The Intermediary – June 2025 - Flipbook - Page 60
L AT E R L I F E L E N D I N G
Opinion
Harsh truths in the
later life market
A
s we move through
2025, there’s no
denying the later
life lending market
– which, we must
admit, has weathered
more than its fair share of storms –
is showing real and renewed signs
of positivity, and an increasing
willingness to adapt from both
advisers and providers.
We’re seeing advisers rethinking
how they approach their conversations
with customers. Lenders, meanwhile,
bring with them a real desire to
offer innovative, flexible products to
market that are more responsive to
what customers actually want.
About affordability
However, that positive momentum
shouldn’t distract us from a couple
of harsh truths. First and foremost, I
remain seriously concerned about the
way affordability is being assessed,
because right now, the data tells us
we’re simply not doing enough.
Platforms like Air show that only
one in five customer searches include
any form of affordability data. That is
an increase, but I’m afraid given what
we have available for clients, it’s just
not good enough.
We know that a significant
proportion of customers are both
willing and able to make some level
of interest payment. That doesn’t
mean they want to pay a full interest
bill for the rest of their lives, but it
does mean they want flexibility. It’s
here that advisers must reframe their
assumptions.
There’s a growing cohort of existing
– and potential – lifetime mortgage
customers who want to retain control,
reduce the eventual impact on their
estate, and frankly, take advantage of
the increasingly compelling product
options now on offer.
What worries me is that many
of those products – particularly
those rewarding even small interest
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The Intermediary | June 2025
payments with lower rates – aren’t
being considered early enough in the
advice process.
If affordability assessments
aren’t being factored into those
early conversations, it’s no surprise
opportunities are being missed.
Advisers must challenge themselves
and their processes, and ask open
and assumptive questions. In other
words, simply assume that the client
will want to be servicing some, or all,
of the interest from the get-go. The
difference could be transformative, in
product choice and outcomes.
At more2life, we’ve recognised this
challenge and are determined to help
shi the dial. We were among the
first to build in product incentives for
those customers who want to make
payments on their lifetime mortgages,
and we’re continuing to invest in tech
integrations that make it easier for
advisers to source those options based
on real affordability data.
We’re also working closely with
advisers to pilot smarter case-filtering
tools; solutions that make it quicker
and easier to rule out cases that were
never going to get off the ground.
Because that’s the second big
challenge we face: the sheer volume
of wasted time and effort on cases that
aren’t viable. We all know the pain
of investing time and money only to
discover a property is fundamentally
unsuitable. It’s inefficient, it’s
demoralising, and it’s happening far
too oen.
If we can use technology to get to a
‘no’ faster, that’s a win for everyone.
Just as importantly, it creates the
headroom to say ‘yes’ more oen too,
especially if we’re also pushing to
broaden criteria.
We know this kind of collaboration
is essential. Advisers and lenders
must work together, sharing data,
insights, and commiing to a more
joined-up way of working. The legacy
model, where we all operate in silos
and default to old processes, is not
DAVE HARRIS
is CEO at more2life
going to cut it in a more complex and
competitive market.
It’s also worth pointing out that
the industry rightly celebrated a 29%
year-on-year rise in equity release
borrowing in Q1 2025, as was recently
revealed by the Equity Release Council
(ERC). Just read the coverage of this
report on Sky News, and you will
understand why we still have a real job
to do in helping customers understand
what’s available, and the options that
now exist to combat one of the main
‘cons’ raised – namely cost.
That article noted the surge in
demand as consumers respond to
Inheritance Tax changes and seek
more flexible ways to pass on wealth.
What it didn’t mention at all was the
evolution of Interest Reward products,
as offered by more2life and other
lifetime mortgage providers.
These are not niche offerings;
they’re increasingly core to what we’re
doing as a sector. They represent a
vital tool for customers who want
more control and for advisers who
want to demonstrate real value.
If there’s one message I want
to hammer home to all later life
stakeholders, it’s this: we can’t
continue to be busy fools. Yes, we’ve
improved. Yes, more customers
are being served. But one in five
affordability assessments is not a
stat we should be comfortable with.
And continuing to waste time and
resources on cases unlikely to make
it through to completion is not
something we should accept.
At more2life, we’re investing in
the solutions, but we can’t do this
alone. Let’s step up. Let’s use the tools
available to us. Let’s get to a ‘yes’ or a
‘no’ quicker, and let’s give customers
the full benefit of the innovation we’ve
worked so hard to bring to market. ●
