Equity Release - action groups

HillStreetBlues

Pollycat said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Pollycat said:

HillStreetBlues said:

MattMattMattUK said:

People signed up in full knowledge of what they were signing up to and how the product worked. The power of compound interest is well known and so over 15+ years it's impact was going to be obvious. What kind of "action" do you expect to be taken?

That's too general. There will be people that won't have understood the full ramifications.
That's why everyone should take independent  advice of taking out those kind of products, sadly not everyone does.

But whose fault is it if people don't take advice before signing up?
Where is personal responsibility in this?

PPI was not only mis-sold it was mis-bought.

People were allowed to buy polices that were of no use to them.
If they had taken independent advice they wouldn't have bought the policy,  but many of them still got refunds.

What evidence do you have that this equity release was mis-sold?

Point out where I said that!

Pollycat

HillStreetBlues said:

Pollycat said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Pollycat said:

HillStreetBlues said:

MattMattMattUK said:

People signed up in full knowledge of what they were signing up to and how the product worked. The power of compound interest is well known and so over 15+ years it's impact was going to be obvious. What kind of "action" do you expect to be taken?

That's too general. There will be people that won't have understood the full ramifications.
That's why everyone should take independent  advice of taking out those kind of products, sadly not everyone does.

But whose fault is it if people don't take advice before signing up?
Where is personal responsibility in this?

PPI was not only mis-sold it was mis-bought.

People were allowed to buy polices that were of no use to them.
If they had taken independent advice they wouldn't have bought the policy,  but many of them still got refunds.

What evidence do you have that this equity release was mis-sold?

Point out where I said that!

Point out where I said you did say that!

You mentioned the subject of PPI and mis-selling/mis-buying into into a thread about equity release that may or may not have been mis-sold or mis-bought.

As a poster said up-thread:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

It's very different to payday loans and PPI.  Those are products negligently sold to people without checking they have the means to repay or the need for the product.  Your parents presumably needed to release equity from their house?

HillStreetBlues

Pollycat said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Pollycat said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Pollycat said:

HillStreetBlues said:

MattMattMattUK said:

People signed up in full knowledge of what they were signing up to and how the product worked. The power of compound interest is well known and so over 15+ years it's impact was going to be obvious. What kind of "action" do you expect to be taken?

That's too general. There will be people that won't have understood the full ramifications.
That's why everyone should take independent  advice of taking out those kind of products, sadly not everyone does.

But whose fault is it if people don't take advice before signing up?
Where is personal responsibility in this?

PPI was not only mis-sold it was mis-bought.

People were allowed to buy polices that were of no use to them.
If they had taken independent advice they wouldn't have bought the policy,  but many of them still got refunds.

What evidence do you have that this equity release was mis-sold?

Point out where I said that!

Point out where I said you did say that!

You mentioned the subject of PPI and mis-selling/mis-buying into into a thread about equity release that may or may not have been mis-sold or mis-bought.

As a poster said up-thread:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

It's very different to payday loans and PPI.  Those are products negligently sold to people without checking they have the means to repay or the need for the product.  Your parents presumably needed to release equity from their house?

So that was a no then.

I was pointing out that just because a person doesn't take independent advice before taking out, doesn't mean it's always classed as their fault.

Pollycat

HillStreetBlues said:

Pollycat said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Pollycat said:

HillStreetBlues said:

Pollycat said:

HillStreetBlues said:

MattMattMattUK said:

People signed up in full knowledge of what they were signing up to and how the product worked. The power of compound interest is well known and so over 15+ years it's impact was going to be obvious. What kind of "action" do you expect to be taken?

That's too general. There will be people that won't have understood the full ramifications.
That's why everyone should take independent  advice of taking out those kind of products, sadly not everyone does.

But whose fault is it if people don't take advice before signing up?
Where is personal responsibility in this?

PPI was not only mis-sold it was mis-bought.

People were allowed to buy polices that were of no use to them.
If they had taken independent advice they wouldn't have bought the policy,  but many of them still got refunds.

What evidence do you have that this equity release was mis-sold?

Point out where I said that!

Point out where I said you did say that!

You mentioned the subject of PPI and mis-selling/mis-buying into into a thread about equity release that may or may not have been mis-sold or mis-bought.

As a poster said up-thread:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

It's very different to payday loans and PPI.  Those are products negligently sold to people without checking they have the means to repay or the need for the product.  Your parents presumably needed to release equity from their house?

So that was a no then.

I was pointing out that just because a person doesn't take independent advice before taking out, doesn't mean it's always classed as their fault.

OK.
Maybe it would have been better if you had put it like that in the first place.

I can't understand why anyone would take such a big financial decision like equity release without taking independent advice.

HillStreetBlues

Pollycat said:

I can't understand why anyone would take such a big financial decision like equity release without taking independent advice.

