Background
Canada Life entered the equity release industry following the acquisition of Retirement Advantage which completed in 2018. Prior to the take-over Retirement Advantage was formed by a re-branding of MGM Advantage in 2015, following the purchase of former equity release lender - Stonehaven Equity Release. Tracing its roots back to 1852, Retirement Advantage were a specialist in providing retirement products such as lifetime mortgages and retirement accounts.
Canada Life's range of lifetime mortgage uk plans offer a 'design-it-yourself' approach to equity release. Offering a suite of products such as lump sum, interest only lifetime mortgages and voluntary repayment schemes, they have also expanded into Buy-to-Let and Second Home equity release market.
As additional options to these plans, a qualifying homeowner can add-on extra's they require such as cashbacks or a drawdown facility which all influence the final deal and interest rate they receive. Couple this with their 8-year fixed early repayment charge makes Canada Life a serious lender in the equity release marketplace.
The Canada Life 'Lifestyle' range provides a suite of simple lump sum equity release schemes offering tiers of plans based on their loan-to-value ratio’s - from Ultra Lite, to Gold and finally Platinum. This entry point Lifestyle Select Ultra Lite plan offers the lower capital amount of all plans in terms of maximum lump sum availability, but consequentially has an attractive lower interest rate for the homeowner. Therefore, gauging the release amount against the interest rate is key.