Interest Select Gold

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 plans.

As additions to these plans, a qualifying homeowner can add-on extra's they require such as cashback, or drawdown facility. All addition options will influence the final deal available. Couple this with their 8 year fixed early repayment charge makes Canada Life a serious lender in the today's equity release marketplace.

Eligibility

The core Canada Life Interest Select Gold mortgage is essentially an interest-only lifetime mortgage, where no proof of income or affordability is required. This product would suit any homeowner requiring monthly repayments, thus enabling control over the future balance of their equity release mortgage.

The minimum property valuation acceptable to the Canada Life Interest Select Gold Lifetime Mortgage is £70,000 with a maximum overall property value across the UK of upto £6 million. For property valuations greater than £6m, contact the Equity Release Supermarket team on Freephone 0800 678 5955 for your bespoke quotation.

The property to be offered as security should be the homeowners main residence and located within England, Scotland and Wales.

Canada Life's interest servicing plan is available on both a single and joint life basis with a minimum age of youngest homeowner being 55, and a maximum age at application stage being 90. For joint equity release borrowers, the youngest applicant must be 90, or younger.

The minimum release at application stage is just £10,000, with an overall maximum equity release amount of £750,000 available on a nationwide basis & subject to underwriting. For loans greater than £750,000, bespoke quotations are available via Equity Release Supermarket. Please call Freephone 0800 678 5955 for your personalised Canada Life Key Facts Illustration.

Features

The Canada Life Interest Select Gold plan is an interest-only lifetime mortgage scheme providing an initial tax-free lump sum. Being part of the Interest Select suite, the only difference between this Gold plan and the Platinum version is the amount each will release via their loan-to-value percentages. In essence, the Gold Plan will release a lower loan amount - typically 5% less, however the resultant effect is a lower interest rate than the Platinum deal.

Included as standard now in Canada Life's Interest Select range are two Early Repayment Charge waivers - Downsizing Protection and the Compassionate 3-Year Early Repayment Waiver. Both these automatic inclusions allow for the plan to be repaid early, with no penalty, under certain life changing events: -

• Downsizing protection allows homeowners wishing to downsize to another property after 5 years from inception of the plan, to be able to repay the whole mortgage with no penalty.
• The Compassionate waiver allows any survivor of a joint lifetime mortgage plan, the ability to repay the whole scheme with no penalty as long as repayment occurs within a 3 year window of their partner either dying, or moving into long term care.

A generous free valuation is offered along with a fixed equity release lifetime interest rate on the initial lump sum.

One of the strongest features of the Interest Select range is the early repayment charge (ERC). Canada Life only charge an ERC for the first 8 years following inception, or when taking additional borrowing on this equity release loan. The ERC starts at 5% for the first 5 years, then reduces to 3% for the next 3 years and then NO penalty thereafter.

Canada Life are members of the Equity Release Council and therefore all their plans come with a no-negative equity guarantee. This means that upon eventual sale of the property, any beneficiaries cannot be left with a debt, over and above the value of the property, owing to the equity release lender.

Additional borrowing is available once all drawdown funds have been utilised in the future. The minimum additional borrowing amount is £4,000 with no completion fee charged.

Options

This Canada Life Interest-Only Gold Lifetime Mortgage enables any homeowner to spend their tax-free cash as they wish and choose to make a level of monthly contribution which befits their affordability levels, and not that of the lenders, as any conventional mortgage would.

Homeowners can choose their level of contribution towards the interest charged by Canada Life of between 50% of the interest calculation, upto 100% of the maximum amount of interest charged each month. One important feature of Canada Life's Interest Select Gold Plan is that they do NOT require any evidence of income or affordability, both pre and post retirement age.

With levels of repayment between 50-100% of the interest charged, homeowners can manage the future balance of their Interest Select Gold Plan. For instance, to facilitate an interest-only basis, thus maintaining a level mortgage balance, the plan would need 100% of the interest to be repaid each month. Even repaying 50% of the interest monthly would help in reducing the normal effects of roll-up and keep the balance lower than otherwise have been.

The fixed monthly payment needs to be maintained for a period of 5 years minimum, or the whole of the life of the equity release loan. After 5 years, there is the option to stop making monthly payments & instead allow the interest to roll-up. This will have the effect of increasing the interest rate by 0.2%.

A further option for inclusion is the Inheritance Protection feature, so the homeowner can secure a fixed percentage of the final sale value of the property. This is important for those who wish to guarantee a percentage of the house value from their inheritance.

Being a core interest-only product, there is also the option to add a cash drawdown facility. Therefore, when the initial tax-free lump sum is released, any remaining unused cash is retained in an uncapped cash reserve facility. This is ideal for those looking to control the balance by making monthly repayments, whilst at the same time having access to future funds in the future.

As part of the Canada Life Equity Release plan range a cashback of £1,000 can be selected by the homeowner, which has the effect of increasing the interest rate by 0.10%.

*Adding a drawdown facility to the Platinum Plan has the effect of adding 0.2% to the interest rate
**The 3-year no early repayment charge applies to joint life plans where the loan is repaid within 3 years of death or long-term care of a partner

To obtain further information or to request a quotation on the Canada Life Interest Select Gold Lifetime Mortgage, please contact the Equity Release Supermarket team on Freephone 0800 678 5955 today.