Home loan insurance and pancreatic cancer

Taking out borrower insurance to take out a property loan is not always easy for a person who has been diagnosed with cancer, particularly pancreatic cancer. On the occasion of the 10e World Day Against pancreatic cancerthe Ymanci editorial team takes stock of this pathology, which inevitably raises questions in terms of borrower insurance.

Before returning to the impact of this cancer on the insurance and real estate approach, let’s take a quick look at this disease. According to the National Cancer Institute, 15,991 new cases were detected last year. The people most affected are over 50 years old and men are said to be the most affected. Unfortunately, these numbers are constantly increasing. It could even become the second cause of death from cancer, after lung cancer, by 2030, in Europe, but also in the United States, according to many practitioners. Vinciane Rebours, head of the pancreatology department at Beaujon hospital (AP-HP), in Clichy, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, declared in February 2023:

In France, the incidence is galloping, a doubling has already occurred between 2000 and 2006 then between 2006 and 2012. And while the mortality of all other cancers has decreased, this one has not benefited from current progress.

Is pancreatic cancer considered an increased health risk?

Pancreatic cancer, particularly feared due to the main symptoms which often appear at an advanced stage of the disease, therefore making treatment more complicated, enters into the category of aggravated health risks for most insurers. This type of pathology can actually:

• Cause essential work stoppages to follow treatments, care, or to undergo surgical interventions.
• Cause disability or death.

In addition, a person who has suffered from pancreatic cancer may be faced with episodes of relapse.

How to find loan insurance with pancreatic cancer? Because an individual must take out loan insurance as soon as he requests a real estate loan from a bank or a lending institution. This membership acts as a protection for all parties involved, namely the lender, the borrower, without forgetting his family. The insurer will in fact replace the borrower and will honor the reimbursement of the monthly payments of the loan or the reimbursement of the capital remaining due according to the loss and the guarantees taken out. Thus, the bank or lending institution will recover the amount loaned in the event of a life accident: death, disability, incapacity to work, etc.

For this type of borrower profile, obtaining home loan insurance becomes complicated, if not impossible, since we saw above, pancreatic cancer is in the category of aggravated health risks.

The Ymanci editorial team knows that this process will be trying. This is why she decided to direct them towards solutions that could help them set up this real estate project, as we have already done in our previous articles dealing with other serious health risks.

What are the impacts of this cancer on loan insurance?

The classification of this type of illness in the category of aggravated health risks, by most insurers, will therefore complicate the subscription to property loan insurance. Many insurers will simply refuse to cover this type of profile because of the often high risk of complications and a high mortality rate. Others will accept. In return, insurance will be more expensive. The insurer will apply an additional premium or establish exclusions from guarantees linked to this type of cancer in order to limit the risks.

Did you know? The guarantees of home loan insurance and the amount are linked to the risk profile of the borrower.

What are the solutions for the borrower?

Liberty, equality, fraternity! With such a motto, France had to put in place solutions so that a person, whose illness is categorized as “aggravated health risk”, can be free to become an owner, like a healthy person, but also to find people who implement solutions to push the limits of insurability.

Over the years, regulations have progressed. Over the years, solutions have emerged to allow borrowers suffering from this serious pathology to take out loan insurance and thus apply for a real estate loan. These solutions are:

The AERAS Convention

This device, whose letters mean Insure and Borrow with an Aggravated Health Riskallows a more in-depth examination of an insurance application under certain conditions. Certain profiles can sometimes obtain satisfaction, after having received negative responses from other insurance companies. This agreement is an agreement passed between public authorities, banks and insurance companies to help people presenting a serious health risk.

The delegation of insurance thanks to the Lagarde law

The borrower can now refuse the insurance offered by the lender and opt for the insurance delegation, established since 2010. Please note, the borrower must, here too, satisfy certain conditions.

The lending organization must systematically provide its client with an essential documentthe standardized information sheet, on which the guarantees and other criteria relating to the granting of a real estate loan appear. What is this document actually used for? Compare the contract proposed by the lender with other offers on the insurance market to find the one that best matches the profile of the insured.

The Lemoine law dating from 2022

Thanks to this law, access to borrower insurance has improved for profiles suffering from an illness considered to be at risk. One of these improvements concerns the health questionnaire. The insured is no longer obliged to indicate his illness in this document. There are, however, conditions. It is necessary that :

• The insured portion of the property loan is less than or equal to €200,000 (for a single loan) or €400,000 (for a double loan).
• The loan covered by the insurer must be paid before the 60the birthday of the person borrowing.

The right to be forgotten for cancers and hepatitis C

Still thanks to the Lemoine law, the right to be forgotten increased to five years instead of 10 years previously. A borrower can subscribe loan insurance without mentioning his cancer or hepatitis C in the health questionnaire and thus benefit from the so-called “standard” conditions: no additional premium, nor any exclusion of guarantee. Here too, there are conditions to respect:

• The nature of the loan to be insured.
• The payment of the last installment of the loan insurance which must take place before 71e subscriber’s birthday.
• The absence of relapse of the disease.

If the potential borrower does not fall into this category, he must report his illness in the health questionnaire, which must be completed exhaustively and in good faith. A false declaration or an oversight, even unintentional, may be punished by a refusal of compensation or the nullity of the contract on the part of the insurer.

This medical document must, in fact, allow the medical advisor to discover the specifics of the subscriber’s past and current medical profile before refusing or agreeing to cover it and then defining the terms of its coverage.

If taking out property loan insurance remains impossible despite these measures, the individual can resort to the following alternative guarantees:

The pledge of a financial product

This product can take the form of life insurance. It is sufficient to replace loan insurance. It serves as guarantee for a bank or credit institution.

The third-party guarantee

This deposit ensures the payment by a third party of sums due to a lending organization in the event that the subscriber of a real estate loan is no longer able to repay his monthly payments.

Mortgage on another property

The mortgage is also a way of obtaining a real estate loan. This type of guarantee can be requested by a lender to cover itself in the event of non-repayment of the property loan.

Support from Ymanci expert in real estate credit and insurance

This brokerage specialist is able to put together a solid case, to negotiate advantageous conditions to obtain the best contract for his client, suffering from this serious illness, the best known symptoms of which are jaundice, weight loss, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Before calling on an expert broker in real estate loan insurance, Ymanci invites each borrower to use its essential but also free tools, as its comparator. This tool allows you to find the offer best suited to the profile of the insured.

What to remember

• Pancreatic cancer is one of the increased health risks for many insurers.
• This pathology can lead to an increase in premiums or exclusions from guarantees.
• Mechanisms, such as the AERAS Convention, exist to facilitate not only access to borrower insurance and real estate credit, but also to secure this financing.
• Borrowers, falling into the category of aggravated health risks for insurance companies, should not jump on the first offer. It is best to explore all options for making a real estate project a reality.
• Choosing between the different offers can quickly become a long and restrictive step. It is possible to call on one of our brokers.

These other articles might also interest you: