Legal & General Optional Payment Yellow
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Legal & General Optional Payment Yellow Review
Optional Payment Yellow Key Details
| Type | Rate | APR | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Fixed | 3.11% | 3.20% |
Scheme Incentives
- Cashback
- Free Valuation
- Free Application
Scheme Offers
- Inheritance Protection Guarantee
- 10%pa Optional Partial Repayments
- 3-Year No Early Repayment Charge*
- Downsizing Protection Feature
I think you’ll agree with me when I say:
It’s REALLY hard to choose the best equity release scheme with all the choices available.
Or is it?
Is the Legal & General Optional Payment Yellow, equity release scheme the best?
Don’t let your equity release dream become a nightmare!
Luckily, we’re here to guide you on the in’s and out’s of equity release, as you deserve only the best.
However, not all plans are suited to each individual. You need to look for one that will serve your home, your lifestyle, and the reason why you’re considering equity release in the first place.
As leading experts in the field, we’ve delved into hours of research, unpacked all the equity release plans on the market (we’ve reviewed over 250 schemes!), and discovered the best in the business.
- Detailed information about the Optional Payment Yellow scheme.
- Whether this plan could be right for you and your family.
- How low the current interest rates are for the Optional Payment Yellow product.
What's Equity Release?
We've summed up the most important information about the topic in this quick video.
An equity release mortgage is, in a nutshell, a loan plus interest that is paid back to the lender when the homeowner passes away or goes into permanent care. The homeowner’s family usually pays back the cash released, and the interest incurred, from the sale of the home in question.
Learn More: What’s Equity Release?
How Does Equity Release Work?
Equity release is available for individuals or couples over 55, with the youngest homeowner’s age determining the amount of equity that can be released. It is important to note that some equity release schemes may require the homeowner to be 60 or older.
Learn More: How Does Equity Release Work?
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Most popular reasons for releasing equity
- Add to your retirement income.
- Pay off your credit debts or loans.
- Gifting money to family. (E.g. helping children pay a deposit on their first house)
- Paying off an existing debt.
- Going on that dream holiday.
- Replacing your car with the one you've always wanted.
- Making home & garden improvements.
Who Are Legal & General?
Scheme Background
Legal & General (L&G) Home Finance leads the post-retirement lending market with a range of equity release schemes. They offer flexible drawdown lifetime mortgage plans & high maximum lump sum plans, all with the control measure of a 10% partial repayment function.
Legal & General entered the equity release market in 2015 after acquiring lifetime mortgage company, New Life Mortgages. This enabled them a quicker route to market with immediate permissions, whilst at the same time obtaining PRA & FCA regulatory approval.
Constantly innovating Legal & General has more equity release plans in store with ambitious targets to grow the market significantly over the forthcoming years.
Eligibility & Requirements
Flexible Optional Payment for Legal & General Yellow Lifetime Mortgage (OPLM) is particularly created for people who want to make monthly interest payments for a certain period of time, such as a fixed term or for the life of their mortgage.
The Optional Payment Yellow Plan provides one of the lowest interest-only mortgage rates and the discipline of fixed-interest monthly repayments. It has a smaller maximum release than its Optional Payment Blue counterpart, but it also has a lower interest rate, resulting in cheaper equivalent monthly payments.
Minimum Property Valuation
The minimum property valuation for an Optional Payment Yellow Lifetime Mortgage is £100000, with an ex-council property valuation of £100000. Outside of London, the maximum property valuation is £2 million, with homes in London allowed up to £4 million.
Property Location Requirements
The property, which must be the primary residence, must be located in England, Wales, or mainland Scotland. Legal and General will only base its estimates on 85 percent of the current market price for flats and maisonettes.
Single vs Joint
The L&G Optional Payment Yellow Lifetime Mortgage is offered as a single or joint life mortgage. The youngest homeowner is 55 years old, with a usual maximum age of 90 years old.
Minimum Release
This plan has a minimum borrowing of £10000 and a maximum release of £750000.
Scheme Features
Legal & General’s Optional Payment Yellow Plan is essentially an interest-only lifetime mortgage scheme that offers a tax-free lump sum cash release for immediate usage, with any leftover unused funds held in an unlimited cash reserve facility.
