Lifetime Mortgages - do you ask enough questions?

There is no doubt that there are good opportunities to offer mortgages to persons who are, shall we say, advancing in years.  I have to put it like that for the simple reason that it came as a bit of a shock to me to realise, as I prepared to write this article, that indeed I fall into the category of persons who might be  eligible for a Lifetime Mortgage. There are also a number of risks - both for the consumer and for the intermediary as well. 

I was recently asked to suggest a number of questions that might be  asked in addition to those normally found in a mortgage Fact Find  and it occurred to me that perhaps this was an opportunity to offer this information to those of you who read this blog. After all there is nothing new in all this but there is no harm in sharing, is there?

To this effect I have set out a mythical extract from a mythical fact find  relating to an entirely fictional individual who I have named Benjamin -  you know, like the bunny in Beatrix Potter! I have put down as many questions as I could but in doing so realise that de facto  a standardised factfind falls entirely short of the mark if you do not include enough space for client-specific information - which you will see from the size of the notes section that this document fails to do!

The  point of the extract however, is to attempt to consider all those questions that might reasonably be  asked  to assist a prospective borrower in choosing to take on a Lifetime Mortgage and to ensure that a mortgage adviser has asked enough questions to discharge his or her duties under the Financial Services & Markets Act as well as any duty of care under Common Law. Clearly the brevity of some of the possible answers mitigates against the completeness of the document and so I would make the very obvious point that  I am just attempting to identify questions that should be  asked and not assessing the robustness of any answers, nor for the avoidance of doubt , am I attempting to determine any consequences to the answers, in terms of actions to be  taken or not to be taken or , for example, in respect of information that should or should not be  provided.

For those of you currently undertaking the advising and sale of Lifetime Mortgages, I would hope that this document may be  of some use or assistance  whilst at the same time pointing you in the direction of the Equity Release Council ( http://www.equityreleasecouncil.com ) who appear to offer some valuable support and advice.