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Any starting point in equity release research needs to be assessing whether your goals can be accomplished. An equity release calculator will net your results to provide an overall maximum release. Whether this is for the more popular roll-up lifetime mortgage, or interest only lifetime mortgage, the answer to these are essential to prevent wasting your time trying to realise an impossible dream. The EquityReleaseCalculator.net website provide a suite of calculator tools & information appertaining to releasing equity from your main residence. By establishing the maximum equity release possible, enables you to continue further your research into finding which equity release schemes meet your requirements.

The Purpose of Equity Release Calculators

If you are in your retirement period, own your own property and are in need of an additional source of income, an equity release plan might be the solution that you are looking for. Equity release allows you to release money that you have invested in your property. The advantage of equity release is that you do not need to make any monthly repayment.

The money that is received from an equity release plan is tax-free and can be used for any purpose. By now, you might be wondering how much money it is possible to borrow from an equity release provider. The fastest way for you to find this out is through the use of equity release calculators. Equity release calculators help you to calculate the total amount of money that you can borrow.

Although equity release calculators are free and can be very helpful in the equity release process, you are not obligated to use them. It is however recommended for you to use them because they will give you a general idea of how much money you can borrow based on a number of factors. These factors include: the total amount of the property, the age of the borrow, the health of the borrower, and any outstanding mortgage or loan. If you are applying for a London equity release scheme with your partner, equity release calculators will work with age of the youngest applicant.

Equity release calculators can be found on almost all web-based equity release sites. One of the most popular web-based equity release sites is www.compareequityrelease.com. This website as well as many other website offers three different equity release calculators. One calculator is meant for healthy applicants who are interested in an equity release plan based on roll-up interest. One calculator is used for applicants who have poor health and have had a history of bad health. One calculator is used for applicants interested in an interest only lifetime mortgage plan.

Although the maximum amount that you can borrow is calculated by equity release calculators, it is not advisable to borrow the full amount. Equity release calculators are not meant to be used as the deciding factor. Instead, they are meant to be used as a part of the decision-making process.

Finally, do not take the figures from an calculation literally, Always seek independent advice from a specialist who is qualified and licensed to provide recommendations based on lifetime mortgage and home reversion plans home reversion plans from the whole of the market.

What is the Equity Release Compound Interest Formula?

Understanding the Equity Release Compound Interest Formula

Equity release can offer a flexible solution for many people to deal with their financial difficulties by accessing the equity built into their home; but it is important to remember that releasing equity from your home is a potentially life changing decision.

Depending on what type of equity release plan you opt for, you either lose ownership of a part, or all of your home, or have a lifelong mortgage secured on your property. Home equity schemes are not for the faint hearted and thorough research and professional advice is key to success.

In the case of roll-up equity release schemes, the interest on the lifetime mortgage keeps on compounding, and the final amount can often end up being so large as to erode all the equity in your home, leaving nothing for your beneficiaries.

Protection from ongoing compounding interest

However, the good news is that all equity release mortgages recommended by any authorised equity release adviser should come with ‘no negative equity guarantees‘. This ensures that the value of the equity release mortgage can never be more than the value of the property, period. This also provides protection for the plan-holders beneficiaries in that they themselves can never end up owing anything to the lender themselves.

In order to calculate whether this situation would ever arise you need access to an equity release compound interest calculator which can help you understand how much the interest on your mortgage could compound to over a certain term.

The viability of an equity release plan from the perspective of the lender, depends on what plan it is. For instance, in the case of an interest only lifetime mortgage, the shorter the term of the loan, the fewer the risks for the lender. But in the case of a roll up lifetime mortgage, the longer the term of the loan, the more interest compounds and the more profitable it becomes for the lender.

Equity release compound interestarises when the interest payable on the equity release loan amount is added to the loan amount itself, and interest is then payable on this combined figure, and so on and so forth. This way, the interest accrues interest on itself, and goes on compounding.

This compounding of equity release interest can quickly result in a large debt, and often this is the reason why many people with roll-up lifetime mortgages could have potentially been left with a negative equity on their loan. However, the no negative equity guarantee fortunately prevents this from ever arising.

