Marsden Building Society offers more support for ‘older borrowers’
01 March 2016
After being amongst the first handful of lenders to offer a ‘retired portfolio’ in 2015 the Marsden is continuing to innovate its ‘older borrowers’ product range in order to increase eligibility for those aged between 55 and 85 years to source a mortgage.
The Society’s new portfolio, available to Marsden’s intermediary panel sees a widening of eligibility for applicants. The Marsden has reduced its product pricing, increased LTV bands and widened the product range to include two and three year discounted rate mortgages together with new fixed rate products that begin at 2.99%.
Steve Robinson, Head of Lending at Marsden Building Society said, ‘The changes are a result of the feedback we have received from our intermediary brokers. It was suggested that their clients were in need of increased product options and improved access to mortgage finance. The changes to our portfolios have seen an increase in product types, reduction in minimum property value and the introduction of higher LTV bands too.’
Steve continued, ‘As a responsible lender, it’s important that we meet the needs of our members both present and future and that age should not be a barrier if we deem it responsible to lend. With a manual underwriting process, it’s much easier for us to assess applications on an individual basis allowing us to consider all elements of an ‘older borrower’ application. The key priority for us as a lender is to make sure that their mortgage is the right solution for them.’
Paul Broadhead, Head of Mortgage Policy at the BSA, “As our interim report Lending into Retirement found, the ageing population is materially changing the demand for borrowing into and in retirement. It is encouraging to see the Marsden and a number of other societies reacting positively and flexibly to this demographic change. It is clear that building societies continue to lead the way in serving a broad spectrum of borrowers’ needs."
The Society’s new portfolio demonstrates their ability to adapt to the ever-changing mortgage market and Marsden is proactively offering opportunities for older borrowers. Marsden is demonstrating that age is no longer an issue having designed specific products and tailored criteria to support the needs of older borrowers. As the product has been released via Marsden’s broker channel, their Intermediary team are on hand to support brokers with any questions they may have.
For more information, please find the portfolio and lending criteria attached.
