Equity release is the last option we look at says newly crowned Later Life Broker of the Year

BRISTOL, U.K. - July 10, 2023 - PRLog -- Edward Payne, MD of specialist mortgage advice firm Family First Finance was awarded the title of Best Broker for Later Life Lending at the 2023 British Mortgage Awards. The awards, which took place at the Westminster Park Plaza on 6^th July, saw hundreds of firms were vying to be named the best in their category. Family First Finance had to beat off strong competition from much larger rivals to win the award which was decided upon following a two stage process including interviews from a panel of senior industry figures. In awarding him the title, the judges commented that "Edward demonstrated real care for delivering holistic later life advice, with a tailored and bespoke approach, prioritising quality over quantity."
Payne commented "for us, it's all about finding the solution for the client, never pigeon holing them, forcing them to take a particular solution and understanding their needs. It is also essential that customers understand the full range of options available to them."
He went on to say "we always look at the cheapest option available to clients first, just because somebody is older, it doesn't mean they can't have a standard mortgage if they have the income and there are a lot of very good retirement and term interest only products coming to the market as well. 48% of the UK population are over 50 so there need are incredibly diverse."
In addition he added that the forthcoming Consumer Duty requirements announced by the FCA are a welcome addition and should help older clients in particular. "At present we have a situation where some advisers receive upto 6 times as much commission for arranging a lifetime mortgage over a retirement or standard mortgage and lifetime mortgage advisers often charge high percentage based fees. We only ever charges a fixed fee regardless. Consumer Duty should help to get rid of these inequities, hopefully resulting in better customer outcomes." He added, "Family First Finance (https://familyfirstfinance.co.uk/) always provide an alternative solution where customers can afford it to show the true cost of compound interest as well. That's why I believe I won. This positions us well to comply with the forthcoming consumer duty requirements. Equity release has really evolved over the past few years and the Equity Release Council and lenders have worked hard to make the product more flexible. I definitely has its place and many of my clients benefit from it but it has to be at the right time for them. At the same time, other types of lender could learn from developments in flexibility in the lifetime mortgage market."