We use essential cookies to enable our website to function and non-essential cookies for marketing purposes. You can change your cookie settings here, otherwise we’ll assume you’re OK with the current settings.
Opening Hours
Open at 9:00am on Monday
Monday - Thursday
9:00am - 8:00pm
Friday
9:00am - 5:30pm
Saturday
9:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday
Closed All Day
Our Address
Key, Baines House,
4 Midgery Court, Fulwood,
Preston, PR2 9ZH
UK FREEPHONE
0800 531 6027Whilst many advisers are happy to provide their initial consultation for free and without obligation, if you then decide to proceed you could be hit with a sizeable charge for their advice.
All of our equity release advice relates to our range of Key-branded lifetime mortgage products and is completely free of charge. So you can find out if it's right for you without it costing you a penny. Not just the initial consultation, but the whole advice process from start to finish.
For example, based on an average release amount of £98,499 a whole of market advice fee could cost you £1,960^. So, it's worth asking your adviser what they might charge you. And if they are charging an advice fee then you have nothing to lose by exploring your options with us.
If you were to add the cost of the advice to your loan as many do, this could end up costing you more over time due to compounding interest. After 15 years, the cost to your estate of adding the fee would look like this.
With Key it doesn't - our advice is always free. However, other advisers can charge you varying amounts depending on the size of your loan.
Typically whole of market advisers will either charge you a minimum fee, or a percentage of the release amount - whichever is larger. So above the minimum fee threshold, the more you release the more you pay in advice fees, despite the advice process being the same. So make sure you check with your adviser what fees they are going to charge you, if you do decide to seek advice from another company.
For example, using a minimum fee of £1499 or 1.99% of the release amount, let's take a look at how the amount you borrow affects the fees you will have to pay for whole of market advice:
The advice fees that many equity release advisers charge varies from company to company. In the table below you can see the advice fees charged by leading equity release specialists.
In 2019 we created and launched our own range of 70 lifetime mortgage plans using the unique insight we've gained from over 20 years' experience in equity release. We earn our money directly from the sale of a product. The big, and important, difference is we don't charge an advice fee on top of this, which means a real saving on the cost of advice for you, our customers.
We're happy to say that, since October 2019, our customers have saved over £4.5 million in advice fees as a result.
This is no gimmick. If you're eligible for one of our lifetime mortgage products, you're eligible for our free expert advice.
No, none of our products are priced differently to account for the costs of free advice.
Our range of equity release plans has been designed to meet most customers’ needs, with competitive annual interest rates as low as 2.24%** fixed for life and features such as inheritance protection for your loved ones. How our competitors price their products is constantly monitored and we try to offer rates as good as or in some cases better, on comparable products.
In fact we’re confident that our range of products is competitive in the market for rate and features – despite all our expert advice being fee-free. Here’s an example of how our lowest rate compares to two other leading providers in the market:
And when you combine our low rates and no advice fee your total cost of borrowing could be lower, when compared to a whole of market alternative.
Taking an average 70 year old customer with a house worth £320,418 we have compared the best available rates from across the market to the best of what Key can offer, and calculated the total cost of borrowing across a range of loan amounts. In each example we have added a whole of market advice fee (£1,499/1.99% of the release amount) to the initial loan, as many customers do this.
The results of the comparison, set out below, shows that choosing our free equity release advice and competitively priced plans, over the whole of market alternative, could reduce your total cost of borrowing.
The range of features available on our plans have been designed with you in mind, offering ways to manage the size of your loan, enhanced rates based on your personal health and no monthly repayments.
Choose whether to receive your tax-free cash in one go or in stages following an initial release
You can ring-fence a percentage of your home's future value to be passed on as a guaranteed inheritance, regardless of how much interest accrues.
If you, or any other applicant, have any health problems or make certain lifestyle choices, like smoking, you could be able to release more of your home's value.
Definitely. Even though we don’t charge you an advice fee we guarantee two in-depth appointments. We will take the time to thoroughly understand your personal circumstances and needs, always making sure you’ve considered all other borrowing options, and that you’re balancing your current needs with your long-term plans.
We’ll still do all the legwork – our qualified advisers will help you find the right product from our range of plans, answering all your questions about equity release and if it isn’t right for you, we’ll tell you. We always have your interests at heart, and if you do decide equity release is right for you, we’ll support you every step of the way from application to completion without ever charging you a fee for our advice.
We believe that your experience of equity release should be personal and transparent with all the support you need from start to finish. Our commitments to you are:
In a nutshell we offer fully-qualified, personalised and transparent advice so you can make the right decision about equity release, all completely free of charge.
Our equity release calculator uses two main factors to quickly work out how much tax-free cash you could release: