Since I began working for LiveMore six months ago, what has struck me is just how many intermediaries are starting to ask about 50-90+ mortgages. The question is, why now? The savviest advisers have already picked up on the potential of this rapidly growing market, and they’re not the only ones. UK Finance data shows that the number of loans to over 55s in 2021 was 187,120 – 10.8% higher than in 2020. And total lending, at £28.1bn, was 21.7% higher. The figures should be even higher for 2022.

It has been well documented that if the Bank of Mum and Dad was actually a bank it would be a top 10 lender.

It is generally thought that if a person is self-employed, their options to secure a mortgage become more limited because their finances can be inconsistent or complicated.

Most brokers in recent years have tended to advise borrowers to take a two or five-year fixed rate mortgage.  People can sometimes look at longer-term products, for example 10-year fixed rates, with a perception of being stuck with it unless they buy their way out.

A wave of interest-only borrowers, at risk of becoming so-called “pensioner mortgage prisoners”, will see their fixed-term deals end in the coming years but find they are too old to remortgage, experts have warned. This leaves no option other than move on to unaffordable repayment plans or sell up to pay off the debt.