LiveMore: Fixing a “broken” system for older borrowers

When LiveMore Mortgages was named Later Life Lender of the Year at the Mortgage Introducer Awards 2025, it felt less like a marketing milestone and more like validation for a business determined to challenge how the industry treats older customers.

For Darren Cunliffe, Head of Intermediary Sales at LiveMore, the problem is simple: “Traditional affordability models were not built for older borrowers.” Instead of trying to make those frameworks stretch a little further, LiveMore has gone back to first principles. Its approach uses retirement income, more realistic spending assumptions and, crucially, pulls in future income streams and assets – such as pension funds and cash savings – over longer terms.

In other words, the lender is trying to reflect the financial reality of people in their 50s, 60s and beyond, rather than forcing them into criteria designed for 35-year-olds.

The income myth at the heart of the problem

The most stubborn misconception Darren encounters is as old as many of the customers it harms: the belief that income effectively “stops” at 65.

“It doesn’t,” he says. “When you assess older borrowers on facts rather than age, you unlock a huge group who are perfectly creditworthy but routinely shut out by mainstream models.”

That mindset – age as a proxy for risk – is, in his view, one of the main reasons later life lending has been left “underserved” by the high street. Where many lenders still lean on blunt age caps, LiveMore is trying to reframe the conversation around actual affordability, supported by data and a much broader understanding of income in later life.

Technology as a lever for inclusion

If philosophy underpins the lender’s strategy, technology is what brings it to life. Darren is particularly animated when he talks about the LiveMore Mortgage Matcher – an affordability engine he describes as “the next generation in affordability calculators”.

Rather than starting from a specific product, brokers input the customer’s details and the system surfaces the maximum available borrowing across LiveMore’s full product set for over-50s.

“We don't focus on products, but on solutions,” he explains. “By showing the maximum available across our entire range, we help brokers think beyond individual products. And because we’re the only UK lender offering the full suite to customers over 50, we’re uniquely placed to deliver the right outcome.”

This tech-led, product-agnostic approach has, he says, been a major driver behind LiveMore becoming “one of the fastest growing lenders in the UK”. It’s also a powerful proposition for brokers who are trying to place increasingly complex later life cases in a tightening market.

A tough year for older borrowers

That market backdrop matters. Darren doesn’t sugar-coat the pressures older borrowers have faced over the past 12–18 months.

“2024/25 has been tough for older borrowers,” he says. “Other lenders have tightened criteria, inflation has eroded the value of the pounds in their pockets, and that has hit people with later income hardest as so many lenders see age as a barrier to lending. This leaves the sector underserved, broken and borrowers feeling trapped.”

For many older customers, the intersection of higher rates, cost-of-living pressures and inflexible criteria has created a perfect storm. Some are stuck on unsuitable deals. Others are unable to release equity or restructure their borrowing in a way that supports their retirement plans or family commitments.

From niche to mainstream

Against that backdrop, Darren is adamant that later life lending is only going to grow in importance.

“The next decade will see later-life lending move from niche to mainstream,” he predicts. “People are working longer, carrying mortgages longer, and using property wealth more intentionally.”

The combination of longer working lives, intergenerational gifting, divorce in later life and a persistent housing affordability crunch among younger generations means property is increasingly being viewed as a flexible asset rather than a static end-point. Lenders who can recognise and respond to that shift will be well-placed; those who continue to see later life as a specialist bolt-on risk being left behind.

Designing for “real life”

If demand is changing, products must change too. For Darren, the future of later life lending can be summed up in one word: flexibility.

“Older borrowers need products built for real life,” he says. That means multi-income affordability, longer terms, stable fixed rates for term with the ability to review, and underwriting that looks at the customer, not an arbitrary age cap.

He expects features such as part-repayment/part-interest structures and pragmatic manual underwriting to move from “nice to have” to non-negotiable. The aim is to give customers stability and choice – whether they want to keep payments lower, manage down their balance over time or support wider family goals.

A social purpose, not just a market segment

Perhaps the clearest point of difference for LiveMore is the way Darren talks about later life lending as a social issue, not merely a commercial opportunity.

“Excluding older borrowers doesn’t just hurt individuals, it affects families, housing movement and financial wellbeing across society.”

That belief, he argues, shapes LiveMore’s culture and long-term strategy just as much as its product design. Success is not only measured in completions or market share, but in the number of people who arrive having been declined elsewhere and leave with a sustainable solution.

“We judge ourselves not just by volume, but by how many people we help who were told ‘no’ elsewhere,” Darren says. “Our strategy is simple: fix a broken system and bring older borrowers back into the financial mainstream.”

For brokers, that positioning – award-winning lender, full-range later life proposition, and a clear sense of purpose – offers a compelling partner at a time when older customers are under intense pressure. For the wider market, it poses a challenge: if later life lending is moving centre stage, who else is truly building for the reality of life beyond 50?