Compound interest calculator tools

Without this it could have meant that far from being able to protect some of the equity in their home, they could have not only lost all the equity, but actually ended up owing money to the lender! An equity release compound interest calculator gives you a way to know exactly how much your loan balance will be every year. The calculator uses a simple formula to calculate the compounding interest on the loan amount and uses this to predict how much the amount will have grown to be after a certain period. This can help you plan ahead and get a better understanding of your finances and how much you’re likely to owe the lender after a certain number of years.

It is possible to set up a compound interest calculator on your own computer using software programmes such as MS Excel or Google Spread sheet. It is also possible to use an equity release compound interest calculator available on the internet.

Alternatively, if you would like more help with calculating the compound interest potentially payable on your mortgage, you can seek advice from an independent equity release adviser. They can always request a Key Facts Illustration from an equity release provider of your choice, where the year-on-year figures showing the compounding effect of the interest will be shown.

Free Guide to Equity Release Calculators

One of the most important and most basic questions that customers ask when considering equity release as a potential solution is – how much will I be able to release?

This is the question that determines whether or not equity release is the right option for them. Until a few years ago, those making an equity release enquiry who wanted an answer to that question had to make an appointment with various providers in order to get an answer. Today, thanks to the development of the online equity release calculator, getting an answer to this essential question has become a matter of minutes.

An equity release calculator is essentially an application that can calculate the average maximum amount you could release based on the information you enter – this includes your age, and the current property valuation of your home. The calculator then uses this information and searches through its database of different plans to come up with the maximum that you could potentially release for your given age and property valuation.

For an equity release calculator to work correctly, it is important to provide it with the most accurate information, as this is the only way you can get an accurate answer. So let’s look at the best way to use an equity release calculator online tool.

In the case of most equity release plans, how much you can release depends on two factors – your age, or in the case of joint applicants, the age of the youngest applicant, and the current valuation of your property. Your age determines the expected term of the mortgage, and your property value determines the equity in your home. These two variables are used by the lender to calculate how much they can afford to lend you.

While filling in the equity release calculator form, it is essential to fill in information carefully and accurately. In case of enhanced lmortgages, there is another pertinent factor – and that is your health and lifestyle. Your health and your lifestyle determine any potential risks to your life and enable the lender to calculate the expected term of the loan. This allows the lender to work out how much enhanced equity you can release.

Enhanced equity release calculators entail filling in a health and lifestyle questionnaire consisting of fairly simple questions about your lifestyle choices and habits, and any existing illnesses and chronic conditions you may have. Again, it is imperative to be as accurate as possible while filling in this form as this will help you get the most accurate answer.

How to Calculate the Maximum Equity Release

Equity release plans can offer a flexible way to optimise your financial assets. With new, more secure equity release plans available today, it is possible to manage the amount of equity in your home exactly as you intend to; while also protecting your inheritance. But after all is said and done, equity release ultimately works by devaluing your main asset – your home.

While equity release plans do provide a valuable solution to many, it is not suitable for everyone. It can involve selling a portion of your home in the case of home reversion, and having a life-long mortgage secured on your property in case of lifetime mortgages, so there are many implications to be aware of that on the face of it may not be obvious. An equity release plan is therefore something that has a major effect, not only on your life but ultimately also for your beneficiaries. As such, it is important to be fully sure that it is the best possible way to help you achieve your goals.

Just enough for your needs

The starting point is to assess where you stand in relation to the amount you actually require. Therefore, a good way to do this is to calculate the maximum equity release that you can take in the context of your individual needs and circumstances. It would therefore be prudent to discuss what you actually need the extra cash for by itemising your expenditures. Not only this but are these expenditures ALL required during the initial spending phase? Some proposals may have longer term goals which can be set aside for now, others more immediate. These later life expenditures can be incorporated into the longer term goals of your plans.

However, by at least knowing the maximum release possible, you can then either build your spending plans to fit, or curb your expenditures to fit in with this budget provided by the online equity release calculator. The tool should be used for guidance purposes only and never literally so as to pin all your hopes on the outcome of its results. There are still many variables along the way that could still affect the ultimate goal, therefore prudence should be taken.

Often people who consider a release of equity think only about which equity release plans are available and which plan would suit them best. But the more fundamental question in reality is how much can they actually release with an equity release plan, and given the amount they can release, is equity release the right way for them to go?

An independent and qualified equity release adviser can ultimately offer you the best advice and guide you through the different options available. But using an equity release calculator to find out how the maximum you can release is the first step to finding out whether equity release can help you.

