How unlocking £54,000 from our house helped us keep our family home and ease our money worries
Geoff and Pam Nicol looked forward to their retirement for years. But the closer they got to it, the more they worried whether their pension savings would be enough to give them the lifestyle they always thought they’d have.
Plans to make some much-needed improvements to their Cambridge home and purchase a new car began to look less possible, and the reality that they might have to sell up and move somewhere smaller dawned.
‘We had big dreams a few years ago, but DIDN’T THINK WE COULD AffORD TO PUT THEM into action,’ says Pam, 60. ‘Our house needed major repairs, and for a while we thought our only option was to sell and
move somewhere cheaper.’ But as luck would have it, the couple got chatting to old friends in Kent, who told them about Key.
‘They said they’d been in the same position, and had raised the money they needed with equity release,’ says Pam. ‘We looked into it, and decided it could work for us, too.’
Two years ago, the couple decided to ask an adviser from equity release specialist Key to come to their home to explain their options.
‘He asked us about our situation and the things we needed to do to the house,’ says Pam. ‘Then he showed us how equity release could provide the money. He gave us all the time we wanted to think it over, and there was no hard sell.’
After going through Key’s recommendations carefully, the couple discussed it with their grown-up children – as Key recommend – and decided to go ahead. The equity release plan Key recommended allowed them to release £54,000 tax-free from the £160,000 value of their home.
They don’t have to make monthly interest payments as the loan and roll-up interest will simply be repaid when the plan ends.
Pam says the decision to use equity release has changed their lives dramatically.
‘We used a slice of the money on the urgent repairs then started to look to our futures,’ says Pam, who retired from her job as an office manager in Cambridge earlier this year.
She has reduced mobility and so she and her husband wanted to future-proof their home so they can stay there comfortably for life.
‘We spent £12,000 gutting our old bathroom and creating a bigger room with a walk-in shower that’s easier to use,’ she says. ‘We’ve also had the garden overhauled so it’s easier to manage.’
The equity release money hasn’t just helped with DIY. The couple bought a new car that Pam finds easier to get into. And they’ve had two well-earned holidays that they never thought they could afford.
On the second, they took their granddaughter, giving the family wonderful memories for the future.
‘Before we found out about equity release, we worried about money almost every day,’ says Pam. ‘Now we can just enjoy our home and our family.’