Mortgage Advice Bureau protection proposition director Andy Walton told the audience in Manchester that clients deserved to be informed about the likelihood of events happening.

He said this was one of seven clear steps which need to be completed as part of the mortgage process to ensure customers received advice about protecting themselves and their mortgage.

Walton added that it was vital they knew what the risk was of dying or being off work for two months during the course of their mortgage.

“We tend to miss the attitude to risk bit out of protection – we tend to go straight into the consequences,” he said.

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“This is really important. If you are not talking about the risks in these sorts of technical terms with customers, you are missing a massive trick.

“It’s like going to the horse racing but I’m not going to tell you the odds. I’ll tell you to back one, I’m not going to tell you the odds, just to back that one.”

He added: “Insurance is a gamble. And if the customers have a handle on the gamble [they understand].

“Tell customers the truth – put it into perspective.”

 

 

Don’t talk about product

Walton also warned brokers not to talk about products but instead about how they could help borrowers to keep up their payments throughout the mortgage term.

“Be concerned about whether your customer can keep up payments over the next 20 or more years of their mortgage, talk about that and only that,” he said.

“What we tend to do is say we do life insurance, critical illness, income protection – we do products, look at my lorry load of products.

“Don’t talk about product, talk about what we’re doing for them,” he added.