who are likely to be actively involved in analysing

There are a number of contributing factors to this growth, including the high incidence of home ownership among couples over the age of retirement: 84.5 per cent according to figures from the Office of National Statistics.

This has combined with fiscal conditions that have derailed some people’s financial plans, creating the requirement for alternative solutions.

However, of prime interest is the way in which mortgage professionals must adapt to the differing needs of the owners of lifetime products.

It is possible to approach the management of such mortgages from the viewpoint that, as you are not required to collect payments and the only contact with the borrower is likely to be the annually produced mortgage statement, the challenges involved will be minimal. Surely all that is needed is to ensure the loan is repaid properly at the correct time?

But nothing could be further from the truth.

It is vital to guard against such attitudes to ensure that you can point to noticeable improve-ments in how well informed your consumers are - an area formerly cited for development in the FSA’s Finance in and at retirement’ review, published in 2007.

The news that, as a result of the Mortgage Market Review, sales of equity-release products from April 2014 will be conducted on an advised-only basis must be seen as eminently sensible.

Nonetheless, when it comes to the servicing of existing lifetime mortgages, it is important to bear in mind the unique needs of the customer base.

This is a group who are likely to be actively involved in analysing, digesting and questioning the product they have chosen. It is therefore critical that when they bring those queries, you provide comprehensive and, more importantly, comprehensible answers to them.

Your borrower may not be financially astute enough to navigate their mortgage without patient assistance. It is important we put aside enough time to help and understand the varying levels of comfort that clients may have with the topic.

High-quality customer inter-action, coupled with a commitment to ensuring staff dealing with these products are achieving recognised qualifications - such as the IFS Level 3 Certificate in Regulated Equity Release - is crucial to any mortgage servicer who aspires to deliver excellent results.

This is especially true when other issues complicate matters, such as requests for partial releases of security, family involvement, failing health, press coverage or the desire to raise further finance.

The path we need to tread is clear. Let’s make sure we are wearing the right shoes for the journey.