You must take advice from a qualified equity release adviser to apply for a lifetime mortgage. It's a regulatory requirement.
The amount of cash you can release depends on things such as your age, health and the value of your home. With a lifetime mortgage, you can take either a lump sum, where interest accrues on the full amount from day one, or following an initial release in a number of smaller amounts, known as a drawdown. This could save you thousands in interest if you don’t need all the money straight away.
There are typically no repayments to make with a lifetime mortgage, as the loan, plus roll-up interest, is repaid when the plan ends. That's usually when you either pass away or move into long term care. When you take out a lifetime mortgage, the interest accrues, then rolls up and is added to the loan. This is also known as compound interest.
The tax-free cash you release through a lifetime mortgage can be used on anything you like – see how our customers used theirs.
Your adviser can personalise your plan to make it suitable for your needs and wants. It depends what’s important to you. For instance, with some of our plans, you can choose to guarantee an inheritance for your loved ones through inheritance protection.
Other features include the option to make capital repayments to reduce the overall cost of your plan. And for added peace of mind, we can personalise your plan with downsizing protection so you can move home in the future if you need to. That usually comes into effect after you’ve had the plan for five years and if your new property doesn’t meet our criteria.
As with any mortgage, what remains from the sale of your property after your plan has come to an end can be passed on as an inheritance. And because all of our plans are approved by the Equity Release Council, they all come with the no negative equity guarantee. That means you’ll never owe more than your home’s worth, so you can’t pass on any debt accrued through equity release to your loved ones.