‘my Lender Wants £161k In Penalties’: The 'astonishing' Rates Of Equity Release Interest telegraph.co.uk

Older homeowners with equity release plans are being asked to pay huge penalties if they try to move to a cheaper rival provider or make changes to their properties.

Many plans are loaded with clauses that make altering the loan prohibitively expensive, while others have “weird and wonderful” ways of calculating interest.

Often, it is only when the policyholder dies that the cost of the loan becomes apparent to the family, and heirs are left with little or no inheritance once the equity release provider has taken its share.

Tom Raitt, 88, of Solihull, wanted to sell a small plot of land but his plans were halted by his provider, Aviva, which demanded a six-figure sum from the retired engineer….