Our new research shows the importance of shopping around for mortgage protection when applying for a mortgage.
Buying your first home is stressful enough — deposits, bidding wars, paperwork — without throwing mortgage protection into the mix. Yet it’s a crucial part of the home buying process, and new research which we've conducted shows that many first-time buyers could end up paying far more for it than they need to.
The good news? You don't have to overpay. A little shopping around before you apply for mortgage protection could save you thousands over the lifetime of your policy.
What is mortgage protection again?
Mortgage protection is a type of life insurance. If you pass away before your mortgage is fully repaid, the policy clears the outstanding balance. In Ireland, it's a requirement for getting a mortgage in most cases. But many buyers don’t realise this until late in the mortgage application process.
That often leads to panic-buying a policy from their bank at the last minute. And worse still, some think they’re legally obliged to take out cover with their lender in the first place. (You're not!)
By law, you’re free to buy mortgage protection from any provider. And as our research shows, that freedom could save you big money.
The cost of not shopping around
Let’s take a look at the numbers:
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A 35-year-old couple, both non-smokers, taking out a mortgage of €500,000 over 30 years would require a joint or dual mortgage protection policy over the same time period. They would pay €53.47 a month with Bank of Ireland. But the exact same cover is just €43.18 a month with Zurich or New Ireland through bonkers.ie. That’s a saving of over €3,700 over the life of the policy.
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If the same couple smoked, the difference is even bigger: €103.12 a month with Bank of Ireland vs €80.32 with Zurich — adding up to more than €8,200 in savings.
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A 40-year-old single buyer, non-smoker, with a €300,000 mortgage over 25 years would pay €32.61 for mortgage protection with PTSB or €27.29 with Bank of Ireland. However, the same cover could be got through bonkers.ie for just €22.26 a month with Zurich and €22.54 with Royal London Ireland, where the first month’s cover is also free. This is a saving of around €3,100 over the term.
As you can see, those “small” monthly differences quickly snowball into thousands of euro over time.
Why it pays to compare
For a lot of first-time buyers, mortgage protection is one of the last things they think about. With so much focus on finding a home and getting mortgage approval, the insurance often ends up being rushed through at the end with the bank — usually at a higher price.
But there’s no obligation to stick with your lender, and in fact, it often works out cheaper and faster to arrange cover through an online broker.
Saving €10 to €20 a month might not sound like much, but over 20 or 30 years it adds up to thousands. And it's the price of a nice glass of wine, a cinema ticket, or a streaming subscription every month for decades.
The key takeaway is simple: there’s no need to pay more than you have to. Shopping around for mortgage protection only takes minutes, but the savings can last decades.
Get mortgage protection with bonkers.ie
You can apply for mortgage protection through bonkers.ie.
We deal with all five of the main mortgage protection providers in Ireland meaning we can find you the best quotes for the cover you need.
Head to our easy-to-use comparison service, input a few details, and start comparing premiums. Once you’ve found the right policy for you, our team of financial experts will help you get your policy in place.
In some cases, you can get you covered in less than one hour!
And don’t forget that you can get life insurance, serious illness cover and home insurance through bonkers.ie too.