Maximum enhanced lifetime mortgage calculation

An equity release calculator requires you to enter your age and property value in order to work out how much money you could potentially release. Bear in mind however, that another determinant in calculating the maximum lifetime mortgage is due to one’s health conditions; both current and past. Therefore, of the best equity release calculators around, of the online varieties, the best will be able to afford to provide two sets of answers; one for a healthy person and the other for an enhanced lifetime mortgage customer.

As you can see the equity release market is evolving at a pace and the industry tools must keep pace with these changes. For this reason, an enhanced lifetime mortgage calculation should always be included in any set of results to ensure that the full picture is presented and those who are eligible to qualify for an enhanced product are aware of its benefits. This is where a full set of tools and advice from an independent source is essential for the calculation of the maximum equity release.

Getting an idea of the largest amount they could release at their age and given their property valuation, helps many people to decide whether equity release plans may be suitable for them, and whether equity release may even help them raise the amount they need!

Using an equity release calculator to calculate a maximum release is therefore the first step to finding out whether equity release is right for you.

Where to Compare Equity Release Pros and Cons Before Completing Any Calculations

Compare the Equity Release Pros and Cons Before Completing Any Calculations

Over a decade ago, releasing equity from your home was virtually unheard of. Today, equity release plans are flourishing, with more and more people choosing to turn to the equity in their homes for relative financial security during retirement.

Equity release is not suitable for everyone, but it does provide a flexible solution for many, and the growing popularity of equity release plans are proof of this. Many new and more flexible products have become available in recent times, and the fact is that the equity release sector has never looked more vibrant.

But the world of equity release schemes still remains confusing for many and it is difficult to negotiate your way around so many different plans; all with their own terms of lending and eligibility criteria. How then does one find the equity release plan that best suits their individual needs and circumstances? And how does one compare different equity release plans to find the best equity release deals?

The answer lies in speaking to a qualified equity release expert who can guide you through the different options and help you understand the equity release pros and cons of each alternative in the context of your individual needs. But firstly, a simple way to sift through the various options is to use an impartial equity release schemes calculator to find out the maximum amount you could raise through different equity release providers.

Equity release pros and cons

These equity release pros and cons are paramount to the decision-making process as they gauge one’s attitude to risk which your equity release adviser will use towards his recommendation. They will not only outline all that is good about equity release schemes, but advise the pitfalls of equity release schemes also. Knowing both sides of the story is essential moving forward as this could be classed as the biggest financial decision of your life, your first ever mortgage aside.

It is important to find a comparison site that offers objective and impartial advice, and has an up-to-date database of providers and plans. This way you can be sure that you are not losing out on something better and are getting the fairest picture of what could be available to you. Check whether they list all the equity release pros & cons for you to easily understand before even seeing or paying for equity release advice.

Independent advice companies like EquityRelease2go.com have pioneered the use of equity release calculators that can quickly work out the maximum release based on some simple facts about your case, including your age and property valuation. These companies continue to provide an impartial and up-to-date service to users who are looking to find the most suitable home equity release scheme.

Not all free equity release calculators are truly free and fair. Some calculators only show a fraction of the picture; while some others use personal information for unrequested marketing from paying partners. While many providers and even comparison sites use equity release schemes calculators as a ploy to extract information from enquirers, there are also companies that seek to provide genuinely unbiased information to customers based on results from all reputable equity release providers.

In summary, it’s vitally important to do your research before committing to anything, seek the equity release services of a reputable independent company who offer a nationwide advisory service such as Equity Release Supermarket whose testimonials & client feedback seem to justify this.

How Impartial is the Saga Equity Release Calculator?

There was a time when anyone wishing to find out the maximum equity release they could take from their property had to make an appointment with a particular provider and ask them directly. This means going to great lengths just to find out a simple answer. Today, with the development and access to free equity release calculators, finding out how much you could potentially release is a quick and simple process.

When equity release calculators were first introduced, they were available only on select websites such as EquityReleaseSupermarket.co.uk. Today however, they are available everywhere! Most providers have a calculator on their website, and various independent advice companies also offer equity release calculators to enquirers and potential customers.