I totally agree with that.

DullGreyGuy

Pollycat said:

OK.
Maybe it would have been better if you had put it like that in the first place.

I can't understand why anyone would take such a big financial decision like equity release without taking independent advice.

This site, which is non-advisory, recommends non-advisory providers of loans in excess of the amount of the lifetime mortgage the OP's parents took. Not many are going to go to an advisor for £40k loans this site promotes. 

Even with regular mortgages 40% of people buy without any form of broker and not all the brokers the other 60% use are advisory. 

The reality of direct sales, telephone/internet applications etc is that people think advice is expensive and doesn't add value. Unfortunately many of these are also the people that click the "I agree" button to 10 pages of T&Cs without reading any of them. 

TELLIT01

Many equity release deals in the 80s and 90s were a total rip off and properties could end up in negative equity.  I seem to recall companies trying to lay claim to other assets to cover their 'loss'.  Things have changed but people still do need to appreciate the reality of equity release.  Capital is being taken from the property and interest is being charged on that amount.  I would have no second thoughts about equity release as we have no kids/grandkids to leave it to.  My wife's sister, or her kids, will inherit if they outlive us, but I feel no obligation to leave them anything.  If releasing equity can give us a better standard of living why shouldn't we make use of it.  Come to that, if I had kids who obviously expected to inherit I would probably do the same thing.  I was reading a quote by Jackie Chan today who said he won't be leaving any part of his fortune to his children.  If they work hard they will make their own, and if they don't they would be wasting his.

Pollycat

DullGreyGuy said:

Pollycat said:

OK.
Maybe it would have been better if you had put it like that in the first place.

I can't understand why anyone would take such a big financial decision like equity release without taking independent advice.

This site, which is non-advisory, recommends non-advisory providers of loans in excess of the amount of the lifetime mortgage the OP's parents took. Not many are going to go to an advisor for £40k loans this site promotes. 

Even with regular mortgages 40% of people buy without any form of broker and not all the brokers the other 60% use are advisory. 

The reality of direct sales, telephone/internet applications etc is that people think advice is expensive and doesn't add value. Unfortunately many of these are also the people that click the "I agree" button to 10 pages of T&Cs without reading any of them. 

So...
Caveat emptor.
Your money.
Your responsibility to look after it.
Or not if you can't be bothered to read what you're signing up to.

DullGreyGuy

Pollycat said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Pollycat said:

OK.
Maybe it would have been better if you had put it like that in the first place.

I can't understand why anyone would take such a big financial decision like equity release without taking independent advice.

This site, which is non-advisory, recommends non-advisory providers of loans in excess of the amount of the lifetime mortgage the OP's parents took. Not many are going to go to an advisor for £40k loans this site promotes. 

Even with regular mortgages 40% of people buy without any form of broker and not all the brokers the other 60% use are advisory. 

The reality of direct sales, telephone/internet applications etc is that people think advice is expensive and doesn't add value. Unfortunately many of these are also the people that click the "I agree" button to 10 pages of T&Cs without reading any of them. 

So...
Caveat emptor.
Your money.
Your responsibility to look after it.
Or not if you can't be bothered to read what you're signing up to.

Yes and no... if you cannot be bothered to read what you are agreeing to then certainly you should accept the responsibility for that.

There are however some very complex financial products out there and there is probably good reason why they aren't available for people to buy on confused.com, and some not even via advisors. 

LTMs are complex from an underwriting perspective as you are balancing longevity risk against property prices and interest rates but from a consumer side they're not much more complex than a traditional mortgage

Pollycat

DullGreyGuy said:

Pollycat said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Pollycat said:

OK.
Maybe it would have been better if you had put it like that in the first place.

I can't understand why anyone would take such a big financial decision like equity release without taking independent advice.

This site, which is non-advisory, recommends non-advisory providers of loans in excess of the amount of the lifetime mortgage the OP's parents took. Not many are going to go to an advisor for £40k loans this site promotes. 

Even with regular mortgages 40% of people buy without any form of broker and not all the brokers the other 60% use are advisory. 

The reality of direct sales, telephone/internet applications etc is that people think advice is expensive and doesn't add value. Unfortunately many of these are also the people that click the "I agree" button to 10 pages of T&Cs without reading any of them. 

So...
Caveat emptor.
Your money.
Your responsibility to look after it.
Or not if you can't be bothered to read what you're signing up to.

Yes and no... if you cannot be bothered to read what you are agreeing to then certainly you should accept the responsibility for that.

There are however some very complex financial products out there and there is probably good reason why they aren't available for people to buy on confused.com, and some not even via advisors. 

LTMs are complex from an underwriting perspective as you are balancing longevity risk against property prices and interest rates but from a consumer side they're not much more complex than a traditional mortgage

But equity release is available to buy via Google or one of the TV ads.