Features
The Retirement Advantage Voluntary Select Gold plan is a voluntary repayment lifetime mortgage scheme. This allows the homeowner to make voluntary repayments of a minimum of £50 back to Retirement Advantage with the main advantage being that NO proof of income is needed. Therefore, for those having difficulty obtaining residential mortgages, voluntary repayment schemes offer a great non-verification mortgage alternative.
An additional feature of this Retirement Advantage scheme is that it can be taken as a drawdown lifetime mortgage scheme which provides an initial tax-free lump sum cash release for immediate use, with any remaining unused cash being retained in a cash reserve facility. This is ideal for those needing access to immediate cash but with a further drawdown amount in the future. The minimum withdrawal amount from the cash reserve facility is just £2,000 with no further administration charges for any additional drawdown amounts taken.
A generous free valuation is offered along with a fixed equity release lifetime interest rate on the initial lump sum. Any further withdrawals would be at the interest rate applicable at the time of withdrawal.
Included as standard now in Retirement Advantage's Voluntary 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 property after 5 years from inception of the plan, to be able to repay the whole plan 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.
Retirement Advantage are members of the Equity Release Council all their plans come with a no-negative equity guarantee. Therefore, upon eventual sale of the property, any beneficiaries cannot be left with a debt owing to the equity release company.
One of the strongest features of Voluntary Select Gold is the early repayment charge (ERC). Retirement Advantage only charge an ERC for the first 8 years following inception, drawdown or 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.
Additional borrowing is available once all cash funds have been utilised in the future. The minimum additional borrowing amount is £4,000 with no completion fee charged by Retirement Advantage.