The latest pensioner property index shows that the elderly homeowners have access to more than £743 billion in property wealth. The research conducted by some of England's largest equity release providers show that the 22% of the citizens who are above the age of 55 years worried about their not having enough money to sustain them in their retirement years. Thus, there is a strong possibility that more and more English homeowners are going to release the equity on their home. However, one cannot rule our downsizing or even renting out their homes in order to raise the requisite money.

Releasing equity on the home is a very important for anyone as the home has both financial, social and a sentimental value. Therefore, everything has to be considered carefully. Equity release has not had a glorious past, but the situation has improved in the recent times. Earlier the rates were exorbitant and there was no security to speak of. The agents made profit by allegedly misguiding their clients about the schemes.

However, the new regulatory body Equity Release Council (ERC) is guaranteeing a better safeguard for the customers and has also broadened their horizon to include all the parties associated with equity release under their umbrella. This not only includes the equity release providers, but also the advisors, surveyors and any other party connected with the schemes.

They are issuing new codes of conduct for the consumers, one of them being issuing easier to understand outline for their plans. They believe that visiting their website will be helpful for the consumers as they will get the requisite information about the various plans. However, they are also insisting the consumers to seek independent advice about the plans before going further.

Another step that the trade body has taken is establishing a fraud working group to try and reduce the existing fraud in the system. The impact of fraud on these schemes has been damning and the fraud group is taking every possible step to combat them.

With the launch of the new trade body the risks have gone down considerably. But one still has to be careful. If you take the necessary measures like enquiring about the company, calculating the amount that you might expect with the help of an equity release calculator. It is quiet easy to be anxious about the plans but these measures will make sure that you do not get cheated easily.