Reducing Your Weight to Cut Costs

One of the most fundamental considerations in determining your mortgage life insurance rates is your height and weight. When underwriting your mortgage insurance policy and determining your risk to the mortgage insurance company, the first thing an underwriter will do is see where you fall in their build chart based on your exact height and weight. They do this before they review your prescription medications, medical records, and DMV report.

There is nothing you can do to control your height, and there's no way you can change that before applying for mortgage life insurance. You can, however, do something about your weight. Just one pound in the wrong direction can change your mortgage life insurance rates. In a typical 30-year mortgage insurance policy, you'll pay 360 monthly mortgage insurance premiums. If your one extra pound of weight adds just $5 to your mortgage life insurance rates, you'll pay an additional $1,800 over the course of your 30-year mortgage insurance policy. By getting into a healthier shape and losing a few extra pounds before you apply for mortgage life insurance, you may be able to significantly reduce your mortgage life insurance rates, which will in turn save you a ton of money over the long-run.

Addressing Your Smoking History

If you were once a smoker, but you haven’t smoked in a year or more, then you'll answer smoking questions on your application as a non-smoker. But when an underwriter reviews your medical records and Medical Information Bureau reports, they may find evidence that you've smoked and may charge you considerably higher mortgage life insurance rates.

To help ward off these increased mortgage life insurance rates, you may want to get a note from your primary care physician that attests to the fact that you quit smoking 12 or more months ago. For some mortgage insurance companies, this is enough to reduce your mortgage life insurance rates from smoker rates to non-smoker rates.

Most mortgage insurance companies require that you're nicotine-free for at least 12 months before they'll reduce your mortgage life insurance rates. You may want to take a mortgage insurance policy for the first year with smoker rates, and then get your mortgage life insurance rates decreased once your physician writes a letter attesting to you being nicotine-free for 12 months and you pass a complete physical examination as well.

Understanding Your Death Benefit and Term Length

Two factors that help to give you lower mortgage life insurance rates are the death benefit and term length of your mortgage insurance policy. When you have a mortgage insurance policy with a 30-year term, there's a much higher probability that you'll die within that time period. If you combine that risk with a high death benefit, then the mortgage insurance company is on the hook for a large sum of money over a long period of time.

If you can reduce the amount of time that you're insured and choose a lower death benefit, you'll make a substantial difference in the mortgage life insurance rates you'll receive. Depending upon your situation, this may not be a realistic approach, but if you have other small liabilities—like auto loans or credit card debt that will be paid off well before your mortgage, then you may be able to insure yourself for a slightly smaller sum. This is the best way to substantially lower your mortgage life insurance rates.

Exclusions for Dangerous Hobbies

If you enjoy a hobby that mortgage insurance companies view as a higher risk and charge higher mortgage life insurance rates, find out if you can get an exclusion of those activities in your mortgage insurance policy. Hobbies like scuba diving, mountain climbing, and bungee jumping are just a few examples of hobbies (or avocations) that mortgage insurance companies may charge higher mortgage life insurance rates.

If you're given mortgage life insurance rates that are unaffordable because you partake in a dangerous hobby, you should ask your mortgage insurance broker about adding an exclusion to your mortgage insurance policy. It should state that any death as a result of your participation in an activity related to that particular hobby is excluded from your death benefit payout.

If the mortgage insurance company agrees to do this, you may want to buy an accidental death mortgage insurance policy to cover your death for that particular hobby. If the mortgage insurance company refuses to add the exclusion, a non-medical mortgage insurance policy might be a more affordable route to take, even though no-exam mortgage insurance policies generally have much higher mortgage life insurance rates.

Get a Copy of Your Medical Records

When applying for a mortgage insurance policy, there are a series of questions about your health history that you'll be asked. Knowing what your primary care physician and/or specialists have recorded about you in your medical records can help you get an idea about what to expect from your mortgage life insurance rates and can guide you in choosing a mortgage insurance company that has favorable underwriting treatment of the particular condition, illness, or complication that's recorded in your medical records.

Ask your primary care physician &/or specialists you’ve visited during the past five years for a copy of your medical records. Review them prior to applying for your mortgage insurance policy, so that you can give full disclosure of their content to your mortgage insurance broker. This will help assist your mortgage insurance broker in determining which mortgage insurance company will offer you the lowest available mortgage life insurance rates in the U.S.