ONGAR, England, May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Award-winning Bower Retirement Services offers a real alternative for retired property owners looking to use their homes to finance their retirement

A recent investigation by the Independent on Sunday found some 250,000 people will owe thousands of pounds on interest-only mortgages when they retire over the course of the next decade. With no income and little in the way of pension to pay this off, many elderly people will be faced with losing their homes.

3 trillion is locked up in property in the United Kingdom. Even taking aside the 1 trillion that is mortgaged, that's a huge amount of money just sitting there, locked in bricks and mortar. Faced with mortgages and no income many people of retirement age sell their homes and downsize, using the cash from the sale to clear their mortgage and pay off outstanding debts.

But it shouldn't be the case that just because a person retires with a mortgage they need to sell their home. There is another way.

With so much money locked up in property, it makes sense to unlock some of this wealth and Bower Retirement Services has the key. It is an equity release firm that can help unlock money from a property to help pay for an existing mortgage or to provide a living allowance to supplement a state pension. Homeowners can find out just how much equity they can release from their property with Bower Retirement Services using its free equity release calculator.

There are four different types of equity release plans on offer from Bower Retirement Services: lump sum lifetime mortgages, lifetime mortgage with flexible cash release, interest only lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans.

The first works in a similar way to a standard mortgage except interest and the outstanding mortgage balance are paid only when vacating the property.

The second, also known as a drawdown mortgage, works in the same way as the above except homeowners can also withdraw cash from a cash reserve at an agreed frequency over a pre-set number of years.

Interest only mortgages, as the name suggests, only require the interest to be paid each month. The amount borrowed remains intact and is repaid when the property is sold.

More here:
Equity Release Can Prevent Retired Property Owners Losing Their Homes Report Bower Retirement Services