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Equity release lender prepares market entry

Written By:
Guest Author
Posted:
March 30, 2017
Updated:
March 30, 2017

Guest Author:
Carmen Reichman

Equity release lender Responsible Lending plans to enter the market later this year after gaining regulatory approval at the end of February.

The Plymouth-based lender will offer a range of lifetime mortgages aimed at homeowners aged 55+. It will target traditional equity release customers, mortgage prisoners and defined contribution pensioners.

It is headed by former director of lifetime mortgages at Just Retirement and managing director of Prudential’s lifetime mortgage division, Keith Haggart, who joined the firm in July last year. At Prudential, Haggart launched the first drawdown lifetime mortgage in the UK in 2005.

“Responsible Lending was founded because we identified a space in the equity market for an innovative lender that focuses on the issues faced by those aged 55 and over,” he said.

“Equity release is a rapidly growing market. In the last couple of years it has doubled in size and we believe it will continue to grow substantially to reach £5bn by the end of 2020. We want to be part of that, it’s an exciting opportunity,” he added.

The firm said it wants to make it easier for clients to manage the property equity over their lifetime to increase the amount of equity they can access. The products will be distributed through equity release qualified financial advisers and mortgage brokers.

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Haggart said: “The mortgage market has some fundamental flaws when viewing customers in retirement, which we are seeking to address with our products. We have looked at the wider regulation and economic landscape and designed a range of products that hand the power over the wealth in their property back to our customers.”

Responsible Lending is the sister company of retirement specialist Responsible Life.