2024 study: the French view of loan insurance

For the second year running, APRIL, in partnership with L’Argus de l’Assurance, has carried out a survey on loan insurance. The aim is to assess French people’s awareness, use and impact of the Loi Lemoine, which comes into force in June 2022. This law allows beneficiaries of loan insurance to cancel their policy at any time, giving them the opportunity to take advantage of competition from all the players involved (banks, brokers, insurers). We spoke to Olivier Bougarel, APRIL Group’s Director of Borrowers, to find out more about this study.

Olivier, what changes have you seen since 2023 in the 3 key indicators you selected?
There are two positive trends: firstly, 96% of French people surveyed said they were satisfied with having changed their loan insurance. That’s 4 points more than in 2023! Then there are the reasons for the change, with 83% of French people citing more competitive rates as the reason for their choice, a jump of 18% showing that this is a real way of boosting purchasing power. The final indicator is more negative because it is stagnating: only 17% of French people have changed their loan insurance, 41% of whom have done so since the Lemoine law.

Does this mean that the French are unaware of this right, or are they reluctant to change?
There are two reasons for this.Only 27% of French people are aware of the Loi Lemoine, which is 6 points less than in 2023.Despite this drop, targeted communication campaigns seem to be bearing fruit, as more than 80% of people with a current loan are aware of their rights. It is essential to continue communicating widely to make the French aware of the advantages of changing their loan insurance, as well as the main guarantees, as there is a lack of awareness of the risks covered.
Among respondents with a current loan who are not thinking of changing their insurance, 59% still believe they cannot make savings.Conversely, 83% of those who have changed their loan insurance or are considering doing so are doing so to make savings (+18%).

Brokers therefore have a role to play in providing advice and information…
Their advisory role is all the more important given that they are increasingly in demand from borrowers, with growth opportunities on the horizon! Since last year, respondents with a current loan are consulting the banks less to change their loan insurance (22%, down 15%), in favour of insurance brokers (38%) or insurance agents (35%). For credit holders, loan insurance is still mainly taken out with banks, despite a sharp fall this year (63%, down 10 points).

Have banks improved their commercial practices over the past two years?
The survey shows that 54% of respondents with a current loan have not been informed by their bank of their right to change their insurance, so there is still plenty of room for improvement. The proportion of people who have been informed has itself fallen by 7 points. The market remains concentrated in the hands of the banks, with fewer than 1 in 5 borrowers having changed their credit insurance (17%). It is still difficult for borrowers to change, mainly because of the lack of response from the bank (22%) and the difficulty of the administrative procedures (20%).

APRIL regularly makes its voice heard in the press on the subject of the Lemoine Law*.
APRIL is continuing its efforts to improve French people’s purchasing power and raise public awareness. Eric Maumy, Chairman of the APRIL Group, speaking on behalf of the Association pour la promotion de la concurrence en assurance des emprunteurs (Apcade), of which we are co-founders and which contributed to the Loi Lemoine, is now campaigning for its proper application and, in particular, to combat the bad practices of certain banks. He recently explained that ‘while the Lemoine law has enabled tens of thousands of French people to make substantial gains in purchasing power (50% savings on average by using an alternative to the banks), it has missed out on the middle classes. More than 60% of French people who have taken advantage of the competition are executives (CSP+). Too large a majority of French people are less informed about this right – and have less room for manoeuvre when dealing with banking establishments. That’s why we wanted to launch a competition observatory, to ensure that the law is properly applied, for all borrowers’.

Discover the main findings of the study: Assurance emprunteur, l’information sur la résiliation encore à la peine (argusdelassurance.com)

*Loan insurance: ‘La loi Lemoine has missed out on the middle classes’ – APRIL Group