Up to £300m in interest repayments could be saved by the thousands of retired homeowners who have released equity from their property if they decide to opt for a more affordable contract.

In the past five years, interest rates on new equity release loans have dropped to about 6 percent from approximately 8 percent.

Existing borrowers however have not benefited from this rate reduction because interest rates are fixed from the beginning and throughout the loan period.

The brighter side of it is that borrowers can switch from the existing deal to another. By doing so, each of them  can save up to £30,000 in interest payments over the next 15 years.

Those who availed of loans from the oldest lenders are seen as the beneficiaries of this scheme.