Less than a third of UK adults can correctly identify what income insurance is, according to The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) latest report, titled ‘The New Protection Challenge’.
Moreover, the data shows that 97% of advisers say protection was mentioned in the mortgage process, however, only 36% of customers remember it being mentioned, which AMI believe suggests a perception gap between consumers and the industry.
Additionally, the report shows that buying a house or moving home are two of the three key drivers to buying protection, while home insurance is considered the most important insurance policy.
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Over half of consumers do not believe protection claim statistics, and the majority of consumers would prefer protection to be arranged before or during the mortgage process, the report outlined.
Furthermore, one in seven mortgage brokers refer protection to a specialist and COVID-19 has not impacted the likelihood of getting protection for the majority of consumers, according to the association.
The 32-page report is based off the answers from 5,000 consumers and 500 mortgage brokers, and was produced in partnership with Legal & General and Royal London.
Robert Sinclair, chief executive of AMI said: “The challenge our industry faces is how do we get the consumer onside and trusting this market during their journey through mortgage advice to protection advice.
“The research shows a great opportunity for advisers to better engage with customers. Our collective task is to encourage advisers to rise to the new protection challenge.
“We appreciate the partnership with Legal & General and Royal London to deliver this work of scale and would like to thank the many advisers who contributed to the report.”