Equity Release Advice

murleykat

Where is the best place to get honest and straight forward advice on getting Equity Release?  We are in a crisis over a bank charge on our home due to a security given for our business, which went into administration 3 years ago.  My husband is 76 and I am 73.  The house only has 23k left to pay on mortgage and the equity is about 300k.

kingstreet

An Equity Release Council member who has the extended lifetime mortgage permissions would be the best first port of call.

MWT

murleykat said:

Where is the best place to get honest and straight forward advice on getting Equity Release?  We are in a crisis over a bank charge on our home due to a security given for our business, which went into administration 3 years ago.  My husband is 76 and I am 73.  The house only has 23k left to pay on mortgage and the equity is about 300k.

Do you know what you would have to pay to get the charge removed?

To get an equity release mortgage you would have to remove the charge and clear your existing mortgage (along with any ERC on that).

When comparing advisors you do need to check their fees as they can rage from a few hundred to a few thousand, but all of them would need to know more about the charge before they could look further into your options.

Similarly the biggest consideration is often the type of property you are in, the method of construction and how close it is to any commercial property, electricity pylons etc.

Do check your local advisors as well as they may be more in tune with the local market and are often more able to offer a more personal service.

Also ask if they are able to choose from the whole of the market, or if they are limited to a few products from a particular lender.