A health condition does not prevent you from insuring a mortgage. Since 1 June 2022, no medical questionnaire may be required if your insured share does not exceed €200,000 and the loan is repaid before your 60th birthday. Beyond that, the right to be forgotten exempts you from declaring certain past illnesses, and the AERAS convention governs the review of files presenting an aggravated health risk. A delegated policy, priced on your actual situation, often widens the options.
When is the health questionnaire removed?
Since the Lemoine law (the French law of 28 February 2022 on borrower insurance), the insurer may not ask about your health when two conditions are met: your insured share does not exceed €200,000 per person, all insured mortgages combined (existing loans and the new loan), and repayment ends before your 60th birthday. If either threshold is exceeded, a questionnaire may be required. The insured share is calculated person by person: capital multiplied by your quotité (share insured).
- Couple borrowing €300,000, each insured at 50%: €150,000 per person, below the threshold. At 100% each: €300,000 per person, a questionnaire is possible for both.
- Couple borrowing €360,000, with shares of 60% and 40%: €216,000 for the first, above the threshold; €144,000 for the second, below it.
- Borrower who already has a loan in progress: €70,000 of remaining insured share on the first loan and €150,000 on the new one, i.e. €220,000. The threshold is exceeded.
- Borrower aged 40 over 25 years: the loan ends at 65. Even for €100,000, a questionnaire is possible.
Lowering your share to get below the threshold reduces the protection of your co-borrower: in the event of death, the uninsured portion remains to be repaid. This choice should be weighed against the rules on the share insured, not only against the questionnaire.
What does the right to be forgotten cover?
A cancer or viral hepatitis C no longer has to be declared once the treatment protocol ended five years ago, without relapse, whatever your age at diagnosis. You then answer the questionnaire without mentioning it, and this is not a false declaration. The period runs from the end of the protocol, not from the diagnosis: keep the exact date your treatment ended. For other conditions, it is the AERAS convention that may open up regulated terms.
What is an aggravated health risk?
An aggravated risk is when your state of health leads the insurer to depart from its standard rate. After its medical adviser has reviewed the file, it may decide on:
- an extra premium: a price supplement, often expressed as a percentage of the base rate;
- an exclusion: the declared condition and its consequences are not covered, the rest of the policy applies;
- a postponement: the decision is deferred until your health stabilises or a treatment ends;
- a refusal: all or part of the cover requested is not granted.
For illustration, a delegated policy at 0.12% of the initial capital costs €30 a month for €300,000 borrowed. With a 50% extra premium, the monthly premium rises to €45; over 25 years, the total cost rises from €9,000 to €13,500. The actual price depends on the condition, how long ago it occurred, your age and the cover selected.
How does the AERAS convention work?
The AERAS convention ("s'Assurer et Emprunter avec un Risque Aggravé de Santé", insuring and borrowing with an aggravated health risk) is signed by the French State, banks, insurers and associations. Its reference grid lists conditions for which, after a certain period, the insurer applies a rate with no extra premium or a capped one, or with no exclusion. It also provides for a review of refused files at several levels. The last level covers mortgages up to €420,000 (loan share) where the borrower is at most 71 at the end of the loan. Finally, a mechanism capping extra premiums exists for borrowers on modest incomes, subject to means testing.
Why delegation helps with a health condition
The group contract applies acceptance rules common to all the bank's customers. A delegated insurer reviews your file individually: the same condition may lead to an extra premium with one, an exclusion with another, a standard rate with a third. Some insurers specialise in aggravated risks. Approaching several insurers lets you compare real decisions, then choose the one that meets the criteria of your bank's FSI, the standardised information sheet listing the cover required (see insurance delegation).
Declaring honestly: the risks of a false declaration
When a questionnaire is asked, answer each question accurately. An intentional false declaration renders the policy void (article L113-8 of the French Insurance Code). A non-intentional error leads to a proportionally reduced payout (article L113-9). In both cases, the problem comes to light at the worst moment, when a claim is made. On the other hand, declare only what is asked.
Preparing your medical file
- Ask the doctor who follows you for a recent report: diagnosis, treatment, current condition.
- Gather the latest test results and the date your treatment ended.
- Send the documents in a confidential envelope to the insurer's medical adviser, not to your bank adviser.
- Approach several insurers in parallel so as not to delay the loan.
If insurance is refused: alternative guarantees
Borrower insurance is not a legal requirement, but in practice the bank demands it for a mortgage. In the event of a refusal or a significant exclusion, it may accept other guarantees, in addition or instead, depending on the file: a pledge of a life insurance policy, a guarantor, a mortgage charge. If the bank refuses a compliant delegated policy, the remedies are described in our article on refusal of delegation.
What the firm does
We analyse your situation and your bank's FSI, check whether a questionnaire may be required, put several insurers in competition, including specialist insurers, with at least equivalent cover, then send the chosen policy to the bank and follow the formalities through to the loan offer or the amendment. Your medical documents go directly to the insurer's medical adviser. The review is free and without obligation.
- No health questionnaire if the insured share does not exceed €200,000 per person, all mortgages combined, and the loan ends before your 60th birthday.
- Right to be forgotten: a cancer or hepatitis C no longer has to be declared five years after the end of the protocol, without relapse.
- An aggravated risk can lead to an extra premium, exclusion, postponement or refusal; the AERAS convention governs the review of files.
- Delegation lets you compare several individual medical decisions.
- Declare honestly: an intentional false declaration renders the policy void.