Background

Hodge Lifetime was original formed in 1965 as Home Reversions Ltd and was a founder member of the trade body - SHIP (Safe Home Income Plans) in 1991, whom itself was recently rebranded as the Equity Release Council. Hodge Lifetime are a subsidiary of Julian Hodge Bank and have now been providing equity release schemes longer than any other equity release UK company.

Specialising in the post retirement marketplace, Hodge Lifetime offer a range of products from annuities to equity release schemes. Their equity release mortgages were the first to incorporate a flexible 10%pa repayment strategy, of which other lenders have since mirrored. This allows total control of the future balance as necessitated by the homeowner. With additional unique product features, Hodge Lifetime are a leading innovator in this expanding industry and one of the first to offer a mortgage specifically designed for homeowners nearing or in retirement.

 

Eligibility

The Hodge Lifetime Retirement Mortgage is a lifetime mortgage designed for homeowners that are near or already in retirement and have sufficient means of income to manage the monthly interest only payments.

Eligible income acceptable to Hodge Lifetime must be a stable source of income which is UK derived and paid on level terms, or increasing over time. Such income would be state pension, personal or company pensions. In addition, Hodge will also accept investment income, rental income. Importantly, this retirement mortgage needs to remain affordable in the event of either homeowners death.

Hodge's minimum acceptable property valuation on their Retirement Mortgage is £100,000 with a maximum value of £1 million. Please contact us directly on properties valued over £1m as cases can be individually underwritten, with bespoke quotes via Equity Release Supermarket - 0800 678 5955

The homeowners property must be their main residence and needs to be located within England, Wales and mainland Scotland.

Hodge Lifetime's Retirement Mortgage is available on both a single and joint life basis with a minimum age of youngest homeowner being 55 and a maximum age at entry of 80.

The minimum release Hodge will accept on any application is £20,000 with a maximum equity release lending amount of £500,000. Please call 0800 678 5955 for your personalised Hodge Lifetime Key Facts Illustration.

 

Features

The Hodge Retirement Mortgage is effectively a mortgage geared towards retirement which is income based & therefore verification of affordability is required by Hodge Lifetime. It can be used as a remortgage vehicle for those with existing residential mortgages with repayment demands from the lender, or to just generally raise additional cash in retirement for whatever needs.

The amount borrowed is calculated using both income & property values criteria with the maximum mortgage being 50% of the property value. The loan is secured on the property and monthly repayments of interest-only need to be maintained for lifetime, or until age 80 when the Interest Roll-Up Option can be exercised. The retirement mortgage is repaid when the last person has died or moved into care, when the property is sold.

The initial tranche of money borrowed receives a 5 year fixed equity release lifetime interest rate, with any additional borrowing taken in the future being charged at the interest rate applicable at the time of withdrawal. No early repayment charges apply after this 5 year fixed rate period.

Hodge Lifetime are members of the Equity Release Council and consequently their plans come with a no-negative equity guarantee. The protection this affords is that upon death and sale of the property, any beneficiaries cannot be left with any personal debt owing to the equity release lender.

There is a regular monthly interest only payment commitment imposed by Hodge, thus the balance will remain level. However, there is a flexible repayment option which does allow homeowners to make additional payments over and above the fixed monthly payments back to Hodge.

 

Options

The Hodge Lifetime Retirement Mortgage facilitates homeowners to spend their tax-free cash as they wish, but with a view to protecting the equity in the home by making repayments of interest only.

One of the features of the Hodge Retirement Mortgage is the Flexible Repayment Option. This enables the homeowner to control their future balance by making overpayments of upto 10% of the original amount borrowed each year, with NO penalty. This applies during the first 5 years and any unused allowance cannot be carried forward to another year.

This Hodge Retirement Mortgage UK scheme can be used for capital & repayment purposes. If the full 10% Flexible Repayment Option is exercised every year, then the balance would be reduced significantly; ideal if wanting to protect any inheritance. These extra 10% payments are purely voluntary and the choice of the homeowner.

The Interest Roll-Up option is designed to relieve the borrower of their monthly interest only commitment at a later date. Once the youngest homeowner has reached age 80 there is the option to cease making payments back to Hodge and allow the interest instead to roll-up.

 

To obtain further information or to request a quotation on the Hodge Lifetime Retirement Mortgage, please contact the Equity Release Supermarket team on 0800 678 5955 today.