Advise Wise unlocks the full potential of equity release market for independent advisors

A new company has promised to help unlock the full potential of the equity release market for the UK’s thousands of independent advisors by launching a free-to-use online service that provides full market access to live rates from all active equity lenders.

Advise Wise’s easy-to-use sourcing tool – www.advisewise.com – has taken technology, developed over the last 15-years by leading equity advice specialist, Age Partnership, and packaged it for a sector of the equity release market that is growing rapidly. The system is sponsored from launch by Just and supported by industry giants such as Aviva and Canada Life.

Jonathan Thirkill, CEO of Advise Wise, said: “Independent whole of market advisors are currently responsible for a large proportion of all new equity release cases in the UK, and that proportion is only going to increase as releasing equity in homes becomes common practice for the over 55s.”

“Despite this level of activity, and the huge potential for further growth, independent advisors have not had access to a single sourcing tool that provides full market access; meaning they either have to enter client details time and again to gain a full picture, or give advice that omits key funders. The inclusion of live medically enhanced Aviva flexible rates in Advise Wise is a significant development for the market”

Advise Wise fills this gap in the market, and through the inclusion of Aviva’s much sought after flexible rates means independent advisors will now be able to provide their clients with the very best possible advice and access to plans that work best for their individual requirements.

Free to use, the system has been developed by a team with unmatched equity release market experience, and features the most intuitive and easy-to-use research functionality on the market. It enables users to request and receive KFIs in a single place for the first time, has a single client CRM to store client details, and a secure online document store for each client case.

Jonathan Thirkill continued: “Whilst there are existing sourcing tools available for independent whole of market advisors, I’m confident Advise Wise outperforms them both technically and in terms of ease of use and will be a major step forward for advisers currently advising in or looking to enter the market.”

Advise Wise’s ability to offer access to live rates across the whole market is the result of a seven-month project by its in-house team of developers to write a programme that enabled it to take rates from lenders’ current online systems and share them through its new portal.

“Everything we’re doing is aimed at ensuring those releasing equity do so in a manner that best suits them and their circumstances,” added Thirkill. “As such, my overriding hope for Advise Wise is that its introduction will signal the beginning of a new era of ever increasing technological innovation within the equity release market.”

Commenting on its decision to sponsor Advise Wise, Nick Brown, Head of Proposition Management of Just, said: “I am delighted that Just is supporting the launch of Advise Wise. As always we are keen to support ventures which will help grow the market and give greater access to detailed information about our products.”