The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently estimated that there are around 2.6 million people with interest-only mortgages in the UK. These figures excluded buy-to-let mortgages. A lifetime mortgage may be the answer for some? To help with this mortgage companies are coming up with some creative solutions. For many, equity release is still the best and [...]
By John Cossons, Equity Release Adviser. As an Equity Release Adviser, when I first talk to clients about equity release they generally have three main concerns. I don't want to lose ownership of my house. Taking out a Lifetime Mortgage does not affect the ownership of your home. The property remains yours and the mortgage, plus [...]
Recent figures from the Equity Release Council show that a total of £3.92 billion of housing equity was withdrawn by older homeowners in 2019. What is the most popular plan? The most popular product amongst older homeowners continues to be a drawdown mortgage. 64% of new customers opted for a drawdown product against taking a lump [...]
Recent figures produced by the Equity Release Council shows that consumers are taking advantage of record-low rates. First of all, consumer demand continued to grow as older homeowners recognised the crucial role that property wealth can play in supporting their retirement alongside pensions, savings and other assets. 2019 saw the total number of customers served reach [...]
First of all, going through a divorce is never easy. However, taking sound independent financial advice early on can make a real difference. For example, a split where one party gets the home and the other get the cash and investments may seem fair at first. However, the fall out may be that one party is [...]
By John Cossons, Equity Release Adviser I have recently completed an Equity Release re-mortgage for a client who took out a plan 12 years ago. This was at a time when Lifetime Mortgage interest rates were much higher. By re-mortgaging the outstanding balance, which included the initial loan, the rolled-up interest, along with the early repayment [...]
By Darren Amos, Independent Financial Adviser and Equity Release expert. We’ve all heard horror stories about Equity Release and how people have lost everything, but are they true? To be brutally honest, the answer is probably yes…. or at least it used to be. Like most things in life, most schemes were perfectly suited to clients [...]
By John Cossons, Equity Release Adviser. This article is based on a recent equity release case that I completed. A 71-year-old client of mine had sold her property and was looking for a new house closer to her family. In an ideal world, she would have loved to buy a bungalow. However, she did not have [...]
Some will have look at equity release in the early days when the industry was not strictly regulated and policed. They may have looked at it when interest rates were at a very high level. Some feel that equity release sometimes referred to as Lifetime Mortgages are inflexible, costly and takes advantage of people when they [...]
The housing charity Shelter released a report that showed property prices had increased by more than 43 times from what they were in 1971. They highlighted that this increase was far in excess of year on year inflation. After building up such a high level of equity in their property over the years, homeowners with an [...]
