Lending solutions for retirees

Retirees deserve the freedom to live the lives they’ve worked hard for. That’s why we call it The Mortgage Revolution! 

Freedom and choice in retirement 

With sensible advice, a mortgage in retirement can enhance, not hinder, the golden years. It’s about what suits their needs. Paying off a mortgage by retirement has been the norm and may be the best solution for a lot of clients.  But what if a mortgage could provide the freedom other clients need in retirement? 

Retirement should be a time for relaxing and living away from the pressures of work. Financial worries, especially around your home, can ruin any planned relaxation. And that’s why, at Perenna, we believe in providing options.  

The need for responsible later life lending 

Headlines from research conducted on behalf of Perenna highlight the need for tailored mortgage products for those over 55*: 

• 60% of over 55s report a lack of suitable mortgage options. 
• 36% find their mortgage restrictive due to age. 
• 64% worry about financial strain from rising payments. 

Older borrowers are often excluded from standard mortgage products due to maximum age limits or the exclusion of pension income.  

*Source – 1,003 survey respondents conducted by Censuswide in January 2024. All respondents were homeowners aged 55+.   

How could a Perenna mortgage help?  

Perenna aims to provide an alternative option.  We’ve pulled together some scenarios below to show how a Perenna mortgage could help your clients in later life.  

Consider these common situations: 

Lifelong homeowners
They’ve lived in their home for years, brought up children there, and now their grandchildren have their own rooms. The memories in these four walls are priceless. However, they face high SVR rates with no repayment plan and are being pushed to repay by their lender. 

Post-separation
After a separation later in life, as a single applicant, they want to release some equity from the property and stay in the location they love, but end-of-term age limits are a real barrier. 

Newly retired
With no mortgage and the world at their feet, they want to live life, travel, make home improvements, or help their children onto the property ladder, but savings are low. They need that lump sum without being ready to downsize just yet. 

Dream retirement home
That perfect new build home near the family is on the market, but the area is more expensive than where they live now. Selling their home doesn’t quite give them enough to make the move, so they want to explore finance options as this opportunity might not come up again. 

Perenna’s long-term fixed-rate lending could be a great option for all the above situations. 

Perenna’s solution 

For some of your clients, lending into retirement is not required, and aiming to pay off their mortgage before they leave employment is the best solution for them.  However, for others, lending into retirement can be a good solution to assist individuals in securing a home or maintaining their current residence, provided it is done responsibly and appropriately. 

We know that a short-term fixed rate can leave the borrower vulnerable to payment shocks, especially on a fixed pension income. With Perenna, the risk of payments becoming unaffordable is removed, and payment certainty is gained.  

We don’t want later life borrowers to have to make choices about holidays they can’t go on or hobbies they have to give up when their rate expires. Instead, they can have the best of both worlds and the ability to take advantage if rates go down. 

With a range of options, including no maximum age on a repayment mortgage or a retirement interest-only mortgage, all with only a 5-year ERC, Perenna can help put the financial freedom back in the hands of the borrower. 

So next time you have a client looking to borrow in later life, make sure you consider all of the options available, and see whether a Perenna mortgage could be the perfect match.

Correct at time of publishing.