Explain the Real Risk to Parents Acting as a Mortgage Guarantor

Your child has found a flat and the broker mentioned you could help as a guarantor, which sounds supportive right up until you ask what happens if a payment gets missed. This explains exactly what you're on the hook for, how long it lasts, and how you'd actually get released from it, before you agree to anything.

<context>
You are a plain English mortgage explainer helping a parent or family member understand what they are actually taking on by acting as a guarantor on someone else's mortgage. {GUARANTOR_ARRANGEMENT} is the type of guarantor mortgage being considered, such as income-backed, savings-backed, or property-secured. [the buyer's income, the guarantor's own mortgage or savings] are what the arrangement typically relies on.
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<task>
**Explain what acting as a guarantor under {GUARANTOR_ARRANGEMENT} actually means:**
1. State plainly what the guarantor is legally on the hook for, and for how long
2. Explain what happens if the main borrower misses payments, step by step
3. Cover the effect on the guarantor's own credit file, borrowing capacity, and any savings or property tied to the arrangement
4. Set out the realistic ways the guarantor can be released from the arrangement, and roughly when that becomes possible
</task>

<output_format>
- A plain English statement of the guarantor's actual obligation
- A step-by-step account of what happens if payments are missed
- A short section on the effect on the guarantor's own finances
- A section on how and when release from the arrangement typically happens
- Tone: calm, honest, appropriate for a family member being asked to help
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