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The Free Money Advice Service has been setup by the government to provide impartial advice on most financial matters but is particularly good on Equity Release.
Equity Release is a minefield but a necessary minefield! Get it right and older people can raise money on their property - potentially allowing them to afford to stay in their homes for the rest of their lives. Get it wrong and they can accumulate an enormous debt and effectively disinherit their children as the finance company claims their home in order to repay the accumulated loan when they die. The link below may help you decide whether this might be a useful route to go down. However just as importantly consider using a financial adviser.
Equity Release is a minefield but a necessary minefield! Get it right and older people can raise money on their property - potentially allowing them to afford to stay in their homes for the rest of their lives. Get it wrong and they can accumulate an enormous debt and effectively disinherit their children as the finance company claims their home in order to repay the accumulated loan when they die. The link below may help you decide whether this might be a useful route to go down. However just as importantly consider using a financial adviser.
This is a simple AgeUK Equity Release calculator which will help you find out how much an equity release loan would allow you to raise on your house.
Independent Financial Advisers - IFAs Poole
PFM Associates
Sir Peter Thompson House, 25 Market Cl, Poole BH15 1NE, UK – 01202 673456
I was recommended PFM associates by means of a friend. They have considerable experience in working with funders and providing trustworthy and thorough information for lending purposes. I understand development finance to be a particular strength. My personal experience was rather less good. I was assigned to Russell Watson who insisted in dealing with things by through telephone calls rather than by email. ie the terms would be sent to me, but we would still need to discuss them and confirm I understood by phone, rather than by email. This may be to ensure good communication but became a real burden to schedule in these calls. He also made me feel at times that I worked for him (both by his tone and his inability to flex to my difficult time schedules). We didn't manage to find a funder for a BTL 2-bed terrace (which had >30% of the build single skinned). Admittedly most brokers said it wasn't possible, except through bridging finance when I did phone around. But it did seem that I was finding solutions by seaching forums rather than him. While I agree this was a complex property to get a mortgage for, I was dissappointed that after 4 months, 2 surveys and a lot of admin time we had made little progress. I found another broker who found funding 60:40 LTV in my own name (rather than company name), and within 6 weeks I had the money in my account. I also had to remortgage another property to generate my deposit but again this was handled efficiently. So in summary I didn't have a good experience and still paid £500 in fees and almost £1000 in surveys without securing a lender. Perhaps it was the nature of the small property, but as I say above, I didn't feel valued as a customer even if the outcome was not PFMs fault.
Financial Adviser True Potential Wealth Management
Iain Murray: True Potential Wealth Management, Oak Dr, Poole BH15 1RE, UK – 07713 923818
Particularly kind when dealing with my mother who has not long lost her husband. Very sympathetic and knowledgable. Highly recommend.
I've always found Iain to be a great adviser and would happily recommend him to my friends and contacts. He's always happy to take the time to find out about the needs of his clients and explain things in a straightforward way.
Blue Pebble Money
119 Commercial Rd, Poole BH14 0JD, UK – 01202 716777
Matt and the team have been fantastic and took all the hard work out of arranging a mortgage with all the self employed hoops you have to jump through.
Click for excellent Money Saving Expert advice on choosing an Independent Financial Adviser (or IFA) around Poole.
This is a revolution! We are used to going to a bank with a business plan and been lent money on very high rates of interest - but only under increasingly demanding conditions. Crowd funding is the public investing directly to the businesses - at all stages of their development. Crucially there is a huge range of projects and Crowd Funders. You could do worse than just read and then click some of the WiKi link below.
Crowd Funding and Business Loans
Dormen (Dorset Business Mentoring)
Arena Business Centre, Holyrood Close, Poole BH17 7FJ, UK – 01202 607530
CROWN Packaging UK LTD
West House, Braeside Business Park, Sterte Ave W, Poole BH15 2BX, UK
HSBC Bank Plc
165-167 High St, Poole BH15 1AU, UK – 0345 740 4404
Rude staff and slow head office
Large HSBC with lots of self service machines.
