Starting March 18th, Halifax’s mortgage applications are reducing the maximum age for income-earning applicants from 75 years old to 70 years old as Greycoat specialists comment. The remaining loan applications will have a maximum of 75 years old, which fits their borrowing majority. Halifax wants to stress that the maximum age at the end of a mortgage term remains at 80 years.
Barclays is another bank that reduced their income age limit to 70 on their mortgage applications. Greycoat Real Estate checked the age limits of NatWest and Nationwide. They remain at 75 years old as of this writing.
Halifax defended its decision, saying a lending criteria review led to the changes. They hope it will help them lend responsibly and reach a broader range of customers. The team at Greycoat reached out to financial analyst Adrian Lowery for comment, and he seemed to understand their point.
He later said that lenders ask borrowers about their repayment strategy and retirement plans. The answers given make them hesitant to approve mortgage applications. The tightening was necessary to keep monthly repayments down and stop people from taking on more than they could financially handle. Lowery also said that marathon mortgages are popular, Greycoat informs.
Those mortgages have low monthly payments and a lengthy term limit. Some borrowers may want to stretch those mortgages’ term limits longer to keep monthly payments low, but this age limit cutoff from Halifax will hurt them. Greycoat Real Estate wants to let middle-aged and older borrowers know that there is a mortgage out there for their situation. They will take over repayment plans to stretch it a few more years. A knowledgeable mortgage broker will help you discover those hidden gems.