Tens of thousands of homeowners warned over mortgage ‘ticking time bomb’ that ‘could leave them in poverty’
Share:
TENS of thousands of people face paying off their mortgages well past state pension age after taking out long terms later in life, new data has revealed. Over 100,000 people aged 36 or over took out mortgages with terms of 35 years or more, meaning they would still be paying off their mortgage into their 70s.
![[Illustration of a table showing the number of people over 36 taking out ultra-long mortgages (35+ year term) from 2018-2024 (Jan-Sep).]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/VP-17_01-MORTGAGE_TABLE.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
This is considerably beyond the current State Pension age of 66, at which point many people have retired or semi-retired and are reliant on their pension income. The data, obtained through a freedom of information request to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) by wealth manager Quilter and shared exclusively with The Sun, shows 100,511 people aged over 36 took out 35+ year mortgages between 2018 and September 2024.
![[Illustration of a table showing the total amount and interest paid for a £285,000 mortgage over different terms.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/DD-mortgage-interest-rates_GRAPHIC-2.jpg?strip=all&quality=100&w=960)
And the number of people over 36 signing up to these lengthy terms gradually increased over that period, rising from a low of 5,911 in 2020 to 22,103 between January and September last year. It comes after data last year from the Bank of England showed over a million people had taken out mortgages in the past three years that would run past state pension age amid a surge in demand for "ultra-long mortgages" to mitigate rising costs.
This is because longer mortgage terms generally mean that your monthly repayments will be lower, as you are paying the loan back over a longer time-frame. Karen Noye, mortgage expert at Quilter, explained: “This sharp increase highlights growing concerns about housing affordability, rising interest rates, and changing socio-economic trends.
