Equity release: the questions to answer before you release anything

There is money in your house. Getting at it without moving is possible, and for some people it's the right answer.

For others it's an expensive way to solve a problem that had a cheaper solution nobody mentioned.

We start with what the money is for, not with the product.

What it costs, plainly

A lifetime mortgage is a loan secured against your home. You keep ownership. You make no monthly payments unless you choose to, and the loan plus interest is repaid when you die or move into long-term care.

The interest rolls up. Interest is charged on the interest, every year, for as long as the loan runs.

At the rates available in 2026, roughly six and a half to seven and a half per cent, a loan doubles about every ten years. Borrow £100,000 at 60 and the debt is around £200,000 by 70 and £400,000 by 80.

That isn't a reason not to do it. It's the reason to be certain before you do.

What we go through first

Downsizing. Selling and buying something smaller releases capital without any interest at all. People resist it, often for good reasons. But it deserves a proper look before it's dismissed, including what the move would really cost once fees and stamp duty are counted.

A later-life mortgage with payments. If you can afford the interest each month, the balance stops growing. Many lenders now offer this to borrowers well into their seventies. It's often the cheaper answer for someone with pension income.

Family. Sometimes the children would rather lend or gift than watch the inheritance shrink at seven per cent compound. Awkward conversation, considerably cheaper outcome. We can sit in it if that helps.

Drawing down instead of a lump sum. If you don't need it all at once, taking it in stages means interest only runs on what you've actually used.

Whether you need it at all. Sometimes the honest answer is that a pension is being drawn inefficiently, or an allowance isn't being used, and the shortfall isn't a shortfall.

What the protections are

Every plan arranged through an Equity Release Council member carries a set of guarantees (https://www.equityreleasecouncil.com/about/standards/). The two that matter most:two guarantees.

You can stay in your home for life. And you'll never owe more than the property sells for, so no debt passes to your family, whatever happens to house prices.

Both are worth knowing about, because the fear people arrive with is usually losing the house or leaving their children a bill. Neither happens with a compliant plan.

The thing nobody mentions

Released cash sitting in your account is savings. Savings affect means-tested benefits.

Pension Credit, Council Tax Reduction and Universal Credit can all reduce or stop if the money pushes you over the thresholds. Your State Pension isn't affected, since it isn't means-tested.

We check this before anything is arranged. Releasing money that costs you a benefit you'd have kept is a poor result nobody notices until afterwards.

What it can buy

Done for the right reason, this money changes something. A bathroom downstairs so the house works for another fifteen years. Help for a child buying a first home, given while you're alive to see it. A care package that keeps someone at home rather than in a home.

Done for the wrong reason, it's an expensive way to postpone a decision. 

Our job is to tell you which one you're doing. 

This is a decision with downsides as well as benefits, and it affects what you leave behind. We'll make sure you understand both before you commit to anything.