, I took out everything they recommended. I was paying about £40 a month for a 1 bed flat for contents and building insurance. When I eventually looked for a better deal myself I got it for £140 for the whole year.

I'd also done a quote for the house I'm buying on compare the market and it was of course cheaper than what the mortgage advisor recommended this time. She gave various reasons why that would be and that she would advise against using comparison sites. But my belief was surely they are getting some sort of commission to refer people to these insurance products and they will be more expensive than going direct and possibly including much greater cover than you need.

Any thoughts on this?

SonOf

Just had my mortgage advice appointment to arrange a mortgage and the advisor has recommended home, life and critical illness insurance which in total come to about £60 a month.

The amount doesnt seem out of the ballpark. Although you dont mention any figures to give us context. Life assurance in your 20s can be £5pm but in your 30s onwards, a lot more. You are more likely to claim on CIC than life assurance. So, that will be the bulk of the figure.

I do recall last time I set up a mortgage, I took out everything they recommended. I was paying about £40 a month for a 1 bed flat for contents and building insurance. When I eventually looked for a better deal myself I got it for £140 for the whole year.

I very much doubt you got like for like for that level of cost difference. Possibly you got rid of critical illness cover (mistakenly thinking terminal illness cover is the same thing? - a very common error).

But my belief was surely they are getting some sort of commission to refer people to these insurance products and they will be more expensive than going direct and possibly including much greater cover than you need.

Is the adviser an IFA or a whole of market protection adviser or an agent of an insurer or panel of insurers? It makes a big difference as IFAs and whole of market protection advisers are cheaper than sales reps/agents of the insurer.

However, even with sales rep prices, your difference suggests you didnt buy like for like and have significantly reduced your cover.