To understand whether the Saga equity release calculator is impartial, it is important to understand how an impartial calculator actually works. An equity release calculator takes into account details about your personal information and uses this to work out the maximum equity release possible. Now the best equity release calculators will provide calculations from an independent point of view, thus gleaning data from the whole of the equity release market. As such, all the calculator needs is the enquirer’s age, the current property valuation and access to every equity release provider the market has available.

Negative aspects of equity release calculators

Now, let’s begin to understand the pitfalls of equity release calculators, and how they are sometimes misused. Firstly, some companies use equity release calculators to data mine for personal information including names, email addresses etc. which are then used for unrequested marketing purposes. Sometimes companies could also share personal information obtained from users with other companies and third parties. This is not stringent with the data protection rules as users must be made aware of how their information is going to be used.

Another way to misinform users is to provide only a partial picture of what could be available. If an equity release calculator does not have an up-to-date and full picture of different options available on the market, it will fail to provide objective results, and this is what can happen with some equity release calculators on the market. This may not necessarily be done on purpose, the equity release market is constantly evolving & unless the data behind these calculators is maintained & kept upto date, then false reading may be provided.

Saga equity release calculator

Saga offer an equity release calculator on their website which requires much information to be entered – including name, date of birth, email address, contact details, and home address. It states that the equity release calculator it offers is provided by an external company – Just Retirement Solutions Ltd., which pays Saga an introductory fee or commission if customers take out a plan.

Just Retirement Solutions themselves offer advice only from a panel of equity release companies. They cannot therefore offer the comprehensiveness of classing themselves as ‘independent’ equity release brokers unlike companies such as Key Retirement Solutions, Age Partnership and Equity Release Supermarket, Bower & Responsible Equity Release.

Saga, via Just Retirement Solutions provides recommendations with access to a range of selected providers – such as Aviva, LV= and its sister company Just Retirement! In fact the majority of Just Retirement Solutions business is written through Just Retirement; could this advice therefore be classed as ‘impartial’?

With all of the above information surrounding Saga’s equity release calculator taken into consideration – I will leave you to conclude as to whether or not theirs is impartial or not!

Will an Equity Release UK Calculator Work for People Aged Under 55?

Equity release plans offer flexible solutions for a common problem that many pensioners in the UK face today. Changing social circumstances have led to problems that we see increasingly more often in society today. Longer life expectancy, rising costs of living, probability of needing self-funded long-term care and shrinking pension funds mean that many older people face a severe cash crunch during retirement. While there is a problem of cash flow, many pensioners are homeowners with a hefty untapped equity built into their property. Equity release offers a way to tap into this equity without selling the house or moving.

Today, the UK equity release sector has expanded and offers more flexible and innovative plans than before. The industry and indeed its main voice – The Equity Release Council has admitted that more providers, concepts and flexibility are required to maintain the momentum equity release & lifetime mortgages have now found. It is also much more secure now, being regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and following strict SHIP (now under the guise of the Equity Release Council) standards of service. As the demand for equity release has grown, so have the tools designed for potential customers to understand and negotiate their way around the equity release sector.

Mechanics of the equity release calculator UK

One such tool that could be invaluable is the equity release calculator UK as it offers a simple, quick and convenient way to calculate the maximum amount of money that could be released from your property. An equity release UK calculator takes into account the information that you provide, including your age and current valuation of your property to calculate this amount based on its database of available lifetime mortgage plans.

As such, an equity release calculator UK can only work within the set eligibility criteria of equity release plans. Most equity release plans are only available to people 55 years or over. This means that the equity release calculator can only accept age values that are 55 or above. Many equity release calculators have a lower limit of 55 on their age menu, but some don’t. In any case, an equity release calculator will not work if one enters an age value of lower than 55 years or higher than 100 years! Most sites will default to a minimum age of 55 to ensure calculations are correct.

Could equity release be a possible to the under 55′s?

Whether one day the UK equity release mortgage market will accept lower ages than 55 is yet to be seen. The problem with accepting an age below 55 is the protection provided by the ‘no negative equity release guarantee’. This ensures that at the end of the day the beneficiaries will never end up owing any more than the sale price of the property upon death or moving into long-term care. The cost of this guarantee has to met and is paid for by the customer by way of a slight increase in the equity release interest rate. With no guarantee in place, then we would see lower interest rates in this sector.

However, upon meeting the standards laid down by the Equity Release Council, all equity release companies must facilitate this feature within their schemes; otherwise their scheme cannot meet the SHIP criteria. This is a mandatory requirement and has helped the industry build confidence back up within the equity release mortgage market.

