Getting a Mortgage when over the age of 65.

As a whole of market mortgage broker I get lots of enquiries from people who are aged 65 looking to remortgage and it can be a challenge. I think banks expect people to have paid off all their debts, not forgetting it was these same banks that mis-sold endowments to these customers which failed to pay off the mortgages in the first place.

There are 350,000 over the age of 65 have a mortgage so we aren’t taking about a handful of people we are talking about a lot of people and if lenders won’t remortgage for them, extend the terms they are effectively throwing people out of their homes. The mortgage may be small but £30,000 is still £30,000.

The Skipton used to be a great lender for old age but they have now fallen into line as have West Brom. The main lenders are the article states are either 70 or aged 75, so what if you have an income and can afford the mortgage in retirement. It is very poor of the main banks to automatically say no to older borrowers if the borrower has enough income to afford the mortgage after the key test for getting mortgages these days are affordability and equity in your home. Well if the mortgage is only on average £30,000 you will have a lot of equity in the home and if you have the income it is affordable. I will leave this one for the High Street banks to mull over.

If you don’t think you pension, ISA, investments or endowment will clear the mortgage by the end date, speak to your lender and also speak to a whole of market mortgage broker who can give you proper advice as to what the options are.

By overpaying the mortgage early has a massive impact on the amount of time it takes to clear mortgage debt and you may as well overpay the mortgage whilst you are employed and have income rather than when you retire and incomes get cut.

It is very useful getting the annual statement from your provider and if you are on interest only being remained the debt isn’t going down, again this is when you should speak to a whole of market mortgage broker as they will know the options open to you and can give you proper advice. After all you don’t want to be forced to sell your home.

There are a number of options open to those planning to pay the mortgage off before their 75^th birthday. The issues really start after your 75^th birthday. The key to him getting a mortgage is the fact he has income from a few different sources, he can prove the income from all sources the bank has demonstrated that he can afford the mortgage. So the banks has done al their checks and the customer is happy as they have a genuine income source and can afford the mortgages, everyone is happy.

Lenders will give you time to pay off the debt but if you clearly have no strategy to pay off the debt the house will have to be sold and if you have no or little equity in your home that is where the problems will really start. No one likes to be forced out of their home and if you have little equity it makes renting very difficult.