Stonehaven suspends new lending
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Equity release provider Stonehaven has temporarily suspended all new lending.
It will continue to honour applications received in the next four weeks and has extended its completion deadline to six months.
Its existing lifetime mortgage customers will not be affected by this decision and it will continue to honour the existing terms and conditions.
A message on the firm’s website says: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your support so far. Stonehaven remains committed to this market and hopes to return when the funding market improves.”
From Wednesday March 10, all products will no longer be available via its KFI generator.
Applications based on KFIs generated before this date, must be received by close of business on Wednesday April 7. Applications must include a cheque to cover the application fee.
Normally, offers made by Stonehaven are valid for three months, however its is extending this deadline to six months from the valuation date.
Saffron Building Society and Coventry Building Society both suspended equity release lending in 2009, along with Northern Rock.
Peter Welch, head of sales and distribution at Bridgewater Equity Release says the decision is not surprising given the growing funding challenges lifetime mortgage providers are currently facing.
He says: “Over the course of the past year we have seen a number of providers leave the lifetime mortgage sector because of the difficulty in securing the necessary finance to continue lending. The open-ended nature of this announcement shows that sources of lifetime mortgage funding are currently at a premium and it is therefore difficult to put a timescale on when these lines will be open again.
“We believe the problems that many providers are having in accessing funding are much more acute in the lifetime mortgage product arena than in home reversions.”
