A lot of good things happen in life, but regrettably, there are some “events” which leave people over 55 needing to get a mortgage and wondering if a bank will say Yes.

I have good news for you. Banks will always listen to your story and will, assuming your cashflow and credit score is good, give you another chance.

The main problem I encounter is not the interest rate or getting a Yes, but the term over which the bank requires the loan to be paid back. Banks go to age 70 and that’s it.

One stipulation the banks make is you know what you are getting into and to this end they require a note or letter signed by the borrower acknowledging that they may have to work beyond 65 to have the loan repaid.

The good news most people aged 55+ do have a good sized deposit and so won’t typically, at least in my experience, be borrowing $1M.

So here are some “numbers” for you;

• $400,000 to be repaid over 10 years at a fixed rate of 2.79% is $3,825 per month.
• $400,000 to be repaid over 15 years at a fixed rate of 2.79% per month is $2,722 per month

One thing I would caution all of you considering going down this route is to think about rising interest rates.  For example, taking the earlier example of $400,000 repaid over 10 years at 5% means the repayments become $4,245 per month and at 6% $4,440 per month.