life long morgages

ellens

hello. I am a widow of 55 years old. I own my own house outright. it is worth about £210.000.
A recent ad in the paper , looks very tempting, to releasing equity. not all just say £50. 000
Too good to be true?

lisyloo

Too good to be true?

Probably.
I'm not saying you can't do it but you need to be careful.

There is a organisation called SHIP (safe homes income plan) that only operate schemes where the debt will never exceeed the value of your home.

Do you know with this advert whether the debt might exceed the value of your home and they might go after your family to pay it?

Do you know whether you can transfer the scheme to a different property? (sheltered flat later in life)

My feeling is that one advertising in the paper will not have these safeguards in place but perhaps I'm being prejudiced.

You need to speak to an advisor to see what is the best plan for you.
There are different types of plan.
One is whether you borrow a lump sum and interest is simply added on.
Another is where you get some money in return for a % of your house.

Which scheme is best for you depends on your age and other factors which is why you need professional advice.

A good place to start is age concern.
They have a number of factsheets on this subject and even a book.

As this is a big decision then I would urge caution.
Equity release can be good but you ened to make sure you get the right scheme for you and that there are safeguards in place for both yourself and your beneficiaries.

So I would suggest that picking one out the the paper like you would a plumber is probably not the best way to go.

EdInvestor

Hi Ellen

At your age you would be better to consider selling your house and buying a cheaper one, releasing cash that way, as you are too young to get good value out of equity release. Leave it till later (nearer 70) and look at downsizing for now.

honellejai

My wife & I are both 67 and short of ready cash, as we have children (3) we do not really want an equity release scheme that adds on interest yearly. We have had the suggestion put to us that we take out a life time morgage. Our house is valued at approx. £210,000 and we would like to borrow £40,000 The interest would be fixed and we could afford them at present. term is for 30yrs. please everybody any advise on hidden pitfalls etc. to look out for that we may of overlooked or be aware of. NB. we have an existing morgage of £60,000 to be paid off later in the year of which £20,000 of the new morgage would go towards paying it off.
Would listen to any other ideas