One specialist broker says the industry has quietly accepted an uninsured gap it should not tolerate
The mortgage industry may have grown too comfortable with the idea that some clients will never take out protection — and one mortgage and protection specialist argues it is time that changed.
Joanna Streames (pictured top), managing director at Velvet Mortgage & Insure Services, says that advisers have become so focused on securing mortgage offers that the protection conversation has been reduced to a formality — something noted on file rather than genuinely explored.
"Have we, as an industry, accepted that a proportion of mortgage clients will inevitably remain unprotected?" Streames asked. "And if we have, is that really ok?"
Her answer is an emphatic no. The root of the problem, she says, is that advisers approach protection through the wrong lens — leading with product features, pricing and insurer details rather than focusing on the client's circumstances and what could go wrong without adequate cover.
The emotional rewards of mortgage advice are well understood. Streames acknowledges that advisers take genuine satisfaction from helping a client through the complexities of a purchase and seeing them collect their keys. Protection, she argues, carries a different and ultimately deeper reward — one that only becomes apparent when a client needs to make a claim.
"In my experience, mortgage advisers love to help clients get the end game of acquiring the property through solving problems," Streames said. "But with setting up insurance, it's a totally different feeling for the adviser."
That feeling, she contends, arrives when things go wrong. An adviser who has properly set up a client with the right cover will witness at first hand the difference it makes during a period of serious adversity — a moment she describes as more significant than any property completion.
Streames is direct about the solution. Advisers should stop leading with policies and instead open with stories, treating every client as they would a member of their own family. A structured process, she argues, does not require a heavy ongoing time investment — but it does require a change in mindset.
"As long as you think about the clients future possibilities and then put in a bit of upfront work to get yourself a solid process, you can change the uninsured gap for your own clients," said Streames. "It's a winning combination for everyone concerned."
She also challenges advisers to see mortgage protection not as the destination but as the starting point. The conversation around life cover, she says, should serve as a gateway to a wider and more robust discussion about a client's overall protection needs — particularly income protection and critical illness cover, given that surviving a serious health event without sufficient cover can be financially catastrophic.
The goal, Streames concludes, is for advisers to move beyond compliance and genuinely engage with the consequences — both of getting protection right and of not getting it at all.
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