A term ending is a deadline on a document rather than a deadline on you. This sets out every route, including selling up and including asking your existing lender to extend, which is the cheapest answer when it is available.
Several routes out, and equity release is only one of them. This page exists to show you all of them, including the ones that involve no new product at all.
Equity release may involve a lifetime mortgage, secured against your property, or a home reversion plan. It will reduce the value of your estate and impact funding long-term care.
A term ending is a deadline on a document rather than a deadline on you. Lenders deal with this constantly, and the worst outcomes come from not opening the letters rather than from the mortgage itself.
Speak to your existing lender first. They may extend, switch you to a different arrangement, or have options that nobody else can offer you, and it costs nothing to ask.
Ring your current lender, before a broker and before us. They have the most to lose from this going badly and they often have options that are not available anywhere else.
Your existing lender may agree to extend, particularly if there is a plausible way it gets repaid. The cheapest option when it is available and the first one to ask about.
Higher monthly payments, and the debt actually reduces. Assessed on affordability, so it depends on income.
The alternatives →You pay the interest monthly and the debt does not grow. Also affordability assessed, and the FCA created it partly for this exact situation.
How a RIO works →Clears the debt outright with no product involved. Costs money once, and it is a real answer rather than a failure.
What moving costs →Repays the existing mortgage and nothing is due monthly. The debt then compounds instead, which is the trade.
What compounding does →Part repaid from savings, a smaller borrowing, a partial move. The answer is rarely one of the five above in its pure form.
Which of those applies to you. That depends on your income, your equity, your age, your health and your family, and it needs somebody who can see all of it. What we can tell you is that there are more routes than most people are shown, and that two of them involve no new product at all.
Equity release requires repaying any existing mortgage. Money released, plus accrued interest, would need to be repaid upon death or moving into long-term care.
What will you offer me directly?
For your existing lender, first, before anybody else. Their answer changes what else is worth exploring.
Exactly how long do I have, and what happens at the end?
Get the date and the consequence in writing. The fear is usually worse than the document.
Would I pass affordability for a repayment or interest-only mortgage?
It rules two of the routes in or out quickly.
What would selling actually leave me with?
Worth costing properly rather than dismissing. It is the only route with no debt at the end of it.
Short answers to the things that come up most. None of it is advice, and every figure on this page carries its source.
A term ending is a deadline on a document rather than a deadline on you. Lenders deal with this constantly, and the worst outcomes come from not opening the letters rather than from the mortgage itself.
Your existing lender. They may extend, switch you to a different arrangement, or have options nobody else can offer you, and it costs nothing to ask.
It is one route out of several, and this page exists to show all of them, including the ones that involve no new product at all. Which one fits depends on circumstances this site cannot see.
Equity release may involve a lifetime mortgage, secured against your property, or a home reversion plan. It will reduce the value of your estate and impact funding long-term care.
One qualified equity release adviser. They will go through your figures and tell you if there is a better answer. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity and Vimeo. Say no and none of them loads. What each one stores, and what Microsoft use theirs for.