Understanding Mortgage Protection Plans with Kyra Wong

In this informative episode, Len Lane, founder and president of Brokers for Life Inc., sits down with Kyra Wong, Senior Vice President of Insurance Products for DLCG, to discuss the importance of Mortgage Protection Plans (MPP). They highlight the significant differences between MPP and bank insurance, emphasizing the portability and comprehensive coverage of MPP.

Kyra shares her personal experiences and stories from her career, illustrating the critical need for mortgage protection. Listeners will gain valuable insights into the pitfalls of relying solely on employer-provided insurance and the benefits of securing independent mortgage coverage. The episode also delves into practical tips for mortgage brokers on how to effectively present insurance options to clients and help ensure their financial security.

About Kyra Wong

Kyra Wong is the Senior Vice President of Insurance Products for DLCG, with over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry. Starting her career as a mortgage broker, Kyra transitioned into insurance after witnessing firsthand the devastating impact of inadequate coverage on her clients. Her passion for educating mortgage brokers and advocating for comprehensive insurance solutions drives her work at DLCG. Kyra is dedicated to helping brokers understand the value of Mortgage Protection Plans and ensuring their clients are protected.

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Contact Len Lane | Brokers for Life:

Contact Kyra Wong:

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Transcript

Len 00:02

Welcome. My name is Len Lane, and I am the founder and president of Brokers for Life Inc. And we are Dominion Lending Centres in Western Canada. The topic of our podcast will be about what we consider to be Real Life Mortgage Solutions.

Len 00:20

Welcome back. Over the last couple of episodes, you know, we’ve been talking about insurance. We’ve talked about Mortgage default insurance with Sagen. We’ve talked about title insurance with FCT, First Canadian Title. And today we’re going to talk about the most important one I think of all three, life and disability insurance. Our main provider, our only provider is Mortgage protection plan through Manulife. And today, my guest is Kyra Wong, Senior Vice President, insurance products for DLCG. Welcome. Maybe give us a little background on your experience in the industry.

Kyra 01:01

In the industry? Well, I started off as a mortgage broker, actually, joined insurance about 20 years ago, but I had a personal experience as a mortgage broker was something happening to one of my clients that really turned my head around about the way I was offering it. And, you know, levelling up my own way of, you know, offering insurance to clients. So, I learned through the school of hard knocks. And that’s part of the reason I’m passionate about helping educate mortgage brokers today.

Len 01:33

Excellent. So, let’s dive right in, I guess, mortgage protection plan compared to bank insurance. How’s that for a starter?

Kyra 01:40

Yeah, wow, there’s no comparison. And of course, you knew I was gonna say that, it’s actually really a tragedy that, you know, banks are really our biggest competitor out there. And yet, they offer non-portable insurance products, which means that if a client takes the insurance from the bank or their lender, they can never take the insurance with them in the future, it’s not portable. So, if they have a health issue come up, and they would have to, you know, basically, if they became uninsurable, they’re stuck there at the bank, because that means they would never be able to get new coverage, you know, down the road. Or even if they don’t have a health issue come up, if they wanted to move lenders in the future, to take advantage of better interest rates, they’d have to cancel their insurance or reapply. And as people get older, insurance gets more expensive. So, it’s a real travesty that people don’t know that. And it’s a deliberate retention tool that the banks and the lenders use to try and lock down clients to them forever and ever, and ever.

Len 02:42

No question that the portability we’ve seen, we’ve actually lost deals recently, actually was because the bank rate didn’t change. And he didn’t want to lose that coverage, because the new coverage, of course, was going to be more money. Right? So, important points. So, I know the bank penetration on mortgage and life and disability insurance is huge. I talked to former Bank agents on a regular basis. And they’re sometimes in that 50% to 60% range of penetration, which is huge, right? I said, I keep telling them, if they were doing that here, they wouldn’t have to worry about mortgages, they just do insurance. So, why do you think that is? Our overall personal rate at the company here is about 23% – 24%, maybe?

Kyra 03:30

Yeah, so at the banks, they basically recommend the coverage and they assume the sale like the starting point is basically you need this, you need to take this, this is very important. And so they don’t bias the client against the insurance, right? I think with mortgage brokers, they have the best intentions at heart. And they’ll say things like, oh, you know, you should go talk to a life insurance agent, or you should go talk to a financial planner. And that isn’t wrong, they should. But what I know from 20 years of experience is that a lot of people will never get around to doing that or doing that in a timely fashion. Right? So, if they get the coverage right at the point where they’re getting their mortgage, they have them walking out the door, which is awesome. And that way, if they never get around to getting other types of coverage or getting a financial plan, at least they’re not going to lose their home. Right? So, I think banks know that clients are probably not going to go out there and shop around or do it right away or get a will for that matter. So, many people don’t even bother getting a will is another huge disaster when you’re not doing that. So, they assume and they roll the premium into the whole payment upfront, right? So, they’re not sort of tacking on this extra charge right at the very end. They sort of speak of a protected payment with principal interest, taxes and insurance. This is what your payment is going to be, right, so. Clients have that in their minds from the get-go and are comfortable with it from the get-go.

Len 04:58

Yeah, it definitely makes the difference, I think that the way it’s presented is monumental difference between what we do. And I think, of course, we’re gonna talk more about pro tips in the end, and we can kind of go through that some mor…