This is perfect for people who want to keep the amount under control by making monthly payments while also getting a competitive interest-only rate and access to future money if needed. The Optional Payment Yellow Plan also has a drawdown feature. If the maximum release is not used right away, drawdown is an option. As a result, any unused cash is kept in an unlimited cash reserve facility. This is great for people who want future access to cash while still being able to make monthly payments. The minimum withdrawal from the cash reserve facility is only £2000, and there are no administrative fees. Any additional cash withdrawals would be subject to the interest rate in effect at the time of withdrawal.
Valuation Features
A generous free unlimited valuation is provided, as well as a set lifetime interest rate on the original lump amount. Any subsequent withdrawals would be subject to the interest rate in effect at the time of withdrawal.
Early Repayment Feature
All of Legal & General’s plans offer Downsizing Protection. Downsizing Protection in the L&G version implies that anybody moving house after 5 years from the plan start date can return the loan with no early repayment penalty, as long as the property they are moving into does not match L&G’s lending standards.
Equity Release Council Status
Legal & General is a member of the Equity Release Council, thus all of its plans include a no-negative-equity guarantee. As a result, upon ultimate sale of the property, any beneficiaries cannot be left with a debt to the equity release provider in excess of the property value.
Joint Application Features
The L&G Optional Payment Yellow Lifetime Mortgage is offered as a single or joint life mortgage. The youngest homeowner is 55 years old, with a usual maximum age of 90 years old.
There is an additional protection provision for the plan’s last survivor for joint applicants. If one of the homeowners dies or moves into care, the remaining spouse has the option of repaying the lifetime mortgage with no penalty within three years of the occurrence.
Scheme Options
This Optional Legal and General Payment The Yellow Lifetime Mortgage allows homeowners to spend their tax-free money as they like, and gives them the option of paying some or all of the monthly interest back to L&G via direct debit.
These monthly repayments might range from a minimum of £25 per month to 100 percent of the interest paid by the lender each month. This aids in the management of the future balance of this lifetime mortgage UK program. Choosing to pay 100 percent of the interest charged can assist keep a level balance, but paying off a smaller amount will slow down any interest roll-up. The OPLM Yellow plan has the extra benefit of not requiring evidence of income or affordability checks.
Personal circumstances may necessitate the cessation of monthly payments at any moment. In such cases, the plan will revert to a roll-up model, with interest accumulating each year after that. Even if monthly payments are no longer made, the L&G ‘Optional Partial Repayment’ option becomes accessible, allowing up to 10% of the initial loan amount to be returned each year with no penalty. L&G permits four repayments in each 12-month period, each of which must be a minimum of £500. These payments do not exclude access to any potential drawdown facility.
Repayment Options
The plan is appropriate for residential interest-only borrowers who have no repayment strategy and need cash to settle the debt, or for homeowners who want to release equity but are concerned about the interest accumulating throughout their lifespan.
Inheritance Protection
Another possibility for inclusion is the Inheritance Protection function, which allows a homeowner to secure a predetermined proportion of the property’s final sale value. This is critical for individuals who want to ensure a percentage of the property value from their inheritance.
Application Fees
Legal and General’s Optional Payment Yellow Plan updates are still in the works. We will give an update soon.
Cashback Options
You may further customize the Yellow product by receiving a 2% payback and selecting whether or not to pay an upfront application cost. Both of these additions would have an impact on the interest rate.
Footnotes
*The 3-year no early repayment charge applies to joint life plans where the loan is repaid within 3 years of a partner’s death or long-term care.
**The 2% cash back option raises the applicable rate by 0.2 percent.
***Plan available with and without arrangement fee – rate quoted with application fee and no cashback.
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Contributors: Nicola Date, Katherine Read
Reviewed by Francis Hui
Editorial Note: This content has been independently collected by the SovereignBoss advisor team and is offered on a non-advised basis. Sovereignboss may earn a commission on sales made from partner links on this page, but that doesn’t affect our editors’ opinions or evaluations. Learn more about our editorial guidelines.
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