Therefore, until these issues are addressed there are currently no equity release schemes for people under 55 years offered by any of the mainstream equity release providers that are certified by the Equity Release Council. Equity release UK is a good way to raise money to meet pressing demands, but releasing equity impacts your entire life savings and potential inheritance of your beneficiaries so it is always advisable to consider it very carefully – especially if you’re young and expect to live long. P.S. Don’t we all!

What is an Equity Release Eligibility Calculator?

As equity release has become more and more popular in recent times and the interest in equity release plans has increased, new tools are emerging to help users make sense of whether people meet the eligibility test to meet the wide variety of equity release plans available. Every bit of help is needed when trying to find the best equity release plan that could suit them and the first port of call would be to establish eligibility.

Equity release is a potentially life changing financial concept, so it is always best to seek advice from a qualified independent equity release adviser. But before you do that, let’s look at the many convenient tools that could help you negotiate your way around the world of equity release schemes.

There are two main types of equity release plans: lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans. Different plans have different eligibility criteria and terms of lending. An equity release eligibility calculator is an application that, based on the information you provide, can quickly work out whether you are eligible to apply for a certain equity release plan.

For instance, a lifetime mortgage eligibility calculator can help you understand if you are eligible to apply for a lifetime mortgage, and if so, the maximum amount you could potentially release from your home. Eligibility for a lifetime mortgage is based on the applicant’s age and property value. The longer the term of the loan, the more the value would need to be. The shorter the expected term, the lower the value of the property can be. Therefore, in general, the younger the applicant, the higher the property value will need to be.

Who offers an equity release eligibility calculator?

Let’s look at the Aviva lifetime mortgage as an example. The minimum age to apply for this is 55 years, and the minimum property valuation is £75,000. Aviva’s lifetime mortgage eligibility calculator requires the user to enter their age, the value of the property, whether it is a single or joint application, certain details about the property, and whether you want to set any percentage of the equity as an inheritance.

Based on these details the eligibility calculator can tell you not only if you are eligible to apply for this lifetime mortgage but it also works as an equity release calculator and can tell you the maximum amount you could release through a lifetime mortgage. An equity release eligibility calculator is therefore simply a quick and convenient way to find out if you qualify to apply for a certain equity release scheme, and if so, how much you could potentially release.

Another equity release eligibility calculator is offered by another of the prominent equity release companies – Hodge Lifetime. They provide an equity release eligibility calculation to provide information on whether they could qualify for any of the Hodge Lifetime flexible lifetime mortgage products. Additionally, the calculator will provide not only the amount one can borrow, but also what the future balance is likely to be. This is ideal if you wish to see the effect the compounding yearly interest will have on your inheritance when the house is eventually sold.

For a free check to establish eligibility for any of the current range of equity release schemes from the whole of the market, call Freephone 0800 471 4796.

What Are Your Top Key Retirement Solutions?

The Top 18 Equity Release Key Retirement Solutions

As people live for longer and the cost of living increases, it is becoming more and more common for retirees to have financial difficulties during old age. However, a lot of these issues actually arose many years prior to this event, blatantly due to lack of financial planning prior to retirement.

As such, financial planning during retirement has become more important than ever before as managing on a limited budget, fault or no fault of one’s own is a harsh reality for many baby boomers. Therefore, an increasing number of people are looking for flexible ways to get the best value from their existing financial assets in order to address this retirement issue.

The rising popularity of equity release schemes illustrate how much of a growing problem financial insecurity is for many people in retirement. These type of home equity loans offer exactly this type of key retirement solutions many people seek as they usually have no effect on their monthly outgoings.

