Mortgage Age Discrimination

Cougargb

Is it "Age Discrimination" for a lender to stipulate a mortgage has to stop at say 70?

If the borrower's income is the same after 70, why should that be a problem?

Interestingly the Co-op have not replied to a letter asking them to justify their policy!


Chris

dunstonh

Is it "Age Discrimination" for a lender to stipulate a mortgage has to stop at say 70?

No.

Lenders may take the view that lending money to people who are in the twilight of their life is irresponsible. Thats pretty easy to justify.

_Andy_

It's not 'discrimination', it's common sense. Regardless of income, the older the applicant, the more likely they are to die, thus making it a costly process to regain the money owed.

Cougargb

So at 71, with a mortgage of £15k on a house worthy £160k and a guaranteed income for ever, you are not such a good bet as a 25 year old with a mortgage of £200k on a £220k property, working in a sector with redundancy looming and 100 applicants for every job?


Funnily enough I am inundated with requests to take another credit card or increase my limit, consolidate my cards etc, yet they aren't worried about my age!

If you were lending the money who would you think was a better bet?

I know you will say, individual cases may be different BUT lenders insist on a blanket policy, flexible is not in their vocabulary?

However I think my point is being missed, it is age they are using as a reason not income or how long I might live!

Wutang_2

Cougargb wrote: »

Funnily enough I am inundated with requests to take another credit card or increase my limit, consolidate my cards etc, yet they aren't worried about my age!

Its not that funny,

And some lenders are fine after 70.

dunstonh

However I think my point is being missed, it is age they are using as a reason not income or how long I might live!

Its up to them if they lend or not. If they choose to have an age limit then they can have one. That does not make it discrimination.

There are other lenders that dont have an age restriction. So, go with one that wants your business. Not one that doesn't.

Conrad

The problem is the litigious 'Daily Mail' screaming headline society in which we live.

Here's how the headline would read; "Nationwide repossessing 86 year old Ethel, and the stress is too much for her"

The article would then go on to use superlatives such as"Nationwide were happy to lend Ethell the money when she was 71, but no one had thought about the impact her dementia would have - she inadvertently gace away much of her money to a conman recently"

Now the OP will say 'but my situation is differnet' but lenders are not set up to try and second guess which applicants will go sour so its easier to have blanket bans.

margaretclare

Conrad wrote: »

The problem is the litigious 'Daily Mail' screaming headline society in which we live.

Here's how the headline would read; "Nationwide repossessing 86 year old Ethel, and the stress is too much for her"

The article would then go on to use superlatives such as"Nationwide were happy to lend Ethell the money when she was 71, but no one had thought about the impact her dementia would have - she inadvertently gave away much of her money to a conman recently"

Now the OP will say 'but my situation is different' but lenders are not set up to try and second guess which applicants will go sour so its easier to have blanket bans.

Any applicant of any age may 'go sour', and it is demeaning to assume that every 'Ethel' will develop dementia! Some will, many will not.

Conrad

margaretclare wrote: »

Any applicant of any age may 'go sour', and it is demeaning to assume that every 'Ethel' will develop dementia! Some will, many will not.

But it's the undue press attention lenders fear, plus the regulator in this instance will favour the borrower.

Older people are seen as more vulnerable than younger. Of course dementia is only one possible bad outcome, there are thousands of other scenarios where the press would have a filed day BECAUSE THE PERSON IS AGED.

Conrad

To be clear I disagree with lenders and have had many an argument.

However, I can see where they're comming from.

If we all stopped listening to childish Daily Mail headlines it would be a start on the orad back to common sense.

Trollfever

A 25 year old going bankrupt has the opportunity to rebuild their life.