Retirement mortgages

Borrowers who have retired may find their options from high street mortgage lenders may now be limited.

You can still get a host of retirement mortgages to fund a new property purchase or to release equity from an existing property.

Retirement mortgages can either be interest-only such as the retirement interest only mortgage or it can be an interest-only rolled up mortgage.

Features of a retirement mortgage

Most retirement mortgages have the same features:

• Retirementmortgages don’t have any fixed term regardless of if they are interest-only or repayment. Retirement mortgages will last till you die or move into long term care
• The capital is always repaid at the end of the mortgage term which is when you move into long term care or die.
• With a retirement mortgage, your home can still be repossesed so it is important that you keep up the repayments on your mortgage.
• The amount you can borrow on a retirement mortgage is based on your ability to afford the mortgage based on your retirement income and your expenditure, up to a maximum loan to value ratio.

If you need financial advice and you live in the UK then you could contact the Money Advice service over the phone or via chat for impartial advice.

You can also contact the debt charity “Step Change” if you are in debt and need help.