Equity Release Section

Age Concern Offers FREE Equity Release Guide

Many professional financial advisors (often referred to as IFAs or Independent Financial Advisors) world argue that elderly people looking to take out a Equity Release scheme should be extremely wary as there are many bad deals and products being offered.

Equity Release (ER) is a complex product and chances are if you don’t do your research and fully understand what you’re buying then you will be at the mercy of the ER provider. And this is clearly not good news when dealing with such as important financially dominant asset as your property.

Thankfully Age Concern, the UK registered charity has just published a free guide to Equity Release. Call 0800 169 5276 for more details or visit their website.

Some Critical Advice on Equity Release

If you're thinking about taking out an Equity Release scheme then follow these simple rules -

• From a financial standpoint it's often a far better decision to move to a cheaper property, ie if you live in a £200k property with little or no mortgage consider selling it and buying one for £150k - this will release up to £50k in cash
• Always involve your family before signing any documents
• NEVER do business with the first company you approach, always check out the competition and see if they can offer you anything better
• UNDERSTAND exactly what you're getting yourself into
• Take professional advice and get everything in writing
• Also, check out the Financial Services Authority's (FSA) guideline on Equity Release

See Also

• The LearnMoney.co.uk help section on Equity Release
• Age Concern's website
• Find's list of Equity Release providers