Supporting your customers

Lifetime mortgages - At a glance

Lifetime Mortgages eligibility criteria A customer aged 55 (50 for our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage) or over, nearing the end of their interest only mortgage term could benefit from a lifetime mortgage. They need to live in the property.
Lifetime mortgage products There are three types of products, Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage where they have to pay the interest each month over a payment term, Optional Payment Lifetime Mortgage where they can choose to pay the interest each month for as long as they want, and Flexible Lifetime Mortgage where they don’t pay anything. Any unpaid interest is added to the loan.
The amount they can borrow The older they are, the more they can borrow. Use the calculator below to see how much your customer can borrow.
The customer must get advice Legal & General can help customers understand if a Legal & General Lifetime Mortgage is the right option for them. If Legal & General don't have the right product for your customer, they also have access to the whole lifetime mortgage market.
Costs involved Through the partnership between Santander and Legal & General, the advice the customer receives is free and they will not have to pay for a valuation. Some of our products have a £599 fee and the customer must meet the cost of their own legal advice. All customers will receive a cashback of 0.3%. (On a £100k loan this is £300).
Interest rates The rates available change frequently and the adviser will be able to give more information on this. Between 1 November 2022 and 31 October 2023,
Cooperative Bank customers paid an average of 6.21%. The higher the LTV, the higher the rate that is charged.

What is a lifetime mortgage?
Eligibility criteria
What are the benefits?
Considerations

A lifetime mortgage is a loan that’s secured against the customer’s home which can be used to pay off their residential mortgage balance in full, including any Early Repayment Charges.

It must be the first and only charge on the property, therefore please consider any second charges.

For our Flexible and Optional Payment Lifetime Mortgages, there are no affordability checks, we underwrite the property, not the person. For our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage we carry out affordability checks to make sure your customer can afford the monthly interest payments.

If there’s any remaining money, customers can also borrow money to use for home improvements, holidays or to improve their quality of life.

There is no end date to the loan. The balance is repaid when the last surviving borrower dies or goes into long term care.

Lifetime mortgages can only be bought through a qualified financial adviser.

They can be a really good option for interest-only mortgage shortfall customers who want to stay in their homes and ether keep paying interest, or want the burden of a regular monthly payment to go away.
Minimum age: 55 (or 54 for whole of market referrals) and 50 for our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage

Maximum age: 90 and 74 for our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage

Property condition: standard construction, in a good state of repair and free of any tenancy restrictions

Minimum loan amount: £10,000

Minimum property value: £70,000 or £100,000 for flats, maisonettes, ex-council, ex-housing association or ex-Ministry of Defence properties.

Location: England, Wales or mainland Scotland
Stay in their home. The customer will still live in and own their property, subject to the Terms and Conditions being met. For our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage as a last resort, their home may be repossessed if they don't keep up with payments.

Option to make monthly payments. If the customer takes out the Flexible Lifetime Mortgage, they won’t have to make monthly payments. With the Optional Payment Lifetime Mortgage, they can choose to pay some, or all, of the monthly interest by Direct Debit, but they can also stop making monthly interest payments at any time. With our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage they will pay the full interest amount each month for a chosen payment term.

Portable loan. Customers can transfer their lifetime mortgage to a new property as long as it’s acceptable to us and meets our lending requirements at the time.

No Negative Equity Guarantee. The customer or their beneficiaries will never payback more than the amount their property is sold for, even if the home goes down in value, subject to our Terms and Conditions being met. For our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage, the No Negative Equity Guarantee will not apply to any missed monthly interest payments and the interest on them. If the sale of their property doesn’t cover these, we’ll ask their beneficiaries to settle the balance.

Inheritance Protection. The customer can secure a percentage of the net sale proceeds of their home for their beneficiaries, though it will reduce the amount they can borrow. If the maximum loan amount is required to repay the residential mortgage, Inheritance Protection may not be available.

Early repayment. The customer can pay part of the mortgage off early with no Early Repayment Charge using the Optional Partial Repayment (OPR) feature, subject to the Terms and Conditions. For our Optional Payment and Payment Term Lifetime Mortgages they can use OPR feature once their payment term has stopped.
A lifetime mortgage secures a loan against a home.

An Early Repayment Charge may need to be paid if a loan is repaid before a customer dies, or moves out of their home and into long-term care.

Interest is charged on the loan plus any interest already added. The amount owed may increase quickly over time, reducing the equity left in the home and the value of any inheritance.

Equity release calculator

This calculator helps you see how much equity your customer could release with a lifetime mortgage, a loan secured against their home. You can skip the 'Just one more step' option.

Your customer's date of birth is
/ /

My postcode is

Your customer's home is worth around

Your customer is looking to release

This is a guide to the lifetime mortgage products we offer and not advice or a personal recommendation.

