The news story quoted a number of cases, and in some of these the customer had paid thousands of pounds more than they needed to over a period of time. One individual was said to have paid around £3,500 more than he needed to, to Royal Sun Alliance insurance over a twenty year period. Other cases have since come to light in which regular-renewal customers have started to look around, and found big savings immediately – another customer telephoned Aviva and saved over £600 per annum on a house insurance and two car insurance policies.

If you you or someone you know has been paying increasing amount for the same insurance over a period of years, without checking alternative prices, Goodbye 9 to 5 says check around right now – setting aside half an hour every couple of years for a few phone quotes might easily save you hundreds of pounds.

Prudential said the product, which enables retired people to unlock money tied up in their home without having to move, was too capital intensive, and it could us the funds more profitably elsewhere.

The group first entered the equity release market four years ago, and it now has 14,000 customers and a lifetime mortgage book worth £1 billion.

But it has seen its share of the market halve this year, dropping from 23% at the end of 2008 to 12% during 2009 so far. Lifetime mortgages enable retired homeowners to borrow a lump sum against the value of their property, but the debt is not repaid until they die or move home. As a result, a significant amount of capital is paid out up front, but it is often many years before any of the money is repaid.

Barry O’Dwyer, managing director of retail life & pensions, said: “The focus for Prudential UK remains to compete selectively in areas of the retirement savings and income markets where we can generate attractive returns on capital employed.”

Existing lifetime mortgage customers will not be affected by Prudential’s decision to pull out of the market.

The number of providers of this financial service has dropped from 20 to 11 over the past year.

Prudential