Savings and non-contrib pension

D

dublinboy

Guest
My parents are looking to release some equity in their house. Both are getting a non-contrib state pension and have no other savings. This whole area fills them with anxiety and I'm hoping to get some info for them.

What they want to know is how much can they take from the release of equity without it reducing their non-contrib pensions?
 
ClubMan said:
I presume you/they have at least checked the DSFA site for the non contributory pension qualification criteria?

I did and it says there is a limit of 20,000 before the means test starts to clawback some of the state pension. But the site also states that you can earn just over two euro per week without penalties (how generous!) but I thought that was raised to 100 in the budget as well as an increase in the 20,000. Hoping I might get some clarification here.
 
There are also allowances for the proceeds from the sale of one's home so maybe there is something similar for an equity release? However - how are they planning to repay the mortgage on the equity release if, as seems to be the case, they are so dependant on their pensions?
 
They're are looking at a product like BOI's Lifeloan where the loan and interest gets repaid either when they sell the house or on their death.
 
If you haven't already done so you should check out the existing threads on such products to read some comments on them and their pros and cons. Try searching for SHIP, RRL or LifeLoan for example.