A high-risk occupation or sport does not prevent you from insuring a mortgage. Depending on your activity and how you practise it, the insurer covers you at the standard rate, applies a premium loading or excludes the risk concerned. The whole point is to obtain cover with no gap on your actual activity, which delegated policies often achieve better than the bank's group contract.
What the insurer looks at in your file
The insurer does not reason on a job title but on the concrete conditions in which you work. When you apply, it asks about your occupation and your leisure activities, generally even when the health questionnaire has been removed, because these questions do not concern your health. The points examined are almost always the same.
- Travel: annual mileage by car or motorbike, frequent stays abroad, assignments in areas considered dangerous.
- Working at height: scaffolding, roofs, pylons, aerial platforms, typically in construction trades.
- Carrying a weapon: police and gendarmerie, armed forces, cash-in-transit guards, security staff.
- Handling dangerous substances: explosives, chemicals, flammable materials, firefighting operations.
- Sporting activity: discipline, frequency, leisure or competition, club licence, and for some sports the depth, altitude or speed reached. Commonly concerned are motor sports, air sports, diving beyond a certain depth, mountaineering and combat sports.
Two people in the same occupation, a pilot or a firefighter for example, may therefore receive different answers depending on their actual working conditions.
The three possible answers
- Standard cover: the risk is considered low or already built into the rate, for example for a sport practised as a supervised leisure activity or an exposed occupation carried out mainly in an office.
- Premium loading: the insurer covers the risk but increases the premium, on all the cover or only on some of it.
- Exclusion: the insurer covers the loan, except for claims linked to the named activity. An amateur pilot can thus be insured, but not in the event of a plane accident.
For illustration, for €300,000 borrowed over 20 years and insured at 100%, a delegated policy at 0.12% of the initial capital costs €30 a month, i.e. €7,200 over the life of the loan. With a loading that takes the rate to 0.18%, it costs €45 a month, i.e. €10,800. A group contract at 0.34% that excluded the risk would cost €85 a month, i.e. €20,400, without covering the activity in question. The actual price depends on age, health, occupation and the cover selected.
Buying back an exclusion: covering what was excluded
An exclusion is not always final. Depending on the policy, you can "buy back" an exclusion in return for a premium loading: the activity is covered again in exchange for a higher premium. The buy-back can concern a sport, an occupation, but also back and psychological conditions without hospitalisation, often excluded by default because they are hard to establish objectively. In a physical occupation, this last exclusion weighs heavily: examine it before signing.
Health professionals and the self-employed: two specific cases
For doctors, surgeons, dentists or physiotherapists, the decisive question is disability. Many policies do not assess it solely by reference to the occupation actually practised: a surgeon who can no longer operate, but remains fit for other activities, may then receive little or no payout. Some policies provide for disability assessed according to the occupation practised, under the name "specific medical professions cover" or an equivalent, depending on the policy. That is the first point to check.
For the self-employed, craftspeople and the liberal professions, what matters is the method of compensation. With lump-sum cover, the insurer pays the scheduled instalment, up to the insured share. With indemnity-based cover, it only makes up the loss of income actually recorded: with variable income that is hard to evidence, the payout can be reduced. A lump-sum policy is generally more protective for these profiles.
Why the group contract often excludes and delegation covers better
The bank's group contract is designed for its entire customer base, on a pooled rate. It has little room to price a particular risk precisely: it tends to exclude it, load it heavily or even refuse it. Delegated insurers price your actual situation and offer targeted options: cover for a sport practised in competition, exclusion buy-back, medical professions cover, lump-sum compensation. Putting several policies in competition lets you compare prices, but also exclusions. Switching is possible at signing and during the loan: see our guide to insurance delegation.
Declare precisely: an obligation that protects you
Playing down your occupation or keeping quiet about a sport to pay less is a poor calculation. An intentional false statement makes the policy void (article L113-8 of the French Insurance Code): the insurer pays nothing, even for a claim unrelated to the concealed activity. An unintentional false statement leads to a proportionally reduced payout (article L113-9). So describe your actual conditions: tasks, travel, height, leisure or competitive practice. A precise description also avoids a loading or an exclusion broader than necessary, applied out of caution. For the medical side, see our guide to borrower insurance and health.
Check compatibility with the FSI
Among the equivalence criteria the bank may select in the standardised information sheet (FSI, the Fiche standardisée d'information) is cover for high-risk sports and occupations. If your bank has selected it, the delegated policy must cover your activity at least as well as the bank requires: an exclusion where the bank requires cover can justify a refusal. Before signing up, compare the exclusions in the quote with the criteria in your FSI, and buy back the exclusion concerned if necessary. A refusal must be in writing, reasoned and list every criterion not met: see what to do if the bank refuses your delegation.
What the firm does
We analyse your professional and sporting activity as it is actually carried out, together with your bank's FSI. We put several insurers in competition with at least equivalent cover, comparing rates, loadings and exclusions, then we handle the formalities with the bank. The review is free and without obligation.
- A high-risk occupation or sport results in standard cover, a premium loading or an exclusion, depending on the policy and on your actual practice.
- Depending on the policy, an exclusion can be bought back for a premium loading.
- Health professionals: check that disability is assessed according to the occupation practised; self-employed: favour lump-sum cover.
- Declare precisely: an intentional false statement makes the policy void.
- Compare the delegated policy's exclusions with the FSI criteria before signing up.