‘HOW EQUITY RELEASE SMALL PRINT COST ME £2,500 FEES’

Money Mail, october 10 ‘WE TOOK out an equity release loan in 2005, desperate for cash to make our retirement easier.

‘Now we wish we hadn’t because we want to downsize to be closer to our daughter and her new family, and the early repayment charge would be too high to take. We feel trapped in our home and wish we hadn’t bothered.’

K. b., Manchester. ‘EXIT fees are a plague on all financial products, whether it’s equity release, a mortgage or personal loan.

‘It’s as though lenders deliberately don’t appreciate that people’s circumstances always change — and then hit you really hard for it.’

P. P., Dorset. ‘IT’S no surprise to find out that equity release will hit you with petty fees if you leave early.

‘ If there’s any way these operators can penalise you, they’ll find it.

‘Calling it equity release is a scam. You’re effectively pawning your house for a pittance.’

P. P., Kingston-upon-Thames. ‘WE HAVE been thinking very hard about an equity release loan, but are worried about fees. A local adviser has told us the process is — and I quote him — “pain-free and very simple”.

‘But it seems the loans are a lot more complicated than he suggests, and we’re in two minds about whether to go for it.’

r. J., by email. ‘OUR equity release was taken out in 2006, but my husband went into care barely months later.

‘I’m struggling to cope and wonder if I should join him. I’ve written to our financial adviser to see if the loan company will charge me if I go into care.

‘But after nearly a month, he doesn’t seem to know and can’t yet say for sure.

‘It’s so unsettling to have to worry about things like this at our time of life.’

G. r., by email.