Retirement Interest Only Mortgage - At a glance

Use the money however they want You can spend it in all sorts of ways. If you give the money away, the recipient may need to pay inheritance tax in the future. There are few restrictions on how you spend the money. You can even pay off an existing mortgage.
Interest is payable each month The interest due is payable in full each month, so your customer always know how much they owe.
There’s no fixed term They don't have to repay the loan on a specific date. It’s repaid when the customer dies or when they move permanently into long-term care. At this point, the property is sold and the loan repaid. If they take out the loan with someone else, the property isn’t sold until both of them have either died or moved permanently into long-term care.
The interest rate doesn’t vary The interest rate is fixed throughout so there are no surprises. They pay the same amount every month.
They can pay more to reduce how much they owe If they want to pay off more than the interest due each month, they can make overpayments from time to time. So long as any overpayments don’t exceed our limits, there are no charges.
They're portable.If your customer wants to move home in the future, they can port the loan to the new property.

What is a Retirement Interest Only Mortgage?
Eligibility criteria
Considerations

Our Retirement Interest Only Mortgage is available to people over 55. It’s a loan secured against the value of the customer's home. They pay the interest each month, which means the amount they owe doesn’t increase over time.

They can use it for most purposes (including paying off an existing mortgage). What's more, they don't have to repay the loan until they, or the last remaining borrower, die or move permanently into long-term care.'

If they miss monthly interest payments Legal & General will always try and help. If we can’t resolve the situation, as a last resort their home may be repossessed.

Our Retirement Interest Only Mortgage can only be taken out with a mortgage adviser.
Minimum age: 55 (or 54 for whole of market referrals)

Maximum age: 90 (the Retirement Interest Only mortgage must complete before their 91st birthday)

Property condition: standard construction, in a good state of repair and free of any tenancy restrictions

Minimum loan amount: £10,000

Minimum property value: £70,000 or £100,000 for flats, maisonettes, ex-council, ex-housing association or ex-Ministry of Defence properties.

Location: England, Wales or mainland Scotland
Early Repayment Charges If they repay their Retirement Interest Only Mortgage early, or pay more than the overpayment limits, there may be an Early Repayment Charge.

Moving home They can move home, and transfer the loan as long as the new property meets our lending requirements. If the new property is worth less than their current home, they may have to pay back part of your mortgage.

Means tested benefits If they take out a Retirement Interest Only Mortgage it could affect any means-tested benefits or pension credit they receive.

Compare our later life mortgages

Our Lifetime Mortgages and Retirement Interest Only Mortgage may appear similar, but it's important to understand the differences between each product. We've pulled out some of the key points below.

	Our Lifetime Mortgages	Our Retirement Interest Only Mortgage
Age	50+ for our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage 55+ for our Flexible and Optional Payment Lifetime Mortgages	55+
Minimum loan amount	£10,000	£10,000
Maximum loan amount	Determined by your customer's age and property value. For our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage an affordability assessment is also required.	Up to 60% of the value of your home, subject to an affordability assessment.
Minimum property value considered	£70,000 or £100,000 for flats, maisonettes, ex council, ex housing association or ex Ministry of Defence properties.	£70,000 or £100,000 for flats, maisonettes, ex council, ex housing association or ex Ministry of Defence properties.
Is there an affordability assessment?	Yes, for our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage No, for our Flexible and Optional Payment Lifetime Mortgages	Yes
Is the loan secured against my client's home?	Yes	Yes
When do they have to repay the full amount of the loan?	The loan is usually repaid when they die or move out of their home into long-term care.	The loan is usually repaid when they die or move out of their home into long-term care.
Do they have to pay interest every month?	No, for our Flexible and Optional Payment Lifetime Mortgages, the interest is charged on the loan amount plus any interest already added, so the amount owed will increase quickly over time. However, with our Optional Payment Lifetime Mortgage they can choose to pay off some or all of the monthly interest to prevent this. Yes, for our Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage, they have to pay the full interest monthly for their chosen payment term. As a last resort, their home may be repossessed if they fail to keep up repayments.	Yes - the interest due is payable in full by them each month. As a last resort, their home may be repossessed if they fail to keep up repayments.
Is the interest rate fixed?	Yes. The interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan.	Yes. The interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan.

A mortgage may affect means-tested benefits, their tax position and any future inheritance.

Advice process

8 simple steps to taking out a later life mortgage
Once your customer has the money

Help your customers find out how taking out a later life mortgage works

When your customer takes out a later life mortgage with Legal & General, we're with them every step of the way. Your customer has their own personal advice team who'll guide them through the advice journey. (This is the process Legal & General follow but the steps are similar when using an independent adviser).

01

Get in touch with Legal & General

Just call us to find out more. No question is too small, we're ready to take your customer's call and very happy to help whatever the query. There's no obligation, no pushy sales tactics and no advice fee. We will also check they meet the basic eligibility if they would like us to. If they meet the eligibility criteria and they would like to progress, we can then arrange a convenient time for our adviser to call them.

