What is the age limit on a mortgage? The largest lender increases its cap
- Halifax has increased the age that workers can get a home loan from 70 to 75
- But many other lenders have already set their age limits at 75 or older.
Homeowners can now have a mortgage up to 75 years with the nation’s largest lender, Halifax.
Halifax has increased its maximum working age from 70 to 75, for applicants who want to pay for a home loan with their salary.
The lender said it was raising its age limit to help older workers who needed a mortgage later in life.
The extension only applies to principal-repayment home loans, not interest-only offers.
A Halifax spokesman said clients should consider whether their “occupation is sustainable and the plausibility of working up to their early retirement age.”
But many of the major lenders have jumped ahead of Halifax and have already set their maximum working age at 75 or older.
Lenders also have an age limit beyond which you must have paid off your mortgage.
For some mortgage lenders this is the same as your working age limit, and for others it is slightly higher.
Some smaller building societies allow borrowers to pay their mortgage up to even higher ages.
| Lender | age limit to work | maximum age |
|---|---|---|
| halifax | 75 | 80 |
| NatWest | 75 | 75 |
| nationwide | 75 | 75 |
| United Kingdom | 70 | 75 or retirement age |
| barclays | 70 | 70 or retirement age |
| HSBC United Kingdom | 75 | 75 |
| Coventry Building Society | 75 | 75 |
| Yorkshire Building Society | 80 | 80 |
| virgin money | 76 | 76 |
| TSB bank | 75 | 75 |
For example, the Leeds and Chelsea Building Societies have an upper age limit of 80, while the Loughborough, Suffolk and Cambridge Building Societies have no age limits.
Chris Sykes, technical director at mortgage broker Private Finance, said: “This is bringing Halifax in line with many of its competitors, as NatWest changed these criteria last year and HSBC, Nationwide and Santander, among others, had them for years.”
‘Extending the term of a mortgage beyond state retirement is not a decision to be taken lightly, but it is what many are doing right now to make their monthly payments more affordable, hopefully as a temporary measure and the mortgage can be paid off faster with an overpayment or a remortgage at a later date.
Gary Bush, MortgageShop.com Financial Advisor, said: “This is great news and is often a concern for us with applicants as it is clear to the UK general public that they will unfortunately be working up to at least 75 now and so.” Why should the UK’s biggest mortgage lender have restricted its payment terms to age 70?
“The vast majority of UK lenders now have good flexibility in acceptable payment ages and Halifax has now joined this.”
