Good afternoon,
I'm hoping you can help. Our interest only mortgage term ends in a few months and my bank, who I've never missed a payment with all my life, have refused to help simply because of my age.
Me and my wife are 73 years old and live in a large 5 bedroom detached house. We have over £300,000 equity and it's always been our plan to downsize, but would like a few more years to start looking at properties.
Are there any options?
Ask the Specialist response:
Thanks for your enquiry. We do typically help clients in similar situations, who often fall victim to the 'computer says no,' approach of many high street banks and can look to assist with interest only mortgages past your 75th birthday.
Firstly, this very much comes down to the affordability and suitability of the mortgage. We will need to make sure that the mortgage is affordable based on your current joint incomes and subsequently, if it would remain affordable in just one of your names should one of you die during the term of the mortgage. We could look into life insurance as one possible option to protect against this eventuality.
Secondly, we would need to explore the potential downsize options. It would be key that you can provide examples of numerous properties where you could downsize to given the equity currently in the property. This is to check that it is feasible to do downsize currently.
It does very much look like something we maybe able assist with, to give you some breathing space while you find that perfect property.
To obtain an indication on mortgage rate you can either check our interest only mortgages for the over 65s web page or alternatively I'd recommend speaking to one of our Advisers on 0207 710 0400 or send us an enquiry online.
David Rostron MEng(Hons) CeMAP CeRER
Business Manager
