One of the main messages – that equity release is going to be the next big mis-selling scandal – couldn’t be further from the truth.
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What the programme risked was scaring potential customers and tarring the whole market with the same brush. It didn’t provide viewers with useful information on the current market, or where to go if they are considering equity release.
The content focused on schemes that were not covered by the Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP) code. Two of the schemes, a home income plan and shared appreciation mortgage, are no longer available to new customers, and indirectly led to the formation of SHIP. It was SHIP that introduced measures to raise product design standards, with customer protection at its heart.
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A more balanced programme would have explained that many of the problems highlighted in the case studies will be avoided in today’s regulated market and with today’s lifetime product. Lifetime mortgage rates are now predominantly fixed for the life of the loan, which means clients know precisely what their liability will be at any time in the future, and they can benefit from significant rises in the value of their property.
Today we have many well-qualified advisers who provide a first class equity release service. Scare-mongering media coverage may help viewing figures, but people deserve to be better informed. It would be a tragedy if those who would benefit from equity release were discouraged from finding out more about it.
Roger Hillier
Lifetime product development manager
Bradford & Bingley Group
