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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).
01Get 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.
02Talk to family or friends
They can even join the calls and come to adviser meetings, if they want to include them.
03Introducing 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.
04Recommendation
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.
05Appoint 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
06Valuation
We’ll arrange for an independent valuation of your customer’s house.
07Offer 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.
08Money 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.
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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.
Reminder!
The information here is for training purposes only and this URL should not be shared with anyone outside of Santander or Legal & General.
Customer stories
Find out how other Legal & General customers have benefited from their lifetime mortgage.
Supporting your customers
Use the calculator to find out how much your customer could get.