Pension Credits/loan Advice

mustbemoreorganised

My parents are pensioners and with my dads small private pension they just miss out on claiming pension credits. The rising cost of living is really hurting them, my sister and I help out when we can but they need a new boiler and some electrical work doing which we can't pay for. We have encouraged them to go the equity release route as I want them to have some money now rather than leave me and my sister the house but my dad is adamant it's a con and he isn't interested. My question is, on looking at the pension credit calculator
http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/pensioncredit/calculator/calculate.asp it appears that if they took out a home loan of say £5,000 for the work then they would qualify for nearly enough pension credits to pay for the loan. Does anyone have any experience of this, it seems to good to be true. They live in a 2 bed terrace in not a great area so downsizing is not an option unless they go in a caravan. Many thanks