Mortgage Insurance - would you get critical illness in these circumstances?

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Just looking for a bit of advice really as I am going round in circles!

I am close to completing on a property and am wanting to get mortgage decreasing term insurance (to cover 225K). The premiums for this over 18 years are around £14.

If I add critical illness then the premiums are around £85 - so a big difference in outgoings.

I'm not sure if I need it but don't want to be rash, so any advice would be appreciated.

In brief:
DD is adult and in work (no other DC)
I am entitled to sick pay (6 months full and 6 months half pay)
I am married but DH not on mortgage and I'm not dependent on his income

What would you do?!

Both DH and I have critical illness and a reasonable cover so that we wouldn't need to work for a few years if we couldn't. To be honest when younger I never bothered but I feel now we are both looking at 50 it's not unusual for people out age to have cancer/heart attacks etc.

Have you shopped around for cover and decided what amount etc would be ok (as well as what conditions the insurance covers)?

Statistically you are 4 x more likely to claim on a Critical Illness policy than on a Life one. If you are critically ill and cannot return to work after your 12 months of sick pay runs out, how is the mortgage going to be paid? Can your DH and DD afford it between them? If the answer's no, but you can afford the £85pm premiums now, then I'd be buying the CI cover.

I didn't expect my DH to get cancer at 34 but he did and I was so relieved that I'd insisted on adding CI to our Life cover. Best thing I've ever bought.

I bought a house last year - I'm 46, single, no kids, no other family apart from a brother and I got a joint CI and life policy. We have a lot of cancer in my family (hence no parents), and it's possible the same will happen to me. If I have to take a period of time off work for chemo, I need to know that my bills will be covered and it's one thing I don't need to worry about.

My premium was bumped up (well, doubled), not because I have a family history of cancer, but because I have PCOS - which they say puts me at higher risk of diabetes. I have a job I love but the sickness policy is shockingly poor. So I pay £95 a month for peace of mind and £100k of cover. It's expensive and I might never use it, but I am very glad it's there. I think it depends on what price for that peace of mind you are willing to pay. I've certainly put it ahead of any kind of income protection.

If it’s the monthly premiums that are too high why don’t you look for a lesser cover amount? So then you have some cover in place for peace of mind but your premiums aren’t as expensive. I did my life cover for half my mortgage amount as joint with dh & took 4 x my salary in critical illness cover. Although I only work 2 days a week so it’s not a high level of cover but atleast I have some incase the worst were to happen

Have a look at Income Protection too. The financial advisor we used advised that over CI, he said he has had instances where the CI criteria is so specific to certain diseases that they won't pay out, and IP has a better pay out rate.

We have a lower amount, which is paid for via my works “perks” package.

It’s something like £40k of cover, for either of us and costs me about £12 a month. Worth checking to see if anything like that is available.

It's very specific to the individual circumstances. I am fortunate as the CI is through work and has a very large list of conditions it will pay out for.

IP tends to have clauses on when you claim and for only a certain time so it depends on how quickly you think you will probably find another job whereas CI is really for those times when you won't be able to work due to perhaps needing ongoing medical care so you need to think about how much a lump sum might last you.

Ideally everyone would have all types of insurance but if cost is a factor you need to think about which is the best for your particular setup.

I took out CI when I got married 7 years in I qualified for a full claim. The pressure is off our family and fortunately I'm currently okay .

Like other have said take some CI to what you can afford but having something is worthwhile

Thank you all - a lot of food for thought! Apologies for my delay in getting back in touch - I was locked out of my computer all weekend!