Unsecured Loan in retirement

Redfob

I am receiving an annuity and have some savings and investments. I have recently moved and want to invest circa £30,000 in a garden makeover. I did some rough numbers and it looks like a loan is better than using my savings and investments because I don’t want to reduce the value of my estate. Does anyone know of a company that will lend to retired people say over 10 years, BTW I don’t want to do equity release and I’m 65

fatbelly

Try the 

Eligibility Calculator

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/eligibility/loans-calculator/search/

I don't really understand the logic of having savings and investments but getting a loan - unless the savings/investments  are getting a higher interest rate than the loan will charge you.

Brock_and_Roll

Redfob said:

I am receiving an annuity and have some savings and investments. I have recently moved and want to invest circa £30,000 in a garden makeover. I did some rough numbers and it looks like a loan is better than using my savings and investments because I don’t want to reduce the value of my estate. Does anyone know of a company that will lend to retired people say over 10 years, BTW I don’t want to do equity release and I’m 65

What do you mean by not wanting to "reduce the value of" your estate? Getting a loan will have exactly the same effect on the net value of your estate than using savings! 

[Deleted User]

... except that the value of the estate will fall even further due to the interest on the loan...

MEM62

Redfob said:

I have recently moved and want to invest spend circa £30,000 in a garden makeover. 

I have corrected that for you. Unless, of course, you are expecting your garden to give you a return on your expenditure.   

Redfob said:

I did some rough numbers and it looks like a loan is better than using my savings and investments 

The only circumstances where using a loan is better would be if you could borrow at an interest rate that was lower than the return on your savings / investments.  I very much doubt that this is possible.  

Redfob said:

I don’t want to reduce the value of my estate. 

As has been pointed out, your proposal would devalue your estate more than using you savings.  The value of your estate is the total of its assets minus it's liabilities - including any loans.   

Redfob said:

I don’t want to do equity release 

Correct, you don't.  In most cases it is an awful financial product.  

Funding your garden from your savings is the way to go.  

bris

Why would you need or even want to spend 30k on a garden? Doing up a garden is nice but 30k....

[Deleted User]

I agree, that is a colossal amount to spend on a garden 😯😮

MEM62

bris said:

Why would you need or even want to spend 30k on a garden? Doing up a garden is nice but 30k....

Catsacor said:

I agree, that is a colossal amount to spend on a garden 😯😮

Maybe it is a big garden.  

[Deleted User]

Yes, true.

enthusiasticsaver

I think your options for taking a loan out in retirement are limited and I personally would not do it. It will be more expensive to borrow and the value of your estate will fall regardless of whether you spend £30k of your savings or borrow against presumably your pension. Will you be able to afford to repay a loan of that size out of your income? The main problem that I can see is that many lenders though are reluctant to lend to older borrowers due to the higher chance of you dying before the loan is repaid.