Let’s look at some of the most significant facts surrounding an equity release mortgage:

Equity release plans allow you to release some of the equity built into your home as usable cash. Both home reversion & lifetime mortgages allow you to do this without the need to sell the house or move out. So, even as you use some of the value of your property, you can continue to live in the house until the end of life, or until you move into a long-term care home
There are two main types of equity release plans – lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans. Lifetime mortgages are like regular mortgages, but only available to people over the age of 55, and have no fixed term. They allow you to release a lump sum of equity from your property which even then remains 100% in your own name. There are usually no monthly payments and the interest charged is added to loan & compounds on a monthly or annual basis. This differs from a home reversion plan where you actually sell a percentage of the property to the reversion provider. In return they provide a tax-free lump sum & a lifetime tenancy agreement is made. Both mortgages will then run on until the end of life, or until you move into care. Most lenders provide a window of 12 months to then sell the property so that the equity release mortgage can be paid off.
A home equity loan calculator can be useful to find out how much equity will be built into your home after a certain period of time. A home equity loan calculator can be useful in a variety of scenarios and is available on a number of financial, comparison and advice websites. A home equity loan calculator is not the same as an equity release calculator and is designed to give you a slightly different information calculus.
A home equity calculator will need some basic information about your property, including the current value of the property, its location, and the yearly rise and fall in the property, in order to work out the equity built into your home. A home equity calculator is therefore a way to calculate simply the amount of equity expected to be built into your home over a certain period of time.
However, an online equity release calculator is a different tool in that it can calculate how much equity one could potentially release from their property. An online equity release calculator UK therefore needs to work out the maximum amount an equity release mortgage provider could potentially afford to lend, based on the expected term of the loan, and the value of your home.
A free equity release calculator is therefore likely to require some basic information about you and your property in order to provide such a calculation. This includes, the age of the youngest enquirer and the current valuation of the property. The free equity release calculator can use this information and based on its database of equity release plans available, can give you a fairly good idea of the maximum release available to you.
An equity release calculator is an application designed specifically to calculate maximum potential release of equity, but there are many other financial tools designed to calculate different things. For instance, there are mortgage repayment calculators that, based on the loan amount, the rate of interest, and term of the loan can calculate how much your payments will be.
There is also a general lifetime mortgage calculator based on the age and income of the enquirer which can work out how much they could potentially borrow. Newer calculus allows some more advanced equity release brokerage’s to offer the interest only mortgage calculator which requires slightly more information such as income details, and details of any adverse credit, in order to ascertain eligibility.
A lifetime mortgage calculator is therefore just one of the many calculation tools available today within the mortgage sector. Depending on what type of application you are using, you may be needed to enter different information relating to your age, health and property, which is relevant to that particular calculation.
Home equity loans provide one of the key retirement solutions to happiness in retirement. There are different borrowing allowances from all the equity release companies, therefore always consult a home loans specialist who can advise on the many forms of home equity mortgages available.
Home reversion equity release plans involve selling a proportion of your home to the equity release lender. There are no monthly repayments with home reversion plans, and the entire amount is recovered when the house is sold, when the proportional share of the equity goes to the lender.
All equity release plans today come with a no negative equity guarantee, which means that your beneficiaries never have to pay anything to the lender even if the equity release loan gets bigger than the property value. This no negative equity guarantee is provided free of charge by the equity release companies, however it is costed into the overall costs and charges of the plan. Should the guarantee not be provided however, the interest rates would be lower on equity release schemes. Therefore any implication of it being free is not entirely true.
Equity release plans are regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and the Equity Release Council (ERC) is the industry trade body that represents everyone that works in the sector, including qualified advisers, providers, lawyers, solicitors etc. Membership of the FCA is mandatory as they provide the licence upon which advisers are able to provide equity release advice. However, membership of the Equity Release Council is not mandatory for advisers or solicitors, however it is for the mortgage providers who offer lifetime mortgage & home reversion products.
Recent research has shown that over 80% of the country’s wealth belongs to people over the age of 60, with over £1 trillion in untapped equity. It also shows that many homeowners over the age of 60 have cash flow problems, and are in fact unable to meet their daily costs. The simple equation for their key retirement solutions lies in the equity tied up in their home. Equity release schemes therefore provides one type of solution, however many such as downsizing property still remain & consequently should always be considered.
According to a recent study by the leading charity Age UK, the two most common ways that people were using their released equity were – home repair or maintenance projects at 46% and paying off existing debts at 35%. Following this statistic come the other lesser reasons to release equity in retirement. These would include holidays, new car, caravan, holiday home, financial assistance for the children, long-term care costs or to create an emergency fund in the bank.
Equity release plans have become increasingly popular after the Financial Services Authority (now FCA) started regulating the equity release sector. This initially started with the regulation of lifetime mortgages in 2004, which later then incorporated home reversion plans from April 2007. All advisers practicing in equity release must have the appropriate qualifications either through the CII (The Chartered Insurance Institute) or the IFS (Institute of Financial Services).
There are a number of independent and comparison websites that offer qualified advice about equity release products, and help users understand which equity release plan could suit them best. Search engines, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo will help you search for any related equity release information needed to enable you to conduct your own research. However, even if you decide which equity release scheme you require you would be unable to go direct to the lender as plans can only be completed by qualified advisers. This offers protection to the lenders to ensure the correct plan is taken out.
The latest type of new equity release mortgage to be invented is the enhanced lifetime mortgage where health can affect the maximum loan you can borrow. Therefore, equity release underwriters assess an enhanced lifetime mortgage as they do with an enhanced annuity plan where a health and lifestyle questionnaire is completed. Depending on the answers & severity of the health conditions, will determine the amount they will lend out. Simply put, the worse the state of health, the greater the maximum release.

