Has anyone done equity release?

We took out a Lifetime Mortgage with Legal and General last year at 1.9% interest. We pay the interest monthly so that we will only owe the capital sum if and when we cash in, go in to a home or die. We can pay off at any time and will only pay a bit more than we owe if interest rates go even lower, which they have for now but they will increase again. When they are higher it will benefit Legal and General to let us pay off the money to give to someone else at a higher rate. Of course we'd only do this if we won the money or sold up and down sized. We can also continue the arrangement if the new property is of suitable value. We are very happy with our deal and have been able to get some work done on the house and buy a few lovely things to make home even better to live in. Please pm me if you want further detail and I'll try to help.

I took £36 000 of equity out of my house to build an extension on to make it disability friendly, the interest is added to what you borrow - you pay nothing back until you go into care or die. It suited my purposes and you cannot have negative amounts, but may leave nothing when you die.

Some friends of mine did it some years back, and now regret it. They are stuck in a large house, a fair walk from town and would like to come nearer to town in a more manageable house. Impossible, as the remaining equity in their house, after paying off the debt, would not leave enough to do this. Yes, they have used the money to finance a better lifestyle, but now feel it was a bad mistake to make.

Grannyguitar have they enquired whether they can simply move the debt to another house?
That should be possible.

Grannyguitar have they enquired whether they can simply move the debt to another house?

Thats only possible if you also have savings to cover the moving costs.

If you dont you need to use equity to pay the moving expenses/fees

love books
I agree with you whole heartedly, having had a relative in a similar situation. Equity Release drove her into having a nervous break down
These companies are so good at selling these things, making them sound like the answer to all your problems. My experience is, they are a cause to most of your problems, and your children's once you are gone. Nothing short of a scam. Don't go there!!

There is difference between the old Equity Release and a Lifetime Mortgage.

You can pay off the interest on a life time mortgage and only owe the principle. People decrying them are not up to date with the modern products.

Regardless, I'd never take out any of these products. Basically you are ceding all future control to a third party. Having spent all one's working life paying off a mortgage, why start having another one? You can never completely foresee your future. We thought we'd never move again, but we did to be near our family. We managed to release quite a bit of equity on moving - not downshifting as such - but it was a much cheaper area so our money went a lot further. I wonder what will happen now, if the property market nosedives, as some are predicting? Your equity could be wiped out completely.

Not all future control at all.

My mum wanted a lump sum for work on the house after my dad died so we looked at all options and she took out an interest only mortgage with easily affordable monthly interest payments.

This has worked well for her and although money owed to BS doesn't decrease, the value of the house has, over the years. She is happy with this.

Quite a few Building Societies will lend to older people providing they can afford the interest payments.

My friend did this. It paid for a stairlift and she retired two years early so she went on lots of holidays.
She didn’t have any family and she enjoyed herself. This was in the 1990s. Her house couldn’t have appreciated very much being in a depressed Northern town but she was taken on.
It worked for her.

We took out a lifetime mortgage to pay for some improvements. We pay interest monthly, so the amount we borrowed never changes.

My Mother and Stepfather did equity release in 2017. They had no mortgage and took out the maximum amount possible, which I believe was about £80,000. My brother was a witness and signed the documents and it was a year later that I was told about this decision. As my Mum is 88 and hardly ever goes out at all these days, it appears that my Stepfather has sole control of the money. He did mention recently that the amount available to him is now only about £40,000. Other than that I don't know any details and they all refuse to discuss it with me. My brother just says 'Whats done is done' and its no use crying over spilt milk. I do feel hurt that i wasn't included in any decisions or discussions and I do worry about what will happen if either of them need to go into a home. It would appear that they can't downsize and the money seems to be disappearing rapidly. Apart from my Stepfather buying a new car, I have no idea what it has been spent on. I just wondered what other peoples views are on this situation as it seems to be a rash decision to me, but I am not allowed to have a discussion about it.