Matt Andrews, managing director at Bluestone Mortgages, said the lender would consider customers aged up to 65 at the time of application and consider mortgage terms up to 30 years as long as it is responsible to do so.
He said: “For retired customers that includes assessing their current and future sources of income to make sure they are sustainable and will be sufficient to repay the mortgage throughout their retirement following a full affordability assessment.
“Our key focus (as with all customers) is ensuring that the mortgage is suitable for their circumstances and affordable throughout the term.”
Andrews also revealed that the lender would accept income in the following brackets: company, personal and state pensions as well as a range of investment strategies such as trusts, bonds and annuities as income sources.
Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, said: “Bluestone has some interesting niches in its criteria and so will be a very welcome addition to this sector of the market, which is still badly served.
“Some of its niches can be accommodated by some of the smaller building societies but often on a case-by-case basis rather than as part of criteria.
“It is really helpful to have a lender where one can see a case fits on criteria, even though the broker will often also want to discuss such cases with one or more other lenders as well.”
Boulger anticipated that in the sub-prime space Bluestone is likely to compete with lenders including Magellan and Melton Mowbray and in the complex prime space mainly with some of the smaller building societies.
Boulger added: “The fact it will accept investment income as well as pension will be relevant for many retired people but I note it has to be “guaranteed and sustainable”. I would be interested to know exactly what it will accept as guaranteed.
“The more competition the better, especially when that competition is on criteria rather than just rate, and so I look forward to the time when Bluestone’s pilot has progressed sufficiently for it to be ready to widen out its distribution to a wider audience.”
