EQUITY RELEASE ADVICE

As professional lifetime mortgage advisors we want to help you get the most from your retirement. We’ll help you plan your golden years in comfort.

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With a Lifetime Mortgage, we can help homeowners aged 55+ to supplement their retirement income.

One way that homeowners aged 55-95 like you are supplementing their retirement income is to use a Lifetime Mortgage or Home Reversion Plan (both commonly referred to as equity release) to unlock the tax-free cash in their home to spend in any way they choose. We would love to help you with your equity release (lifetime mortgage). GHL Direct mortgage advisors are very flexible and offer appointments over the phone, via video call or face to face so you don't even have to leave home.

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Your lifetime mortgage advisor can search 1000s of mortgage rates from over 50 of the UKs top mortgage lenders. We can even get exclusive deals your own bank may not offer you.

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We’ll also help with the application paperwork for you, then chase the lender for updates to keep it stress free. Your mortgage professional is with you the whole way, just a quick phone call away when you need.

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Lifetime Mortgage Advice

If you are a homeowner, you can take out a lifetime mortgage from age 55. With regards to a maximum age, lenders have different criteria, some lenders will specify an aged range of 55 – 95 but many don’t.

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There isn’t a difference between them, because a lifetime mortgage is a type of equity release plan. Equity release is a generic term used to describe a way of releasing equity from a property e.g. house. In the later life market, there are various equity release schemes available – a lifetime mortgage (the most popular), a home reversion plan and Retirement interest only mortgage.

The most popular equity release plan is a lifetime mortgage. In essence, they provide homeowners with access to some of the value, or equity, tied up in their properties. If you have any worries our specialist lifetime mortgage advisors will be more than happy to explain all the pros and cons of this type of equity release. Please do ask us, we are very friendly.

Equity release lifetime mortgages work by remaining in place for the duration of the borrower’s life. In most cases, mortgages are not repaid until the last surviving borrower dies or moves into long-term care. Interest typically compounds or ‘rolls up’ over time and increases over time. Once the provider has been repaid, any proceeds are passed on to your estate and distributed to beneficiaries. Equity release lifetime mortgage payments are flexible, too. You can decide whether to take the cash as a lump sum or in several smaller chunks known as ‘drawdown.’ In both instances, the money released is tax-free and you are only ever charged interest on the amount you withdraw.

These are based on health and lifestyle factors and if you qualify, allow you to borrow more money, or get a lower interest rate. In both instances, life expectancy and medical underwriting are used to calculate the maximum release of equity, or what the lower interest rate will be.

These work in much the same way as an interest-only residential mortgage in that they allow the borrower to repay the interest accruing monthly and maintain a level balance.

Drawdown plans provide an initial cash lump sum and a cash reserve facility from which the homeowner can take future cash withdrawals as and when required.

Looking for equity release advice?

We have specialist lifetime mortgage advisors ready to help. Book your free call-back today for an informal fee free chat.

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Repayment Methods

The two most common ways of repaying your mortgage are capital repayment and interest only.

Capital Repayment

On a repayment mortgage, your monthly payments will partly go towards repaying the interest accrued on the money you’ve borrowed and partly towards repaying the capital sum (i.e. the amount you borrowed).

The benefit of capital repayment is that you’ll be able to see your outstanding mortgage reducing each year (albeit very slowly in the early years), and you are also guaranteed that your debt will be repaid at the end of the mortgage term, as long as you keep up your payments. On a capital repayment mortgage, the shorter the term you pay your mortgage over the bigger your monthly payments will be.

By having a longer term, you may benefit from a lower monthly payment, but you will also pay more interest to the lender over the mortgage term.

Capital repayment is the most common way of repaying your mortgage.

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Interest Only Mortgage

For an interest only mortgage, your monthly payments will only cover the interest on your mortgage balance. The capital you owe (i.e. the amount you borrowed) will not go down and you will need to repay this in full at the end of your mortgage term. This means you will need to make a separate investment or combination of investments to generate the capital required, and you will also need to prove that you can afford to do this.

You should bear in mind that the value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the original amount invested. For an interest only mortgage, the lender will need to see your plan for repaying the loan when the interest only period ends. If you fail to generate enough to repay your mortgage by the end of the mortgage term, you may be forced to sell your property.

With an interest only mortgage, you must be able to demonstrate how you will repay the capital sum at the end of the term.

Costs Involved

It’s easy to underestimate the mortgage costs involved when remortgaging your property.

Lenders may ask you to pay a valuation fee. The type of valuation you choose will depend on factors such as the age and condition of the property.

These are the costs your lender will charge you for arranging your mortgage. Some lenders will allow the fee to be added on to your mortgage, but this means you will be charged interest on it over the mortgage term.

The fees charged by a solicitor will include their conveyancing fee (i.e. for the transfer of land ownership), as well as charges for legal registrations and other miscellaneous costs (known as disbursements) such as local search fees and Land Registry fees. Some lenders may offer to finance some or all of your legal costs as an incentive.

If the amount you wish to borrow is greater than a specified proportion of the property’s value (typically 75%), you may incur a higher lending charge.

Lenders may charge an ERC if you make an overpayment in excess of any stated limit, if the loan is repaid early or if you remortgage during the early repayment period. This can amount to a significant cost, so you should always check the early repayment terms in the offer letter from your lender.

Lenders may charge a fee to release the deeds of a mortgaged property to you or a new lender.

Before we get started, we will explain how we will be paid for arranging your mortgage if it all.

What else do you need to know?

Buying a property isn’t just about the right mortgage; it also involves solicitors, surveys and insurance. Before offering you a mortgage, your lender will instruct a survey to confirm the price you’re paying for the property is appropriate. The most common types of survey are:

Homebuyer’s Report

The report will include comments on the property’s defects and the valuer’s opinion as to its marketability

Basic Mortgage Valuation

This is for the lender’s own purposes to confirm the property provides security for the loan you have applied for.

Full Structural Survey

This report is the most comprehensive survey and is based on a detailed examination of the property you are buying.

Solicitors

You may need to appoint a solicitor or conveyancer to act on your behalf. They will undertake the legal work required to ensure the ownership (title) of the property and land transfers successfully. If you don’t already have a solicitor who undertakes conveyancing work, we can recommend one using a specialist company that provides access to a nationwide network of solicitors. Some lenders will offer to pay for the basic mortgage valuation as an incentive. You may also want to consider one of the more detailed surveys, depending on the age and condition of the property. In most cases you can use the same surveyor to carry out both surveys, but there’s nothing to stop you appointing an independent surveyor should you choose to do so. We can help you do this. Solicitors, valuers and surveyors are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

What we do for you

GHL Direct advisors offer flexible appointments over the phone, via video call, or face-to-face, wherever and whenever you works for you. We pride ourselves on being transparent, trustworthy and honest.

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An appointment when you need one

Informed about any costs upfront

Help with all the application paperwork

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Access to over 50 of the UKs top lenders

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You get simple and lifetime mortgage advice

All of our remortgage advisors are authorised by the financial conduct authority, this means you can trust GHL Direct

With GHL Direct

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Pressure to take our financial advice

Made to wait weeks for an appointment

Hit you with unknown costs later on

Unregulated financial advisors

Stressed out with telephone switchboards

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