7,500 Kerry households pay too much for mortgage protection policies

A survey conducted by financial services firm, Clear Financial, say the most recent CSO Census stats show there are 15,526 mortgaged households in Kerry - in which half are paying over the odds for mortgage protection policies because they fail to review their cover and switch to a cheaper policy to avail of lower rates.

Nationally, the survey found that 54 percent of mortgage-holders haven’t repriced their mortgage protection cover in the last three years, details of which were produced by surveying 1000 adults throughout the country.

Clear Financial is advising homeowners in Kerry to review their cover and that they should leave it no longer than 3-5 years to conduct periodic reviews of Mortgage Protection policies. Based on this advice, the Clear Financial survey sought to reveal people’s attitudes to mortgage protection policies, which is one of the most prevalent insurance policies for consumers and one of the few areas of insurance where premiums have been consistently falling in recent years.

“We undertook the survey to assess whether or not the findings would support our anecdotal evidence which suggested that mortgage holders were unaware of the significant price variation across the market for the product, or of the fact that these premiums are actually falling,” said Willie O’Leary of Clear Financial.

To support its contention, Clear Financial crunched the numbers and taking a policy worth €300,000 - over 20 years for two people aged 45, both non-smokers - Clear Financials’ providers quoted a range of figures that differed by €117 between the cheapest and most expensive policy they compared. This amounts to €2,335 over a typical 20-year mortgage term.

“Based on the results we are calling on those mortgage holders in Kerry who have not repriced their policy in several years to review their cover. We would estimate that new premiums for many homeowners have lowered by 15-20% over the last 5-10 years,” Mr O’Leary concluded.