According to a new report from Saga, nearly 1m people in their 70s are still paying off their mortgages with an average debt at £38,000. Many still face payments because of shortfalls in endowment policies that were taken out alongside interest-only mortgages in the 1980s and 1990s. The report found that a third of those with such arrangements said they now had no option but to sell their home. Separately, the Mail reports that 10% of the 2.6m households with interest-only mortgages are thought to have no plans in place to repay them and face taking out a lifetime mortgage to stay in their homes. London & Country suggest they are likely to pay three times more interest than the amount they originally borrowed to buy the house.
Source: Daily Mail
We say: We’re waiting for this to be billed as the next “mis-selling” scandal. What do you mean, I have to repay the capital? No-one told me I would have to repay the capital. It was sold to me as an “interest-only” mortgage. No-one said anything about having to repay capital. OK, so it might have been in the small print but you couldn’t expect me to read all the small print. I’ve paid the interest so that must be it, surely. I demand compensation.