Rookery Farm
Mile Hill
Porthtowan
Truro TR4 8TY

The Mortgage Shop is a retired IFA that no longer gives direct advice on or arranges Equity Release. Instead, it passes your enquiry to a fully qualified and licensed professional firm in your local area that
will do this for you. This is a FREE referral; service to you, without any obligation, and you are completely at liberty to negotiate with the firm concerned the terms for their advice and services. The information provided is on the basis of our understanding of UK tax law and Inland Revenue practice and is subject to change.  This site is intended for persons aged 18 or over, resident or ordinarily resident, in the United Kingdom. email: bobstark@mortgagefor.me.uk

This is about Equity Release Plans. To understand the features and risks, ask for a personalised illustration. The actual APR rate available will depend upon your circumstances.

With Equity Release, the maximum amount you can borrow is usually how much you can raise, based on your age and the property value, to improve or at least maintain, your lifestyle, or perhaps to help your children or grandchildren. But you also need to be secure in the knowledge that you will be able to live in your home for as long as you want, without the burden of having to meet regular payments out of limited retirement income in order to service the loan.

Note that you do not necessarily need to own a house to benefit from equity release - you can also buy one using equity release for the deposit. And you can also buy a better one using your existing equity as the deposit.
 
This is a difficult area and most people do not always appreciate that they don't know enough about all the options or understand all the pitfalls that can be encountered. You also need to be aware of and take account of the possible effects of taking equity release on any State Benefits you are entitled to.

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Many people find it confusing when trying to understand and distinguish between the advantages and disadvantages of the two main types of equity release - the Lifetime Mortgage and the Home Reversion Plan - The Mortgage Shop has designed and published three new calculators on this site in the hope that this will make the differences clearer for you. Click on the links below to try them out.

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The calculators will you to work out fairly accurately just how much capital you can raise and will also allow you to compare the alternatives methods of a Lifetime Mortgage and a Home Reversion Plan meaningfully. This should help you to judge for yourself whether or not you should seriously be considering one or other of these schemes, to release capital or income or both, from your home. Furthermore, each scheme is examined and the benefits and pitfalls of equity release are identified, so that you can assess the risks in your own particular case. This includes the effect inflation will have on your remaining property value and the possible effect on Inheritance tax liability.

We strongly recommend that you take professional advice on the alternatives, and particularly the effect on State benefits, before committing yourself to any type of equity release plan. You will see at the top of the page the effect this simple check had on one couple. For example, I recently successfully challenged a DWP ruling that a couple were not entitled to Pension Credits. As a result their income was increased by almost £175 per month, which  lessened their need for equity release to produce income.

For very good reasons all equity release  lenders insist that you take professional advice before committing yourself.

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When releasing equity from your home, making the right choice is something you need to get right first time as it is frequently impossible to change the arrangements once they are in place.

In a nutshell, this is why you really do need professional advice

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I recently succesfully challenged a DWP statement that a married couple were not entitled to  Pension Credits. As a result, their State income was increased by almost £175 per month

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If, after reading the information and trying out the calculators, you wish to take it further then I will introduce you, without any obligation, to a fully qualified and FSA approved whole of market adviser in your local area. He, or she, will advise you and make any arrangements for you that you wish. I am not involved in this process and you are free to make your own arrangements with them as to any fees or commission they will receive in payment for their services. They will pay me a small introductory fee, without any cost to you and not directly related to any business you may eventually place with them.

So, as you can see, I offer you the benefit of my long experience, I charge you nothing and I have no axe to grind if you do nothing. I really can't get much more independent than that.

As a retired independent financial adviser, who specialised in mortgages and equity release for almost 30 years, I have extensive experience in this field, but in retirement I no longer directly advise on or arrange equity release mortgages. Instead, I offer the information and calculators available to you on this site, which are distilled from my long experience of what works and what does not. I do not charge you any fees whatsoever for the information you will find here or for using the facilities.

Wherever you live, The Mortgage Shop offers you a free referral service to a qualified and FSA authorised professional in your area, who can help you through the complicated issues involved. One that deals with the whole of the market when giving advice.

You should also discuss it with your family, who may wish to help you, so that you can avoid giving away all or part of your estate at your family's expense.