Joanna recently turned 62 and lives in a 2-bedroom detached house in north London. Her property is valued at £200,000, with an outstanding mortgage of £38,000, which mainly arose due to a shortfall on her endowment policy.
Unfortunately, Joanna has been diagnosed with diabetes for which she needs to now take medication. Thinking she could handle the mortgage payments into retirement, Joanna has found that her bank will not extend the mortgage term beyond age 60 and therefore require repayment very soon.
Fearing she may need to sell her home, & feeling the stress of her diagnosis, Joanna seeks advice on whether equity release could provide an answer. She has decided that not only does she wish to clear the mortgage, which would free up additional pension income, but would like an additional £20,000 to carry out home improvements, which she feels are long overdue.
Joanna has diabetes & smokes 20 cigarettes a day. Upon researching the whole of the equity release market, a more2life Enhanced Lifetime Mortgage Plan was recommended. By considering an Enhanced Lifetime Mortgage plan, Joanna can actually release more money from her property as more2life will consider her health and lifestyle as a factor towards calculating the maximum equity release.
Initially, Joanna was informed that the maximum equity release based on a healthy person would only be £51,000, which fell disappointingly short of the £58,000 in total she required. However, the equity release adviser then researched the range of enhanced equity release schemes available. An equity release calculator advised that the more2life enhanced plan could raise a maximum of £61,600, based on her age, property value & health. Joanna was therefore overjoyed with the fact that more2life could therefore provide the funds necessary to clear the mortgage, cover her home improvement costs and the plans set up fees.