I am a widow and looking at a pensioner mortgage for over 65's as I am 69 soon to be 70 on my next birthday.
I am an ex civil servant and have a civil service pension of £23,548 per annum.
My current lender has written to me wanting to know what my plans are to redeem the mortgage next year when it ends.
I currently owe £29,581 on an interest only basis and my house is worth around £250,000. Can you help me?
Mrs M Jones
Ask the Specialist response:
Many thanks for the question Mrs Jones.
We do typically help clients up to the age of 80 or 85 in very similar situations.
They usually tell us that their existing mortgage is due to come to an end when they turn 70 or 75 and their existing lender will not extend the mortgage.
Quite a few people who contact us are frustrated that, although they have a good income and a lot of equity in their property, they are finding it difficult to get a mortgage due to their age.
You do have the income with your civil service pension, and an income of £23,548 should be sufficient to support a mortgage of £29,581 - providing you have no other major expenditure items, loans, credit cards etc.
Assuming your credit history is also very good we would likely be able to assist you if the mortgage were to be arranged on a repayment (capital and interest) basis up to age 80 or age 85. If you wish to arrange the mortgage on an interest-only basis, while this may still be possible, we would need evidence as how you intend to repay the mortgage once it comes to an end - as with an interest only mortgage the balance does not reduce during the term.
However the key issue for you is that, given your mortgage balance is relatively small, you would most probably want to keep the costs of switching to a new lender as low as possible. At the time of writing, we do have some exclusive products with two lenders whereby they provide both a free legal service and a free valuation when you switch over to them.
I'd recommend speaking to one of our Advisers on 0207 710 0400 and they will be able to give you an indication as to the possibilities open to you plus the costs involved in switching lenders. Alternatively you can send us an enquiry online and one of our Advisers will call you back.
David Rostron MEng(Hons) CeMAP CeRER
Business Manager
