Considering ALL Of Your Borrowing Options
Is Equity Release my only option?
Traditionally, Equity Release and Later Life Lending websites have provided you with an Equity Release calculator and nothing else.
This can mean that from the start of your research you have a bias towards Equity Release.
As there are several alternatives to Equity Release which may be more suited to your needs. We will help you explore these as well.
A better question to ask is, ‘What are the different types of Mortgage available to me and how much could I borrow on each?’.
What are the alternatives?
The amount you can borrow using Equity Release is based on the age of the youngest homeowner and the property value. You can borrow around 20% of the property value aged 55 rising to around 50% at age 80 and above.
Residential Interest Only mortgages for over 50s are affordability based and credit scored. The best option for you is to Contact us to discuss these.
Retirement Interest Only (RIO) providers offer some of the most flexible affordability calulations of all. These also require monthly payments to be made.
Borrowing Calculators
As the amount each person or couple can borrow varies so much with different types of Later Life Lending options and products, we have given you access to this ‘Borrowing Calculator‘ as an example.
If you use the link, it will take you to a Third Party Site (Livemore Capital) and show you the range of how much you can borrow. We cannot be held responsible fo the contents of any third party site. Thank you to our friends at Livemore for allowing us to use their calculator.
This will show you the range of what you could potentially borrow using a Standard or Lifetime Mortgage. When you are ready, you can either Contact Us for a personalised quote, or use our Advisor Match service to find an Advisor.
Affordability And Creating A Budget Planner
It is definitely worth assessing (or asking your Advisor to assess) the three borrowing options discussed above before you make a final decision. The key factor that links all the options is Affordability. Ensure that you complete a Budget Planner before you proceed with an application. This is simpler than it sounds.
Gather together your Bank Statements and your income or Pension details. Then, on one side of an A4 piece of paper, write two columns. One for Income, the other for outgoings. The list for income will include things like Salary, State Pension, Benefits and so on. The outgoings list will include all your Direct Debits and Standing Orders, as well as things you pay for with cash or your debit card such as shopping, entertainment and fuel. Remember to add all the periodic charges which you pay less often than monthly such as Home Insurance (if paid annually) to make your budget accurate.
Next step is to add up all your income and calculate the monthly income figure. Then, add all your outgoings and note your monthly figure. The income less the outgoings figure is your net monthly income. This is the figure that your Broker will use to calculate the affordability of any mortgage amount.