Who this covers: borrowers over 55 buying, refinancing, downsizing, helping children, or investing, including those already retired with super or rental income.
What lenders do differently
The exit strategy
Responsible lending rules require a lender to be satisfied the loan can be repaid without hardship, so over about 50 a lender asks how the loan will be repaid after retirement. Downsizing, super at retirement, sale of an investment property or continued income all work, documented. A loan term is sometimes shortened so it ends by a stated retirement age, which raises the repayment.
Income in retirement
Super pension payments, account-based pensions, rental income, dividends and the age pension are all counted by most lenders, with evidence of the balance and the drawdown. Some lenders assess a super balance as capacity to repay a lump sum rather than as income.
Downsizing and bridging
Buying the smaller place before the family home sells is a bridging loan: the lender holds both properties, charges interest on the combined debt for up to six or twelve months, and the sale repays the bridge. The end debt, if any, is assessed as a normal loan. The upgrade or renovate calculator shows the moving costs.
Helping the children
A guarantee limited to the shortfall over 80 per cent, released once the child's loan is paid down, is the usual structure; lenders now ask about the guarantor's own position and exit. Gifting from super or an equity release are the alternatives, each with a lender's view and an adviser's.
Worth knowing before applying
Age itself is not a reason to decline, and lenders cannot treat it as one; what they assess is repayment. A reverse mortgage is a different product with its own rules; and the equity calculator shows the usable figure on the family home.
The tools that fit
Policies on all of the above differ lender to lender and change without notice; the value of the conversation is knowing which lender's policy reads your payslip best on the day. Understanding how your income is read before you apply is what makes the application calm.