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The coverage a lender offers with a mortgage is optional creditor insurance: a group policy the lender owns, where the lender is the beneficiary and the payout falls as you pay the mortgage down.

4 minute read

A Canadian insurer prices term life insurance by running your application through underwriting, which weighs your age, your sex, your health and medical history, whether you use nicotine, how much coverage you want and how long you want it for.

5 minute read

Start with the mortgage balance, then add the costs that continue after it is cleared, subtract what you already have, and round to a number your household could live on for the years that matter most.

4 minute read

Match the insurance term to your amortization period and to the years your children are at home, not to the two to five year mortgage term you renew with your lender.

5 minute read

Critical illness insurance usually pays a one-time lump sum if you are diagnosed with a covered condition such as cancer, a heart attack or a stroke, and because you decide what it is spent on, it can carry the mortgage through months when income drops.

4 minute read

Applying for an individually owned policy means answering health questions in full, sometimes with a nurse visit or a doctor's report, and the insurer's decision on coverage, exclusions and price is made before the policy is issued rather than after a claim.

4 minute read

On a policy you own, you name the beneficiary and can name more than one, and the insurer divides the death benefit among them; on the lender's optional mortgage insurance the lender is the beneficiary and the money is applied to the balance.

4 minute read

Coverage arranged around a mortgage is written for that mortgage, so switching lenders, refinancing or selling can end it and leave you uncovered; a policy you own is a contract in your name and is unaffected by any of those events.

5 minute read