New 'right to be forgotten' rule eases loan access for cancer survivors
By Zak Jackson, MonacoViews Editorial
Monaco has activated a scheme letting former cancer and hepatitis C patients skip declaring their medical history when applying for borrower's insurance.
A new government scheme is now operational in Monaco, giving people who have had cancer or hepatitis C the right to leave their medical history off loan insurance applications. The measure, known as the droit à l'oubli, applies once treatment has been completed for more than five years with no relapse, and the applicant is under 71 years old.
For residents and property owners in the Principality, this matters directly at the mortgage desk. Borrower's insurance, a near-universal requirement for home loans here, has long meant insurers could load premiums or refuse cover outright based on past illness, even years after full recovery. This scheme removes that disclosure requirement for qualifying applicants, which should translate into fairer terms and faster approvals for those affected.
Those who do not meet the five-year threshold are not left without options; a separate grid of standardised conditions, covering shorter post-treatment periods, is also part of the framework, though specific terms depend on individual case assessment. Banks and insurers operating in Monaco will need to apply the new rules when assessing borrower's insurance from now on, a shift that advocacy groups for cancer survivors have pushed for over several years.