There are many facts on equity release offering more concepts for key retirement solutions, as well as about how and why equity release plans have become so popular recently. They also talk about different types of equity release plans that are currently available. For more information visit independent advice websites or consult a qualified equity release adviser.

How Does the Aviva Equity Release Calculator Compare to Independent Equity Release Calculations?

An equity release calculator is meant to calculate the maximum release equity that you could potentially release from your property. While only a few companies offered an equity release calculator until a few years ago, today, most independent advice companies, as well as providers, have followed suit and offer equity release calculators on their respective websites. So when using an equity release calculator, is it better to go directly to a provider, or use an independent calculator from the whole of the equity release market?

The best way to get the most out of an application such as an equity release calculator is to have a calculator that provides a free and simple way to calculate maximum potential release, and gives up-to-date and impartial results. However, specific equity release providers such as Aviva are bound to have only their own products on the database of their calculator, and can therefore show a very limited picture of what could be available to you.

The point of an equity release calculator is to get a fair idea of the most you could get and this is in essence a way to shop around and find the highest possibility in terms of equity release. Therefore going to only one single provider for this seems to beat the entire purpose of the exercise! It is important to use an independent equity release calculator that can sift through its database and give you up-to-date and impartial results.

The cons of using Aviva’s equity release calculator

As an example, consider that you live in a flat and use the Aviva equity release calculator. Simply on knowing that you live in a flat, the Aviva will immediately make a deduction of 15% in the valuation before making a calculation, and use only 85% of the entire valuation. An independent equity release calculator will never make such a deduction at the start of the calculation. It will address this issue by using the maximum loan to value figure from the entire equity release market. Not all lenders use this ruling and therefore the importance of independence shines through.

Another example of the negative aspect of using the Aviva equity release calculator would be the locality of the property. Using modern sourcing systems including Environment Agency data flood check risks, Aviva will accept or decline a property on this basis. Only a couple of other equity release providers will use this data in accepting or declining equity release applications. Therefore, the majority of lenders that do not use these criteria maybe could be the best route for an equity release calculation. Again, evidently independence wins the day over tied equity release providers.

An independent equity release calculator has the advantage of having access to all the information that is available, as opposed to concentrating only on one single provider. By using an independent equity release calculator, you could also potentially get a much better deal. For instance an independent equity release adviser will have Aviva rates starting from 5.62%, while Aviva’s direct rate is nearer 6%!

Aviva direct closed its salesforce

In fact Aviva has price differentials for those people who contact them directly. Should you contact Aviva regarding making an equity release enquiry, you cannot get assistance from any of their direct sales force – it has been closed down on 1^st July 2013. Aviva now will farm you out to three separate equity release brokers, but not with the benefit of the independents interest rate, but a higher rate than other specialist equity release brokerages such as Equity Release Supermarket get. This effectively means that the long-term cost of seeking advice from Aviva Direct now is higher than going to one of the independent equity release brokerages.

Another significant benefit of using an independent equity release calculator is that you could have access to attractive deals and offers, such as up to £1000 cash-back deals, as well as free valuations which Aviva directly themselves do not offer currently. So not only will there be a lower interest rate, but going to someone like Equity Release Supermarket will save on your initial set up costs.

In summary, Aviva, although are one of the better equity release companies, going directly to Aviva maybe does not offer the best terms. Going to an independent resource could provide you with exactly the same product which is the Aviva Flexi Plan, albeit on preferential terms by using an independent equity release calculator and adviser.