What is the Home Equity Access Scheme?

Approximately 1.8 million Australian homeowners receive some level of age pension, with around 700,000 on a part pension.

What many of these part-age pensioners may not know is that, along with recipients of the disability support pension, carer payment and some other Centrelink payments, they are able to access some of the equity in their home through the Home Equity Access Scheme (HEAS).

What is the HEAS?

The HEAS provides a type of reverse mortgage that is aimed at supplementing retirement income.

• Applicants do not have to be receiving an income support payment to be eligible for the HEAS, so long as they remain eligible for a qualifying payment. For example, they do not need to satisfy the income and assets test.
• It is paid in the form of a regular fortnightly payment, an advance payment as a lump sum, or a combination of both.
• The maximum payment is 150% of the maximum payment rate of the eligible pension being received. For example, the maximum base rate of age pension for single is $1,026.50pf therefore the maximum payment is $1,540pf ($1,026.50 x 1.5).
• The interest rate is 3.95% per annum, compounding fortnightly. This is significantly lower than the rates charged by most lenders.
• The loan can be secured against your home or an investment property.
• A HEAS loan can be partly or fully repaid at any time. Although not required, typically, the loan is only repaid when the property is sold. The value of the loan therefore increases due to the regular payments made to the pensioner and the growing interest amount.
• The total amount the pensioner can borrow depends on the equity they have in their home; how much of this equity he or she wants to retain; and their age (or the age of the youngest member of a couple).

Pros and cons

The obvious advantage of the HEAS is that it provides a supplementary ‘income stream’ to support quality of life in retirement.

The big downside is that the amount of the loan increases exponentially over its lifetime. This can significantly decrease the ultimate value of the estate passed to beneficiaries.

The HEAS also has a limited capacity to pay a lump sum pay for things such as modifications to your home, instead a reverse mortgage may be more appropriate.

The HEAS in action

Des is 67, widowed, and has no children. He owns a home valued at $750,000 and a very comfortable beach house he regularly escapes to, which hasn’t left much in the bank. He is the epitome of “asset rich, cash poor”. He receives a part pension of $250 per fortnight (pf) but he wants to enjoy life a bit more. As the maximum age pension is $1,026.50pf[1] Des could receive up to $1,290 extra under the HEAS. This is more than he needs, so he opts for payments of $500pf.

Des maintains the same rate of payment for the next ten years. Over that time he receives a total of $130,000 in additional ‘income’ from the loan. However, his outstanding loan balance after ten years is $164,002. That means he has racked up an interest bill of $34,002. If Des sold the house at this ten-year mark, he would need to repay the full $164,002 from the proceeds.

That may sound like a lot, but if his house was worth $750,000 when he took out the loan, and if it increased in value at a rate of 7% pa over the ten-year period, it could be worth just under $1.5 million.

Seek advice

Taking on any type of debt, particularly later in life, needs to be approached with knowledge and caution. HEAS loans are subject to a number of eligibility criteria, and both the positives and negatives must be considered.

Your financial adviser is ideally placed to help you understand how the HEAS works, and if it is appropriate for you and your family.