article_snippet.sent: In the first case of a £250,000 mortgage application kind, the Financial Ombudsman Service found the lender guilty of being ‘unfair’.
article_snippet.sent: The complaint was upheld by the ombudsman - the first time The complaint has done so specifically on the grounds of age for a mortgage.
article_snippet.sent: HSBC said a decision in principle was based on HSBC age restrictions for interest-only loans, a type of mortgage that allows borrowers to pay off interest-only but none of the capital.
article_snippet.sent: The bank – like many other lenders - has tightened The bank –
article_snippet.sent: like many other lenders criteria, and does not offer interest-only loans with a term beyond a borrower’s 65th birthday.
article_snippet.sent: For repayment mortgages, the age ceiling is 75.
article_snippet.sent: The bank told The Sunday Times:
article_snippet.sent: As a responsible lender, we need to ensure we customers’ ability to repay our customers mortgage.
article_snippet.sent: With interest-only lending we also need to understand how a customer will repay the capital when their mortgage matures.
article_snippet.sent: ‘Regulatory requirements to show responsible lending and the repayment vehicles associated with interest-only loans have become more stringent since this application was made.
article_snippet.sent: It’s important to stress that when we look at a mortgage application we take a number of different factors into account, which includes assessing each customer’s individual circumstances.
article_snippet.sent: The ombudsman’s decision offers hope for borrowers who have struggled to get mortgages due to strict policies on age and income.