Vitality quote 18 February at 7:11PM in Insurance & life assurance 6 replies 102 views

Dcfcandy1

Hi, my wife and I are in the process of applying for a mortgage through Mortgage Advice Bureau. They have also quoted us £136 a month through Vitality which covers critical illness, income protection and life cover. The pay out is 70k and 139k. I'm 40 and my wife is 33. I feel this is very expensive. 
Neither of us have any health issues.
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

dunstonh

I feel this is very expensive. 

it will be.  Once you get over 30, you are entering the age where CIC claims are more likely.  Premiums start to move up very quickly with each year.

personally, not a fan of Vitality but if the gimmicky bits suit your lifestyle, then fair enough.

Weighty1

If income protection is included it could very much be that your occupations are bumping the cost significantly.  For example, if either of you have an occupation like teaching, a manual occupation or a nursing type job then I'd be surprised if Vitality were the best option for the income protection.

Vitality have recently (in the last year or so) overhauled their "serious illness cover" to make it easier to understand and it often ranks as the most claimable policy on the market BUT that often comes at either a high cost OR as an "optimiser" premium which means there's a strong likelihood the premiums would increase annually unless you actively partake in their healthy lifestyle programme and record your activity levels, have an annual health check, complete an annual non-smoker declaration (if you are non-smokers) and various other things you can gather points for.

MAB only offer cover from, I think, 4 companies so they don't have a great spread of providers and especially not if you've got a job which more mainstream insurers aren't comfortable with.

Dcfcandy1

Thanks for the reply. I really don't think this would be the best deal for us. I'm not a nurse, however I do work for the NHS, so I do get 6 months full pay and 3 half if I was unfortunate and had a illness. It's a low probability that I'd be made redundant too. My wife gets decent cover too already with her job at Diligenta. 
I think I'll get in contact with MAB and discuss our options. Would doing a comparison site search hurt our mortgage? We're currently a few days into our application with HSBC via MAB 

dunstonh

I'm not a nurse, however I do work for the NHS, so I do get 6 months full pay and 3 half if I was unfortunate and had a illness

However, DIS is not really suited for a mortgage as it's designed to go towards reduced pension entitlement and immediate loss of income.  So, if you allocate the DIS to the mortgage, what are you doing to use to cover these other needs?    (those needs may not exist or be reduced if you don't have children but it would depend on your overall scenario)

. It's a low probability that I'd be made redundant too. 

Which  isnt something covered unless there is more to your post than you mentioned.

Would doing a comparison site search hurt our mortgage?

No.

Weighty1

Dcfcandy1 said:

Thanks for the reply. I really don't think this would be the best deal for us. I'm not a nurse, however I do work for the NHS, so I do get 6 months full pay and 3 half if I was unfortunate and had a illness. It's a low probability that I'd be made redundant too. My wife gets decent cover too already with her job at Diligenta. 
I think I'll get in contact with MAB and discuss our options. Would doing a comparison site search hurt our mortgage? We're currently a few days into our application with HSBC via MAB 

Working for the NHS in and of itself is not necessarily affecting the premiums, it would be the role within the NHS.  Nurses spend long periods leaning over people, turning them, lifting them etc so back problems are commonplace for nurses as they age.  Physios are the same.  A radiographer would been seen as a slightly lower risk and then an office worker within the NHS would be seen as the lowest risk.

Redundancy cover would not be include in the package as this is not something that Vitality offer, in fact, very few insurers offer it currently and it doesn't generally provide good value for money IF you are willing to do any work temporarily if you were ever made redundat or if your occupation is one which is in high demand.

Would you not have expected MAB to come up with the best offering for you first time?  Why go back to them if that's the best they can come up with.  No not approach an independent financial adviser OR a protection specialist who is whole of market, both of whom would likely come up with better solutions if you explained the situation to them.

Dcfcandy1

Pretty much have a desk job with moderate walking about. It was more to get in contact and tell them I would be looking elsewhere. Yeah, I'm on sold on the gimmicks to be honest. I'll do a search and see