Canada Life offers more competitive terms for homeowners within their Lifetime Mortgages
Canada Life Home Finance has launched Capital Select Lite, offering homeowners the ability to tap into the value of their property with repayment flexibility, at a rate competitive with the lowest deals currently on the market.
Capital Select Lite is the latest option in the Capital Select range. The new Lite option offers an annualised interest rate (AER) of 3.86%, compared with 4.35% for Capital Select Gold, giving it one of the lowest interest rates of any equity release deal on the market.
Canada Life’s Capital Select Options range allow customers to make payments from anywhere between £50 up to a maximum of 10 percent of the initial loan amount each year, without incurring an early repayment charge (ERC). Customers can also choose to add a cash reserve facility to their mortgage.
Given the Loan to Value (LTV) rate of 23% for a Lite customer aged 70, Lite comes with lower LTV rates than other options within the Capital Select range. However, customers are still able to receive a maximum of £1 million can be taken out against a property’s value. Canada Life will also consider bespoke arrangements for those wishing to draw in excess of £1 million, on a case by case basis.
Additionally, Canada Life has announced a change to the LTV on its Lifestyle Platinum and Lifestyle Platinum Cashback Options. The LTV rate will no longer differ for sole or joint borrowers, both now being set at 42% for customers aged 70. The changes mean that joint borrowers now have access to a higher LTV for the Lifestyle Platinum products, allowing them to take out more equity should they wish to.
Legal & General strengthens its Retail Retirement business with two senior managementappointments.
- Steve Ellis appointed CEO of Legal & General Retail Retirement Living Solutions and Claire Singleton appointed as CEO of Legal & General Home Finance
Legal & General today announced the appointment of Steve Ellis as CEO of Legal & General Retail Retirement Living Solutions. This new role reflects Legal & General’s commitment to tackling the challenges facing customers financing and living in retirement in the UK. Claire Singleton, currently CEO of Legal & General’s Mature Savings business, will succeed Steve Ellis as CEO of Legal & General Home Finance.
Steve and Claire will report into Chris Knight, CEO of Legal & General Retail Retirement. Steve will start his new role at the beginning of April and Claire will take up her post at the end of the year following the completion of the transfer of the Mature Savings business to ReAssure, part of the Swiss Re Group. Claire’s appointment is subject to regulatory approval. Chris Knight will manage Legal & General Home Finance in the interim period.
Legal & General Retail Retirement Living Solutions will focus initially on helping customers find and fund the care they need for themselves or their elderly relatives. At the heart of this is our investment in Care Sourcer, a platform provider bringing digital efficiencies to the care market. Its ground-breaking pilot with Gloucester NHS Trust proved that better care matching technology can address nearly half (47%)1 of delayed discharge cases by matching people with care providers within 48 hours — providing value for money to users, Local Authorities and the NHS. Steve joins the Board of Care Sourcer and will work with the existing Executive Team lending his expertise in scale and disruption.
One Family: Over 55s poorly informed about retirement options
Research from OneFamily has revealed that the majority of workers over 55 aren’t aware of the different options for funding retirement. While pensions awareness is high (92%), other options, which may be more suitable for their personal needs, aren’t even on their radar.
Two thirds (62%) have either never heard of or don’t understand income drawdown, half (50%) say the same for annuities, and the vast majority (82%) don’t know about enhanced annuities.
While more than two thirds (70%) say they know what equity release is, when asked about the product names lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans, 79 per cent and 88 per cent respectively said that they either hadn’t heard of them or didn’t know what they were. Retirement interest only mortgages are also low profile with under a quarter (23%) of over 55s knowing what it is.
Even more troubling is that half of over 55s (56%) have not spoken to anyone or even researched their retirement funding options.
As life expectancy has risen, pensions have become more stretched, so it is vital that those planning their retirement understand all of the options available to them. Over 55s may believe the only option they have is to rely on meagre pension savings or the state pension, and they won’t have considered options such as lifetime mortgages, which could mean the difference between a comfortable or financially difficult retirement.
As providers and advisers offering financial products, we need to help over 55s understand all the different options available to them, and ensure they choose the best mix of solutions for the retirement they want.
Pure Retirement
While last year proved to be something of a landmark for us here at Pure Retirement, we’ve hit the ground running in the first quarter of 2019 as we’ve strived to continue building on an especially strong last twelve months having settled into our new office following our move late last year.
One of our headline achievements so far has been the launch of our mobile app, which is currently available for Apple and Android devices via the appropriate app stores. Designed as an easy-to-use and intuitive platform with which to review cases, as well as offering a clear indication of the next stages of application and what – if any – input is needed from the adviser or client. With the touch of a button, advisers can quickly call up client details and contact them directly from the app, as well as access Pure’s ever-popular marketing toolkit and all the latest news updates. In addition, the app allows advisers instant access to case summaries and historical case data stretching back up to twelve months, as well as providing notifications of any changes in application status. We’re seeking feedback from those who’ve already downloaded the app, and have an ongoing prize draw for those who contribute. See the full details here.
