Some mortgage lenders will provide a mortgage up to the age of 85 if you meet their assessments. Your income, credit score and affordability will be reviewed, and you will need to fit the lenders criteria.

The younger you are the better here as you’ll be able to have a longer mortgage term, reducing the monthly repayment.

A standard mortgage can be used by clients aged 50+ to either purchase a new home, remortgage, or release equity.

A Term Interest Only Mortgage (TIO) is aimed at customers aged 50+ and is taken out for a set number of years. A TIO mortgage allows borrowers to get an interest only loan, with a term that matches their needs.

The monthly mortgage payments will be lower here as you’ll only be making interest payments and not repaying the capital. TIO mortgages are available if you are both working or retired on pension income.

As with a normal mortgage, a TIO mortgage can be used to purchase a new home, remortgage, or capital raise. You’ll need a fair amount of equity in your home to qualify.

At the end of the term, the mortgage will need to be repaid, if the funds aren’t available, this can be from a lifetime mortgage product such as an equity release plan from age 55+.

A Retirement Interest Only Mortgage (RIO) is aimed at customers aged 50+ and is taken out for a set number of years. A RIO mortgage allows borrowers to get an interest only loan, with no end date so you may never need another mortgage!

A RIO mortgage will be repaid from the sale of the property when you pass away or enter long term care.

The monthly mortgage payments will be lower than a regular mortgage as you’ll only be making interest payments and not repaying the capital. RIO mortgages are available if you are both working or retired on pension income.

As with a normal mortgage, a RIO mortgage can be used to purchase a new home, remortgage, or capital raise. You’ll need a fair amount of equity in your home to qualify.

If clients have good pension income, a RIO mortgage is often recommended by our team as an alternative to an equity release product to avoid the roll up of compound interest.

Unlike the above options, equity release plans are not assessed on income, so poor credit is usually ok. These types of mortgages allow customers ages over 55 to release tax free cash from their homes.

A lifetime mortgage/equity release plan can be used to purchase a new home or to raise money to repay an existing mortgage on your property.

As a rule, with an equity release plan, the older you are, the more tax-free cash you’ll be able to release.

Usually, you are not required to make monthly repayments with an equity release plan, although, you can choose to do so if you wish. If no monthly interest payment is made, the interest rolls up.

With a lifetime mortgage/equity release plan, the loan, plus any interest that has accumulated, will be repaid from the sale of the property when you pass away or enter long term care.

We are proud to be members of the equity release council here, and only work with lenders that offer you a ‘no negative equity’ guarantee, meaning than the value of your loan can never be more than the value of your property. Giving you and your family peace of mind!

You’ll maintain full ownership of your home.

We find that as a client gets older the product that is most suitable will change, for example, a regular mortgage could become a TIO, which could then be repaid with a lifetime mortgage 10/15 years down the line when you’re 70+.

We offer mortgage advice for life and will be happy to discuss all options with you, it’s a free no-obligation consultation.

A lifetime mortgage/equity release plan should always be considered as a last resort due to the nature of the interest rolling up, all the above products should be explored fully first.