# Portugal mortgage life insurance: IAD, ITP — qualcredito > What a Portuguese bank can require since Lei 14/2026, IAD or ITP (IDPAC) disability cover, insuring 50% or 100% per borrower, and decreasing or constant capital. URL: https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/mortgage-life-insurance-portugal Since Lei 14/2026, a Portuguese bank may require only death cover on a mortgage’s life insurance; disability cover can be offered, but only in exchange for a lower cost, such as a rate discount. If you take it, the two most common sit at either end: IAD (invalidez absoluta e definitiva) pays only for a very high degree of incapacity with dependence on others; ITP (invalidez total e permanente, which many insurers call IDPAC) pays from around 60% incapacity, once you can do neither your profession nor other work suited to your skills. On a joint loan, each borrower insures a share of the capital: at 50% each, if one dies the insurance pays off half the debt and the other keeps paying the rest; at 100% each, the whole debt is paid off — and the premium is double. Updated 2026-11-04. ## What the bank can require [Lei 14/2026](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/lei/14-2026-1092323202) (in Portuguese), of 27 April, added three rules to article 11 of Decree-Law 74-A/2017, the Portuguese mortgage law: - In the life insurance the bank requires, only death cover is compulsory. Other cover, such as disability, may be offered as a way to reduce the fees or other costs of the loan — in exchange for something, not as a condition. - The life insurance can be replaced, at the borrower’s choice, by a mortgage on another property, a personal guarantee (fiança) or any other guarantee the law provides for. - In a couple where one partner has an incapacity degree above 60%, the insurance may be required of the other partner only. You can still take the insurance wherever you like: the bank may require the cover, not its own policy. In the FINE, check whether disability appears as a requirement or as the condition for a discount — and how much that discount is worth. ## IAD, ITP or IPAR: when disability cover pays What tells disability covers apart is the question the insurer asks when a claim comes in: what can you still do? From the broadest to the narrowest: - ITP — total and permanent disability, which many insurers call IDPAC (permanent disability for one’s profession or a compatible activity). Pays when you can do neither your profession nor any other paid work compatible with your knowledge and skills, at an incapacity from 60% to 66%, depending on the policy. It is the dearest. - IPAR — disability for any profession or paid activity. Pays when you can do no paid work at all, of any kind, at an incapacity from 85%. - IAD — absolute and permanent disability. Asks the same as IPAR, and also that you need someone else for daily living: eating, dressing, washing. It is the cheapest and the hardest to claim on. None of these covers your own profession alone. ITP does not pay because you can no longer do your job: it pays if there is also no compatible work you could do instead. A surgeon who loses a hand may have the claim refused if the insurer finds they could teach; a driver with a back injury, if they could do office work. Anyone whose work rests on one ability should read that sentence of the policy more carefully than the premium. Between the covers, the difference shows in a common case: someone left 70% incapacitated, unable to do any work but able to look after themselves. With ITP, the insurance pays off the loan. With IPAR or IAD, which ask for 80% to 85%, it does not, and the payments go on. What counts as your profession, and who certifies the incapacity, is in the policy too. [In Fidelidade’s](https://www.cgd.pt/Particulares/Seguros/Documents/IPC-SeguroVidaCH.pdf) (in Portuguese), for instance, the disability is recognised by Social Security, the labour court or the insurer’s doctor, with a medical board if you disagree; for someone unemployed or retired, their last profession counts; and ITP turns into IPAR at 70. Others swap it for IAD earlier. Compare these terms, not just the name of the cover. ## 50% or 100% per borrower On a joint loan, each borrower insures a percentage of the capital. Banks usually ask for the shares to add up to at least 100%. The usual choices: - 50% each (100% in total). If one dies, the insurance pays off half the debt and the survivor pays the other half alone. - 100% each (200% in total). If one dies, the insurance pays off the whole debt and the home is free of it. Nothing is paid twice: the other borrower’s cover ends with the loan. - Different shares, say 70% and 30%, in line with what each one earns. Some banks and insurers accept it, as long as the total reaches what the bank asks for. The premium is proportional to the share: insuring 100% costs twice as much as 50%. The question to ask is whether the survivor could pay the part left over on one income. ## Example: €200,000 for two, 10 years on A couple borrow €200,000 over 40 years at the average rate on new loans, 3.00%: the payment is €715.97. After 10 years one of them dies, with €169,820 still owed. - At 50% each, the insurance pays the bank €84,910. The survivor