The Mail on Sunday worries about the high rates paid by some customers on older mortgages. Age Partnership, a broker, has ‘pledged’ to look at existing equity release loans “to see whether borrowers can be switched to a better deal”.
Steve Baker is the Conservative MP for Wycombe and sits on the influential Treasury Select Committee. He says it is time the equity release industry tackled these toxic loans.
‘This is a welcome step that could bring peace of mind to many elderly individuals who have found themselves, through no fault of their own, as equity release mortgage prisoners in this ultra-low interest rate environment,’ he says.
Kevin Dowd is also quoted.
The article mentions a couple who took out a loan at 6.45% four years ago. However rates have plunged so far that “it became worth paying the exit charges and switching to a lower rate”, and the couple switched to a 3.04 per cent deal.
That leaves a few questions in our minds.