We took out a Lifetime Mortgage with Godiva in 2010, and I have never regretted anything more! Firstly their interest rate remains fixed, so that even when interest rates go down dramatically, theirs remains at 6%. Our idea was of reducing the value, and therefore IHT in the future, for our two children, and in the meantime getting stuff done and maybe grabbing some interesting holidays en route. We had, at the time, cleared our mortgage.
We got the roof fixed, but that was it, as my husband died in 2013, and since then I've been in no mood to holiday. At the time, the future seemed like a long way away, and the plan was recommended from a good friend we trusted. It's now 2020, and I'm thinking of selling/downsizing, so need every penny this house might bring, but that money is currently bleeding away - what a nice little earner it's been for these sharks. I certainly didn't go for the complete amount they kept offering me, which was a lot! Avoid these creatures like the plague.