LiveMore has lowered its minimum borrower age from 50 to 40 as it looks to support more customers whose mortgage needs are becoming more complex well before retirement.

The lender, which has built its name in later life lending, said it would continue to offer its existing range while widening access to borrowers aged 40 and above whose circumstances may not fit traditional underwriting models.

The move comes as more mortgages are running past borrowers’ expected retirement dates. LiveMore said around 40% of new mortgages now extend beyond pension age, with borrowers aged 40 to 49 making up the largest share of those cases.

The lender said the change reflected wider pressures on borrowers in midlife, including divorce, self-employment, career changes, caring responsibilities and the need to plan borrowing over a longer period.

TRENDS SUPPORTED BY DATA

Official and industry data cited by the lender pointed to those trends. ONS figures show divorce rates peak for both men and women in their 40s, while more than half of so-called sandwich carers are aged between 45 and 64. Research from IPSE also suggests the average age of the UK’s self-employed population is 48.

Leon Diamond, chief executive of LiveMore, said: “40% of new mortgages now run beyond pension age, and the biggest group taking them out are people in their 40s.

“Yet many of these borrowers still struggle to access lending because traditional models don’t fairly assess complex finances.

“By the time people reach their 40s, life starts to get financially complicated. Divorce, self-employment, career changes, caring responsibilities and retirement planning can all affect how someone borrows.

“The industry often treats later life borrowing as a niche issue, but the reality is, this starts much earlier. What we’re seeing is a midlife mortgage crisis, not just a later life one.”

Diamond said borrowing in later life was becoming a more established part of the market, with more customers either planning mortgages that would continue through retirement or only starting such borrowing later on.

He said: “Later life lending is no longer niche, it’s becoming mainstream. More people are planning mortgages that run through, or even begin in, retirement.

“By expanding our proposition to include borrowers from age 40, we’re helping brokers support clients earlier, particularly those already thinking about how their mortgage will work throughout retirement.”

LiveMore said the expansion would be supported by its Mortgage Matcher technology, which it uses to assess current and future affordability across more than 250 products, including capital and interest, interest-only, part and part, retirement interest-only and equity release.

Diamond added: “I founded LiveMore to provide solutions for later life borrowers, but our ability to solve complex cases means we’re perfectly placed to help the 40+ market as well.

“With pioneering technology, common-sense underwriting and a broad range of products, we’re helping brokers turn more “NOs” into “YESs”. Cases that might once have been difficult to place now have a home with LiveMore.”