Advising clients with specific wants and needs is sometimes the lesser of two evils when it comes to placing your cases, as things can get slightly more complicated when the needs and required loan amounts are less specific. How much do you recommend? What product do you go for? What difference does the Loan to Value band make?
LTV Boundaries
We pick up a lot of cases through Pure that are right on the tipping point. Our loan to value bands, like with most equity release companies, are not as standard as those in standard mortgages. Where you might see a band from 70% to 75% in residential mortgages, with equity release it can often be 35.6% - 38.2% and as a result can be a lot more complicated to take from case to case.
We may have a solution for you should your client not be restricted to a specific loan amount, because at Pure we try to identify these cases right on the LTV boundaries so we can best inform you and therefore your clients.
Identifying Savings for Your Clients
A recent example of this is a call our Business Development Manager Karen Banks (who co-manages our central region along with myself). Karen had identified that a small change in the loan amount would tip this case from a 5%-plus interest rate down to a 4%-plus rate. This would save the client a huge amount in rolled up interest over the lifetime of the loan just by reducing their advance by £3000. This kind of information was invaluable to the broker, who was able re-evaluate the application and gain more confidence from the client.
Here to Help
Equity Release as a market has not always had the best reputation, and the Equity Release Council and our fellow equity release providers have worked hard over the years to turn this around. However, some clients, especially the slightly more cautious clients, may not have seen this change happen and still hold those previous misconceptions - small tips, like this one from Karen, can really help your clients gain that extra level of confidence in you and your advice.
Not all cases are quite this finely balanced, but if you ever find yourself near an LTV boundary do get in touch with your business development team, and we’ll try and find that balance for you and your client.
