The equity release and home reversion scheme trade body, Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP) has announced tougher measures for providers. In the to-ing and fro-ing of whether or not the Government should regulate home reversion plans and equity release products, SHIP has decided to toughen up.
The organisation has been lobbying the Government to include these products within regulation. Jon King, Chairman of SHIP said that whilst the number of complaints received by them was "miniscule", he felt that building up market confidence in the products and their pseudo-regulation was vital.
Our View
SHIP does a fantastic job in terms of its Code of Practice and existing complaints procedures. The majority of equity release and home reversion scheme providers are members and that should give consumers confidence.
Gone are the days of being thrown out of your home in your seventies and eighties because you owe more interest than your home is worth. This and many of the other horror stories are now a thing of the past.
But, make sure you do only use SHIP accredited companies.