The Sunday Times - Regulator won’t act as over-50s are denied mortgages

by Aaron Strutt

Jan 04 2015

Britian's most senior financial regulator has urged borrowers denied mortgages on the grounds of age to turn to brokers and specialist lenders. 

Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), told The Sunday Times there was little the regulator was planning to do to address the problem of older borrowers struggling to secure mortgages. He said: “The lending to particular ages is a commercial decision. Frankly, the mortgage brokers have quite a role to play in finding . . . specialist lenders who are more likely to look at individual circumstances.”

Aaron Strutt at the broker Trinity Financial said: “In reality there is a reasonably limited choice of lenders willing to help borrowers over a certain age, particularly if they don’t have a large pension or investments. The more specialist lenders also usually have more expensive rates than the big banks.”