Legal & General has launched new Flexible Max and Flexible Max Plus lifetime mortgages.
It means L&G now provides customers with a fee free drawdown facility across its lifetime mortgage range.
The lender has also reduced the minimum age for customers to apply for a lifetime mortgage from 60 to 55.
The drawdown facility allows borrowers to access housing equity as and when they need it. Customers can borrow less than the maximum loan amount, with the remaining funds accessible if required, without the need to pay any additional fee. Customers will not be charged for the unused drawdown facility. The minimum initial advance customers can take across all products, excluding Premier Flexible, is £10,000.
Loan to value (LTV) ratios for single or joint applications for customers aged 55 to 59 are as follows:
| Age | Premier Flexible | Flexible | Flexible Plus | Flexible Max | Flexible Max Plus |
| 55 | 10.0% | 11.0% | 16.0% | 22.5% | 25.5% |
| 56 | 11.0% | 12.0% | 17.0% | 23.5% | 26.5% |
| 57 | 12.0% | 13.0% | 18.0% | 24.5% | 27.5% |
| 58 | 13.0% | 14.0% | 19.0% | 25.5% | 28.5% |
| 59 | 14.0% | 15.0% | 20.0% | 26.5% | 29.5% |
The LTVs for customers aged 60 and over remain unchanged. Flexible Max and Flexible Max plus have the same LTVs as L&G’s Lump Sum and Lump Sum Plus products.
Steve Ellis, managing director at Legal & General Home Finance, said: “Legal & General has been committed to continuing to improve flexibility for lifetime mortgage customers since joining the market in 2015. Today’s announcement – to provide a fee free drawdown facility on all products – is another part of that commitment; giving consumers more options in how they release the equity tied up in their home and in particular, to only borrow the money they need, when they need it.
“Lifetime mortgages have a much more central role to play in providing potential retirement lending solutions to a greater number of people. By reducing our minimum borrower age to 55 we hope that more customers will be able to consider accessing the money stored in their home to provide greater financial certainty for themselves and those who they care about.”