keeps paying €357.98 a month for the 30 years left. - At 100% each, the insurance pays the whole €169,820. The payments stop. - At 100% with constant capital, the insurance pays the original €200,000: €169,820 goes to the bank and €30,180 to the policy’s beneficiaries. ## Decreasing or constant capital The insured capital is what the insurer pays out. Decreasing capital follows the debt down every year, and the premium with it. Constant capital stays at the amount borrowed — €200,000 in the example, or €100,000 at 50% — to the end, and whatever is left after the bank is paid goes to whoever the policy names. The bank needs only the capital still owed. Constant capital is, in effect, a family life policy bolted onto the mortgage one: it can make sense, but compare it with a separate life policy before paying for it. ## The health questionnaire and the right to be forgotten The insurer asks about your health before accepting you, and may load the premium or exclude conditions you already had. Anything misdeclared can later be used to refuse a claim: answer carefully. Anyone who has overcome, or keeps under control, a serious illness — the law names cancer, HIV, diabetes and hepatitis C, among others — has a right to be forgotten: once the period the law sets for each case has passed, they need not declare it, and it cannot raise the premium or exclude cover. [Lei 14/2026](https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/lei/14-2026-1092323202) (in Portuguese) strengthened this rule from Lei 75/2021. Ask the bank and the insurer what the period is for your case. ## Comparing each offer’s insurance On qualcredito.com, the insurance section shows each bank’s cover and premium over the term, and takes an outside insurer’s quote to see whether the saving pays for the discount you give up. Always compare at the same share per borrower and the same cover. ## In the glossary - [Life insurance](https://qualcredito.com/en/glossary#seguro-de-vida) - [Life insurance cover](https://qualcredito.com/en/glossary#cobertura-do-seguro-de-vida) - [Outstanding balance](https://qualcredito.com/en/glossary#capital-em-divida) - [Bonificação](https://qualcredito.com/en/glossary#bonificacao) - [FINE](https://qualcredito.com/en/glossary#fine) ## Other guides - [Mortgage rate discounts in Portugal: are they worth it?](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/mortgage-rate-discounts-portugal) - [How to compare mortgage offers in Portugal](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/compare-mortgage-offers-portugal) - [How to read a Portuguese FINE (ESIS)](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/how-to-read-a-fine) To compare offers you already hold, upload each bank's FINE at https://qualcredito.com/en/proposals. ## Pages - [Portugal mortgage comparison — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en) - [Your offers — qualcredito, Portugal mortgages](https://qualcredito.com/en/proposals) - [Example comparison — qualcredito, Portugal mortgages](https://qualcredito.com/en/example) - [Portugal mortgage glossary — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/glossary) - [About — qualcredito, Portugal mortgages](https://qualcredito.com/en/about) - [Contact — qualcredito, Portugal mortgages](https://qualcredito.com/en/contact) - [Privacy — qualcredito, Portugal mortgages](https://qualcredito.com/en/privacy) - [Terms of use — qualcredito, Portugal mortgages](https://qualcredito.com/en/terms) - [Portugal mortgage guides — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides) - [How to compare mortgage offers in Portugal — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/compare-mortgage-offers-portugal) - [How to read a FINE (Portugal’s ESIS) — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/how-to-read-a-fine) - [Rate discounts in Portugal: worth it? — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/mortgage-rate-discounts-portugal) - [Fixed, mixed or variable rate in Portugal — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/fixed-mixed-or-variable-rate) - [IMT and stamp duty in Portugal (2026) — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/imt-stamp-duty-portugal) - [Mortgage documents in Portugal: the checklist — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/mortgage-documents-portugal) - [Portugal mortgage: how much can I borrow? — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/how-much-can-i-borrow-portugal) - [Portugal mortgage for non-residents — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/portugal-mortgage-non-residents) - [Portugal mortgage repayment and paying early — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/mortgage-early-repayment-portugal) - [Euribor and your Portugal mortgage payment — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/euribor-mortgage-payment-portugal) - [Debt-to-income ratio for a Portugal mortgage — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/debt-to-income-ratio-portugal) - [Portugal mortgage life insurance: IAD, ITP — qualcredito](https://qualcredito.com/en/guides/mortgage-life-insurance-portugal) --- This is not financial advice. The figures are estimates and depend on what was read from each PDF, on the assumptions chosen and on rates that change.