Background
Scottish Widows is a household brand that are recognised as one of the strongest life and pensions companies in the UK. Originally started in 1815 as a mutual, it now looks after 6 million UK customers helping them plan their future finances - offering services from pensions through to savings and investments under the Lloyds Banking Group.
In 1995 Scottish Widows Bank was launched. It offered customers a range of mortgage products which included a period in the early 2000’s of providing lifetime mortgage products. In addition, Scottish Widows took over the running of the popular Halifax Retirement Home Plan, which was withdrawn by Halifax in August 2011.
Scottish Widows re-entered the equity release market in 2020 with a select number of brokers and a range of lifetime mortgages based upon the loan-to-value requirement of the homeowner. Offering both drawdown and lump sum options, these plans will evolve as Scottish Widows gain greater experience of the new equity release market.