Do I need to speak to EVER Equity Release provider?

MWT

ACG said:

MWT said:

ACG said:

In addition to that, there are loads of stories on here about SAM mortgages which are not too disimilar to Equity release in principle. People did not know what they were signing up for. 

I wouldn't want people to think that current equity release products are anything even close to the SAM mortgages as there is a huge difference between signing up for a fixed and predictable interest rate roll-up for example and the SAM situation where the final amount due includes house value growth which was very unpredictable.

I'd say that even then people knew what they were signing up for in terms of the calculation, but what they didn't expect was the huge growth in house prices and the effect that would have on their ability to down-size in later life.

You can argue people knew what they were signing up for but posts on here say otherwise. SAM mortgages were before my time, I only found out about them on here. But when you read that people were not aware interest only meant interest only, its hardly surprising that ER mortgages are advice only. 

Many of those posts come from the children who just found out they are not going to inherit what they expected, or from those who have at best limited memory of what happened at the time.

The only real failing of the SAM mortgages was they they were just too beneficial to the lenders if the market prices went up too far, which of course they did. In the context of the historical price rises at the time, they were a gamble for the lender and a potentially good deal for the borrower, but there was of course a disparity of ability to forecast what might happen and the banks do seem to be compensating those involved, albeit only under duress.

100% agree with the regulation of the ER products though and I just wish it was also a requirement to inform potential beneficiaries about what they were doing, but that of course will never happen...

ACG

MWT said:

ACG said:

MWT said:

100% agree with the regulation of the ER products though and I just wish it was also a requirement to inform potential beneficiaries about what they were doing, but that of course will never happen...

Funnily enough, this is why we will never do equity release. 
Whilst I understand people want to keep their finances private, ultimately it will come out in the wash albeit after they are gone. 

As a small company, I dont need the headache of spurious complaints. I would only do ER if the kids are brought in on it but I know its just not worth doing in those scenarios. 

Even if you have a video of the person with a solicitor and a judge and a priest all present saying they are of sound mind and have had everything explained to them... they can still go to the FOS and then the headache drags on for months. 

YorkieMan

On the day of my father's (unexpected) death I discovered that I was his executor.  I also discovered in sorting out his paper work that he and his partner had taken out an ER mortgage eight years previously.  Did that bother me? Not at all.  What did bother me was that whereas in his will he left his house (after ER had been paid off) to me and my siblings, later investigations revealed that the house was in his partner's sole name and had been since they acquired the property when they first bought it, so was not his to gift.