Continuing our theme of technological development, our online portal has also undergone a long-term and comprehensive refresh. This allows for a more in-depth case tracking feature, and all product brochures have been adapted into interactive PDFs hosted on AnyFlip. The login screen has also been updated to better reflect our updated website branding and styling that has proved so popular with our adviser network to date. Additionally, we’re partnering with E-Surv to deliver their SMS booking service, giving customers an extra level of convenience during the application process and helping make it as straightforward and easy for them as possible.
Our servicing department has recently expanded exponentially and developed into a key pillar of the organisation and in turn massively enhanced the wider business as a whole as we can now boast a total of six partners. As part of the department’s growth, Suzanne Latimer has recently been appointed Head of Service Delivery. Formerly Head of Operations, Suzanne has been a lynchpin of the Pure Retirement Family since the company’s formation, and as well as Andrew Clare replacing Suzanne in her previous role we’ve also added further new members to our senior team to support product innovation, with John Wilson (Head Of Product Proposition) and Brendan Gilligan (Head Of Product Delivery) joining the ranks as we continue reacting to changing customer trends and adapting accordingly.
We were pleased to see last year’s webinar and roadshow series resonate so strongly with our adviser network, and the good news is that we’ve more on the way. The webinars are set to launch during April and May, with the roadshows due to take place in May and June. We’re excited at the programme that we’ve developed and we look forward it with the wider market over the rest of the year.
Lastly, we’re pleased to announce the launch of our sponsorship of the England national over-50s and over-60s walking football teams. In the same way that later life lending has empowered retirees when it comes to their finances and lifestyle, walking football has done similar when it comes to sporting activities (to the extent that it’s now the fastest-growing sport in Britain). We look forward to supporting the team going forward and helping the Walking Football Association to continue to develop the sport in any way we can going forward.
Responsible Equity Release
It’s not always about equity release…
Here at Responsible Equity Release we wanted to use this edition of the newsletter to highlight the excellent customer service that exists across the industry. In particular we wanted to tell the story of a particular case that came to one of our advisers, Graeme Donegani recently. Graeme visited a 76-year-old gentleman who expressed an interest in releasing equity from his property with a Lifetime Mortgage to supplement his income. He was currently living on £509 a month from his two pensions in retirement and had been foregoing holidays in Spain and day to day niceties in order to survive financially.
When Graeme came to review the customer’s finances, he enquired about his state pension. The customer believed he had opted out as when he reached 65 he’d sent off a form and received no response. Knowing this couldn’t be correct and following a discussion with the customer, Graeme agreed to call the state pension claim number on his behalf, on speakerphone, so that the customer was present throughout the whole conversation. The customer had no family to help and did not feel comfortable or confident having this conversation himself.
Following this conversation they found that the customer was in fact entitled to a state pension of £274 a week, and that he would start to receive this from the following week. He would also be receiving a payment of £3,500 of unclaimed state pension from this year.
As their call continued, they informed the customer and our adviser that not only would he receive his state pension from now on, but that he would also receive the entire amount that he had not claimed over the 11 years. This totalled £119,300! The customer had tears in his eyes when he heard this.
Later, when our adviser phoned the customer to check on him, the customer informed him that the DWP had made a mistake, and that this year’s £3,500 back payment had instead become £13,500!
Needless to say, this customer did not need to continue on his equity release journey, but his meeting with Graeme has transformed his later life outlook, and the charities in his Will can benefit from the full value of his home.
Viva Retirement Solutions
Viva Retirement Solutions are proud to have been shortlisted at the recent Mortgage Strategy Awards.
Since the start of 2019 we have also taken on 2 new advisers and would like to welcome Russell Coneron and Nick Craddock to the fold.
More 2 Life
Dave Harris, CEO at more 2 life has been appointed to the Mortgage Board at UK Finance which is a great opportunity for the later life lending industry to help make its voice heard.
As part of the evolution of the market, more 2 life has agreed to support the London Institute of Banking and Finance in April as they seek to consider how the CeMAP and CeRAR exams might change to better reflect the later life lending market. Please email [email protected] if you are keen to become involved.
As part of its focus on helping advisers transact business more easily, more 2 life has also become the first lender to fully integrated with the AIR Sourcing API platform, recently launched an SMS survey booking system with e.surv and enhanced its LTV calculator.
Key
Key continues to bolster its team with the appointment of two new regional managers – Andy Warby and Jon Harrison. Its referral service – Key Partnerships – has also seen phenomenal growth and almost doubled the size of its team since February 2018. In the last quarter, notable appointments include two new regional managers Martin Sloan and Chris Feeney alongside a new BDM Rachel Flanagan.
Using a combination of Freedom of Information data and consumer research, Key launched its first Care Report in February which looked at the challenges of paying for care and how housing equity can support this. The use of deferred payment agreements and the level of funding provided by each council was also reviewed. This was well received by industry with influential bodies such as the Local Government Authority and International Longevity Centre expressing support.
KR Group
The beginning of the year has been busy with a flurry of new appointments and market-focused initiatives including Russell Warwick being appointed as Distribution Director at Key Retirement Group.
