Cancer and mortgages

[Nivet]

My DH had been in remission for 8 months, during this time he was made redundant and is looking for work - we are confident that he will find a job.

We are also in the process of moving house and down sizing our mortgage, today we had bad news from some test results and it looks like his cancer is becoming active again. The oncologist has said that is no need for further treatment at the moment but he will need further tests in three months and possibly more treatment in the future. The treatment would initially be drugs rather than hospital based.

I'm a SAHM and DH is keen to keep being the bread winner and to be honest I think it would depress him if he didn't continue to look for work/work. In addition the brutal truth is he can easily earn at least £20k a year more than me.

Our DC are 3.5 and 1.

Sorry, this is a long post, my question is does anyone have experience of getting a mortgage whilst having cancer? We would have a low LTV, around 30-40% and if DH returns to work we would expect the mortgage to be equivalent to approximately 1.5 times his income or less.

I know I should be worrying about other things (and believe me I am) but right now I'm up to my ears in moving boxes and just want to know if it's realistic for us to plough ahead with our plans?

Anyone?

I've never been asked about my health when applying for mortgages, just earnings. As long as he can demonstrate that he is earning enough he should get an offer. However, if he has to take more time out for treatment, are you happy that you could keep up the repayments? Would it be a good move to also return to the workplace yourself so that you can build up some savings as a buffer? Hope his condition improves.

Thanks Cogito, that sounds hopeful then.

I'm in the middle of setting up a business at the moment which should start providing income within about 8-9 months and we intend to put aside the equivalent of three months salary initially as savings once the house sale here completes.

I am keeping an eye on the job market too.

I suppose I'm just conscious that we need to provision for a future that at the moment is very uncertain and I'm making all the decisions.

If you are both out of work it is going to be hard finding a mortgage. You could rent for a bit just to make things less stressful?

Thanks Trice.

We actually already own the house we are moving to but it has a specialist holiday let mortgage on it which we were planning to move to a standard residential mortgage. We can just let it run as it is I suppose, although I'm guessing that's not strictly within the terms and conditions.

Fretting about mortgages is just a coping mechanism. If I worry about this shit I can avoid worrying about the big stuff.

You are not obliged to have life insurance to get a mortgage.

Lisad I'm wondering if we can just port his existing life insurance policy to a new mortgage, that could work.

Sorry to hear you are in a similar situation but selfishly it's comforting to know I'm not alone. Thanks for responding, I hope your DH continues to be fine.

We currently have life insurance on our residential mortgage but not on our Buy To Let mortgage. I can't remember the conversation around taking out the life policy, whether it was a "you must have" or a " you should think about" type conversation.

The buildings insurance was a must have.

I've been in contact with our IFA anyway and will go and see him to talk about our options.

Meanwhile DH just needs to get a job and find a cure for cancer.

Sorry to be short Lisa, and sorry to hear that your DH is unwell but it really winds me up when Mortgage advisers/sellers say that it is obligatory. I get annoyed with them and my crossness carried over here, It can be a very wise option to have Life Insurance and I would recommend it in most cases. However in your case and the OP's case, not having it should not be a barrier to owning a home.

Hi there. As others have said, the problem will be that you can't establish any income to support the mortgage, I don't think your husband's illness is the issue.

My H had cancer before we bought our 1st house, then it came back between houses 2 and 3. We've never had trouble getting a mortgage, or re-mortgaging (with all 3 houses), but this last time (after we bought house 3) we've had trouble with life insurance. Its never been a condition of the mortgage, but we've always had it to protect the family. Its taken 18 months to sort outthis time (what with getting quotes, getting medical reports etc) but we've had the mortgage throughout that time. We've also had critical illness cover in the past too (even though they exclude anything connected with his cancer) but this time he's been refused any critical illness cover at all.

Oh dear, feeling your pain! Cancer makes things so awkward (well, obviously!). Since being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2004, I haven't taken a holiday outside of the UK because it's impossible to get travel insurance. However, I do have a mortgage (with my OH) without having life insurance, so hopefully you'll be able to get that sorted. Especially if your DH gets a job and you can prove you can make the repayments on the mortgage. Hugs to you both and little ones.

keeping an eye on this too - DH just into remission, not back at work yet but we really do need to look at the whole mortgage issue. Insurance for anything looking like being a pita. sigh.
(and sorry all those who think Im stalking them hey Lisa )

Thank you everyone for sharing, I started a thread about two things NO-ONE wants to talk about, finance and cancer, so I'm grateful to have so many responses.

It is good to hear about other people coping with everyday life and the big C.

DH will get a job, he's brilliant at what he does he's just being fussy about what he takes and it has been a real comfort to think that once we do apply for a mortgage the cancer shouldn't be too much of an issue.

We had a tiny bit of good news today, DH's private healthcare policy from his previous job obviously ended as his employment contract ended - they have agreed to continue to cover him for a not too ridiculous premium.

Here's hoping 2013 is a good year for all of us.