A big step on the side of the National Assembly, then the cold shower on the side of the Senate: here is the summary of the latest episodes of the soap opera of the termination at any time of the borrower’s insurance. But finally, senators and deputies reached an agreement in a joint committee and the measure now has a good chance of passing before the end of the five-year term.
A new turnaround worthy of a Netflix series (or OCS, or Disney+, or Amazon Prime…)! Definitely, the drama of increasing competition from home loan insurance should never. And it’s been more than 10 years – since the Lagarde law in 2010 – that has lasted. The current season revolves around the bill brought by the deputy Agir Patricia Lemoine. Main measure of this text: to allow the termination (and therefore the change) of borrower insurance at any time, without waiting for an anniversary date or other condition hindering the ease of changing insurance for borrowers.
Interview. Home loan: the reform of borrower insurance will restore purchasing power
When the Senate – majority LR – rejected the termination at any time at the end of January, rewriting its bill to focus on the health questionnaire, Patricia Lemoine logically declared herself saddened: It’s a good bet that the senatorial majority will not does not want to gift the government majority with a measure that would restore purchasing power to the household without costing the state one euro.
An unexpected consensus
But here is the ultimate twist, unexpected at the sight of the senators’ positions: the Upper House and the Lower House reached an agreement in a joint joint committee (CMP) this Thursday, February 3. With a consensus that satisfies everyone: yes to termination at any time, and yes to the removal of the health questionnaire for some borrowers.
The details of the text of the Joint Joint Committee have not yet been published (see the main measures below). Many elements remain to be clarified, including the deadline for the entry into force of termination at any time, scheduled for January 2023 in the initial bill.
Agreement of the Joint Joint Committee: 4 measures to retain
Here are the 4 key measures resulting from the agreement between deputies and senators in the CMP, on the basis of the press release issued this Thursday by the Senate Economic Affairs Committee:
- the CMP compromise devotes a right of termination at any time borrower insurance contracts;
- the medical questionnairewhich very often prevents former patients from embarking on a new life project, is abolished for lower real estate loans 200000 euros;
- the period of the right to be forgotten for cancerous pathologies and hepatitis C is reduced from 10 to 5 years. The Senate, against the initial opinion of the Government, thus fulfilled the campaign promise of the President of the Republic;
- while the Snat had proposed that the chronic pathologies are no longer an obstacle to accessing property, the compromise reached requires the government to take measures in this area by July 31, 2022, in the event that the negotiations within the AERAS agreement prove insufficient.
Find the lowest rate for your real estate project!
These common sense measures represent an unprecedented step forward to facilitate access to property for so many households, explains Daniel Gremillet, rapporteur on behalf of the Economic Affairs Committee, in the press release, to justify this reversal. We also considered that extending the right of cancellation without increasing the information provided to policyholders was a sword in the water: we were heard, and we can now consider that all the elements are in place for the insurance market to borrower insurance is truly fluid.
This bill represents a new perspective to support the purchasing power of the French, but also a measure of justice towards all people suffering from pathologies preventing them from carrying out their projects, for lack of real estate credit, reacted the presidential majority in a press release
Next stages: February 10 and 17
This CMP agreement must now be confirmed by a final vote in Parliament. Next step: Reading of the conclusions of the CMP, in public session, on February 10, announces the National Assembly. Following the vote of the National Assembly on Thursday February 10, the Senate will vote on February 17. But beware: in this endless soap opera, you are never safe from a cliffhanger!
More than satisfied brokers
Credit and insurance brokers were quick to show their satisfaction. Olivier Moustacakis, co-founder of Assurland.com, welcomes a major advance that gives the borrower insurance market the same level of flexibility that already existed in auto, home and health: Competition between traditional banking players, who practice tariffs two to three times more expensive, with external insurers, can only be favorable to the consumer.
The spokesperson for Meilleurtaux Mal Bernier is also delighted with the termination at any time and the extension of the right to be forgotten, while pointing out a downside to the abolition of the health questionnaire (…). We understand the generous intention. But it will be necessary to be vigilant with the evolutions of tariffs that this could involve. Indeed, this should not lead to an increase in rates which will affect all borrowers.
Compare your home loan insurance