Beating the credit crunch and the property slow-down by releasing cash

Roy and Beryl Baker are beating the credit crunch and the property slow-down by releasing cash from their home with equity release.

Roy, 65, wanted to keep busy in the first year of his retirement by decorating their home from top to bottom. He says: “We’ve recarpeted everywhere, bought some new furniture and purchased a second hand four wheel drive to tow the caravan we are planning to buy for lots of weekends away. Next year we’re planning to go on a cruise.

“Although we have private pensions we couldn’t really have afforded these sorts of luxuries comfortably without equity release.”

Roy, a retired painter and decorator and Beryl, a former curtain shop manageress, from Bedfordshire are determined to make the most of their retirement. Beryl had leukaemia four years ago and although she has been all clear for three years the experience changed their attitude to life. Roy says:

“You just don’t know what is around the corner and we really want to enjoy life and not have to worry too much about money.”

The couple decided on equity release after unsuccessfully trying to sell their £200,000 home twice. Roy says: “We had this idea of moving up to Norfolk to retire but when the credit crunch started we couldn’t sell and we realised that we didn’t really want to move away from all our friends and neighbours who had been so good to us when Beryl had been ill.”

Roy was initially unsure about applying for equity release because he feared that there was a risk they could lose their home, but he was reassured after checking with a specialist independent adviser that this was not the case.

“When I rang Key Retirement Solutions they arranged for a consultant to come out and visit us to talk things through,” says Roy.

“He wasn’t pushy at all and took time to explain everything and went away. Then he left us with plenty of time to think about it and talk about it with family. There was never any pressure or hurry.”

Roy and Beryl decided to release £40,000 equity – but have only taken out £20,000 initially. The rest is set aside for them to draw from as and when they need it, only paying interest on the cash they actually take. The couple have no repayments to make, the money released is tax free and they have the security of knowing they can stay in their own home for their lifetime.

“The whole process was very smooth and I’d recommend it to anyone,” says Roy. “The advice we received from Key was invaluable. They explained everything so clearly and then found the right plan for what we wanted.”