02

Talk to family or friends

They can even join the calls and come to adviser meetings, if they want to include them.

03

Introducing your adviser and information gathering

The next person they will speak to is their personal adviser. Whilst they aren’t able to get out and meet the customer in person, they'll still be able to have a face-to-face appointment by setting up a video call with an adviser to gain a deeper understanding of their financial circumstances and discuss any particular needs.

The information gathered by the adviser will then be taken away to create a personalised recommendation for them.

04

Recommendation

On the video call the adviser will talk them through their recommendation, so that they can ask questions and take time to fully understand the product they’re recommending. This is an important meeting so the customer can invite family or a close friend along to join the call. This can be carried out using a three-way process, which the adviser will be able to provide full details on how this works. If they choose to proceed with our recommendation, we’ll do all the paperwork and submit the application for them.

Ahead of the meetings, they will be sent a short biography and photo of their adviser, so that they know exactly who they're talking to when they introduce themselves.

05

Appoint a solicitor

It's important your client appoints a solicitor who is qualified to help them with the option they have applied for.

Lifetime mortgage

They'll need to appoint a solicitor who specialises in equity release to act on their behalf and to provide them with independent legal advice. If they have their own solicitor isn’t a specialist, we do have a panel of solicitors available who we work closely with.

Alternatively, they can contact the Equity Release Council which has a list of equity release solicitors. To help them understand the legal process further, we also have a guide they can download:

Download our guide to the lifetime mortgage legal process.

Retirement Interest Only Mortgage

Our advisers will inform them if you need to appoint a conveyancer. This is a solicitor who deals with the property, contracts and any documentation needed. To help them understand the legal process further, we also have a guide they can download

Download our guide to the Retirement Interest Only Mortgage legal process

06

Valuation

We’ll arrange for an independent valuation of your customer’s house.

07

Offer and Legals

Once the valuation is complete and the application is approved, we’ll send them and their solicitor the offer. Their solicitor will discuss the offer with them and make sure they understand the implications of a later life mortgage. It’s important to take their legal advice before they sign and accept the offer.

If they have applied for a later life mortgages you must insure your property for at least the amount set out in their Mortgage Offer. This should be sufficient to cover the cost of rebuilding the property.

08

Money received

A completion date will be agreed and the money will be released to the solicitor, who will repay any existing mortgage or debt against the customer's home. If the customer has chosen to pay the solicitor costs out of the loan, they’ll deduct these before paying the remainder to them.
What happens once the loan has been approved?

Your customer may be planning to use the money to help their family, or for yourself so they can really enjoy this stage of life.

Pay off their outstanding mortgage

Your customer will first need to pay off their outstanding mortgage balance. If there's any money left over they are free to spend it however they'd like.

Take more money at a later date for a lifetime mortgage

Your customer has the option to take more money from their lifetime mortgage so long as they haven’t exceeded their limit. This will be explained at outset so they'll always be aware of how much they can take.

They can still move house

Your customer may not want to move now, but sometime in the future it may make sense. They can move house at any time, but they will need to talk to Legal & General first. Legal & General need to check that the property is of a type they would normally lend against, and that there’s enough equity in the new property to meet the loan and interest. If not, you may have to repay part of the loan when you move.

Paying off the loan

Your customer can repay some of the money they’ve borrowed at any time. This will reduce how much they owe. However, there are limits on how much can be repaid and how often they can make repayments. If they exceed the limits, or want to pay back all of the loan and interest, there may be an Early Repayment Charge.

Next steps

Reminder!

The information here is for training purposes only and this URL should not be shared with anyone outside of Co-operative or Legal & General.

Get in touch with us

No question is too small, we're ready to take your customer's call and very happy to help whatever the query.

0808 1961 725

Monday to Friday 9:00am - 5:30pm
We may record and monitor calls.

Supporting your customers

All you need to know to help your customers with a later life mortgage

Equity release calculator

A mortgage may affect means-tested benefits, their tax position and any future inheritance.

Get in touch with Legal & General

Talk to family or friends

They can even join the calls and come to adviser meetings, if they want to include them.

Introducing your adviser and information gathering

Recommendation

Appoint a solicitor

Valuation

We’ll arrange for an independent valuation of your customer’s house.

Offer and Legals

Money received

A completion date will be agreed and the money will be released to the solicitor, who will repay any existing mortgage or debt against the customer's home. If the customer has chosen to pay the solicitor costs out of the loan, they’ll deduct these before paying the remainder to them.

Pay off their outstanding mortgage

Your customer will first need to pay off their outstanding mortgage balance. If there's any money left over they are free to spend it however they'd like.

Take more money at a later date for a lifetime mortgage

Your customer has the option to take more money from their lifetime mortgage so long as they haven’t exceeded their limit. This will be explained at outset so they'll always be aware of how much they can take.

They can still move house

Paying off the loan

Reminder!

Get in touch with us

0808 1961 725