Life Insurance versus Mortgage Insurance
Life Insurance versus Mortgage Insurance, is what some of my clients ask me when they are purchasing a house. A financial advisor I know in Ottawa shared with me a practical chart to explain the difference between life insurance and mortgage insurance:
| PERSONAL LIFE INSURANCE | MORTGAGE INSURANCE |
|---|---|
|
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Let me go through some more details of Life Insurance versus Mortgage Insurance :
Life Insurance
Mainly life insurance is used for insuring yourself, you decide who you name as the beneficiary (your spouse, family member, etc) and they decide on how to use the money, the amount of money paid out to the beneficiary never changes.
Life insurance is also renewable, and convertible term insurance. In Life insurance you have protection for the duration of the policy. The duration usually is around 10 to 30 years or sometimes to an age like 70 or 80. It all depends on the term you purchase and the underwriting is done at the time of the application.
In life Insurance you determine the amount of the coverage; your coverage remains same during the policy. When you plan to sell or change lender for you mortgage, your life insurance remains the same and does not get affected, it stays with you.
Life insurance is usually less expensive than mortgage insurance. Although a note of caution that if you intend to get for another term, you could potentially be paying a higher premium depending on the age and your health. Typical the enrollment process for term life insurance is more complex than applying for mortgage insurance, since life insurance policies require a medical exam in order to secure coverage.
Mortgage Insurance
Mortgage Insurance insures your mortgage, and the lender is the beneficiary (not someone whom you have named). It is non-renewable, and it is non-convertible term insurance. Typically the underwriting is done at the time of the death. Mortgage insurance covers the exact amount of mortgage balance; as you pay down your mortgage, your coverage decreases but your premiums remain same…
In Mortgage Insurance the lender owns the policy and if you change your lender you cannot transfer your insurance to the new property. The lender automatically pays remaining mortgage balance in the case of death.
Some advantages of mortgage insurance are that they are very convenient, they often do not require any medical exam. You typically will purchase the insurance through your bank or the financial institute that lend the money for your mortgage. Mortgage insurance is usually added to the lender’s monthly mortgage payments.
The downside of mortgage insurance is they are usually more expensive than life insurance although more easy to attain from a bank. CBC Marketplace also did a series of mortgage insurance.
I hope this blog post helps explain the difference between Life insurance versus Mortgage insurance and last but not least I hope your winter is going well with a lot of fresh air experiences and you are getting ready for a wonderful spring coming up with high energy.,..Whether your plans to relocate, to downsize, to aim for a change or investment, give me a shout and lets get the ball rolling for your next chapter…
Cheers!
Written by Nilay Ertemur
