How A Lifetime Mortgage Allowed One Woman To Stay In Her Family Home After Divorce

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Aisling (not her real name), who is in her early 60s, has lived in the same roomy house on three-quarters of an acre of land, backing on to a landmark lake, for over 20 years. Her children spent much of their childhoods there and all four of them would consider it home. The big back garden keeps her ten grandchildren entertained, and they visit regularly.

Aisling has never considered moving; it’s a rural area and her house is located down a small road, she’s happy there and it suits her lifestyle. However, unfortunately circumstances change and when Aisling’s marriage ended in divorce, her home and the life that she enjoys there came under threat.

In order to keep the house, she would have to buy her ex-husband’s share and, to add to the problem, a further debt was uncovered during the divorce process, which would also have to be repaid. As Aisling had been a carer for a family member for many years, she didn’t have savings, or any other assets she could fall back on. Finding the money to meet these costs looked very difficult indeed.

SEE MORE: How To Make A Difference To Your Own Life With A Lifetime Loan

Aisling discovered what many other people in her circumstances have discovered – that traditional lenders, like banks and credit unions, aren’t quick to lend to over-60s.This is despite the fact that the Irish population is getting older every year and that by 2030 there will be a million people over the age of 60 living in Ireland. It was, she says, an extremely stressful time and became more so as she realised that there was a strong possibility that she would have to sell the house where she was so happy.

While she is not against the idea of downsizing – and, in fact, it’s something that she is considering in the medium to long term – it was not the time she wanted to do it. She didn’t want to move away. She had neighbours and friends in the area. Her family lived within a 15-minute drive and she wanted her grandchildren to benefi t from the garden while they were still young.

It was at this point, when the outlook was beginning to look quite bleak, that a financial advisor suggested she might consider a Lifetime Mortgage from Spry Finance. This is where Aisling’s Spry journey began. She was visited by one of Spry’s Customer Consultants, whose job it is to ensure that prospective customers fully understand the Lifetime Mortgage product and to assess whether it is suitable to meet their financial needs and is the right solution for their individual circumstances. In Aisling’s case, she had considerable equity in her home and applying for a loan to cover the amount she needed to solve her problem was straightforward.

SEE MORE: How To Provide A Living Inheritance To Help The Next Generation

She says that she found Spry easy to deal with and that she was perfectly happy, both with the product and the advice that she was given. She consulted with a solicitor and with an independent financial advisor and she also spoke with her family, who were wholly supportive of the approach she was taking to deal with the situation.

Once she received the loan, she was able to pay her ex-husband the sum agreed and to repay the outstanding debt. She is now the sole owner of her house and what she does with it in the future will be her decision and hers alone. Aisling is planning to take advantage of Spry’s optional repayment feature, which will allow her to actively manage her loan balance. She’ll make monthly interest payments and can choose to make additional capital payments up to a combined value of ten per cent of the initial loan amount per year without incurring any penalties. And when the time comes, and she’s ready to downsize and start the next phase of her life, she can apply to Spry Finance to transfer the remainder of her loan, if there is any, to her new property.

FEATURES OF A LIFETIME MORTGAGE

• A Lifetime Mortgage allows you to release money from your principal private residence, tax free, without having to sell it.

• You retain full ownership of the property.

• The property must be in the Republic of Ireland.

• Property must have a minimum value of €225,000 outside of Dublin and €300,000 in Dublin.

• The amount you can borrow is calculated as a percentage of your home’s value and depends on your age.

• Lifetime Loans are designed for people aged 60 years and over – e.g. customers aged 60 may borrow up to a maximum of 15 per cent of the value of their property.

• The loan is usually repaid from your estate or the sale of your property.

• You can choose to make optional repayments up to 10 per cent of the original loan balance yearly to help manage the loan balance.

• The Spry Finance No Negative Equity Guarantee means you will never owe more than the value of your home. For more information, visit www.spryfinance.ie or call 01 5822570