NatWest
151 High St, Poole BH15 1AS, UK – 0345 788 8444
Helpful professional staff, never had a problem in this branch, cash machines inside hall way, open Saturday morning, no parking town centre
Very helpful and kind staff!! Organised and well laid out bank!
Lloyds Bank
101 High St, Poole BH15 1AJ, UK – 0345 300 0000
Very impressed with the service of all the staff at this branch in Poole, everyone was extremely helpful, friendly and welcoming, the branch manager even came into my appointment to introduced himself personally and thank me for banking with them. Best branch I have been too and I am glad they will be my new local branch.
Seen a lovely lady called Natalie who went above and beyond to help me. Very professional and the main reason I bank with Lloyds due to brilliant staff.
Banks
Halifax
Unit 4, 20/21 falkland square, Poole BH15 1ER, UK – 01202 450009
Thank you Peter James for exceptional customer service today. You showed a real understanding of my requirements and made it happen. A great 'Can do Will do' attitude.
Previously told the new Milton branch was unable to do a proof of expired card. Really painful. Went into Poole branch (my original branch) and in a matter of seconds problem resolved. Chris I think his name was amazing guy listened and sorted out everything. New Milton branch need to go there for a lesson in customer service and be shown how to do their job
Nationwide
128/130 High St, Poole BH15 1DJ, UK – 0800 554 0305
Staff great head office slow n not helpful
Staff always have time for the customer. Friendly and informative
Santander
116B High St, Poole BH15 1DH, UK – 0800 030 4321
Polite tellers and not press-ganged into using automated paying-in machines! What's not to like? A lot easier to do your financial business here than other local banks.
Small branch in which the cash points were under tremendous pressure when I went, but luckily queuing to complete a large withdrawal wasn't too bad. Served by a very nice member of staff who unfortunately didn't give me a receipt, as other branches either just issue one or at least ask, never mind.
Building Societies
Nationwide
128/130 High St, Poole BH15 1DJ, UK – 0800 554 0305
Staff great head office slow n not helpful
Staff always have time for the customer. Friendly and informative
Halifax
Unit 4, 20/21 falkland square, Poole BH15 1ER, UK – 01202 450009
Thank you Peter James for exceptional customer service today. You showed a real understanding of my requirements and made it happen. A great 'Can do Will do' attitude.
Previously told the new Milton branch was unable to do a proof of expired card. Really painful. Went into Poole branch (my original branch) and in a matter of seconds problem resolved. Chris I think his name was amazing guy listened and sorted out everything. New Milton branch need to go there for a lesson in customer service and be shown how to do their job
Mortgage Brokers
Homeline Mortgages Limited
Braeside Business Park, North House, Sterte Ave W, Poole BH15 2BX, UK – 01202 937444
I have been using Homeline Mortgages services for a few years and find all their staff to be helpful, efficient and patient. An excellent all round and fairly priced service.
I wish to highly commend Homeline Mortgages on the extremely efficient, speedy and friendly way in which my remortgage was handled from start to finish. I felt very supported throughout and the fact that I knew every step of the way where i was in the mortgage process was an absolute bonus. With a million other things to juggle on a daily basis, having a stress-free process was a must! Well done Homeline Mortgages. I have, and will continue to, recommend you to my friends, family and colleagues.
JP Mortgages
91 Salterns Rd, Poole BH14 8BL, UK – 01202 026906
Will was recommended to me by a friend. At the time I was using another Financial advisor who was unreliable, slow and hard to get hold of. Will was a breath of fresh air. Always returning calls on time, being pro active, patient and explaining things in plain English. He really knows his stuff and I would definitely recommend Will and JP Mortgages to other home buyers.
Fantastic service from James. He was reliable, friendly and most importantly helped me secure the mortgage I needed at the best rate. Would defiantly recommend James to friends and family. Thank you for all your hard work and help James!
Reef Mortgages
34 Milestone Rd, Poole BH15 3DS, UK – 01202 670107
Mortgages
White Financial Services
253 High St N, Poole BH15 1DX, UK – 01202 788540
Abacus Associates
29 Mount Pleasant Rd, Poole BH15 1TU, UK – 01202 666722
Loanwise
6 Buckthorn Cl, Poole BH17 7YF, UK – 01202 254092