My interest-only mortgage ends this year. Help!

Q I SAW your recent article about interest-only mortgages. I have one of those and the term ends in October this year so I felt it was about me! I need to do something about it.

My mortgage is £240,000 and my property is worth between £470,000 and £500,000.

I am 63, in good health and work for the NHS, so I can continue working as long as I wish. I am on a final salary pension so my retirement earnings are easy to calculate. What I really want to do is to buy some time to decide if I downsize here or move to Spain.

I am nervous about contacting Lloyds, my current lender. This current mortgage is from Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society (it is now part of Lloyds). But there was no input from me. I would value some impartial advice. Lynda F A EVERYONE is different so you will need to sit down with a good independent mortgage adviser and discuss your needs. We can only give general directions.

You should talk to Lloyds if only to see what it proposes. You don’t have to take any offer it makes but if all else fails, it’s a fall-back.

Be aware that many lenders refuse new interest-only mortgage offers if the term takes you over 65 – irrespective of whether you continue working. Just because you can is no guarantee that you will. Repayment mortgages usually run to 75.

Next, be more precise about what you want. When will you decide on your next home – whether here or in Spain? Provided you have sufficient salary to qualify, a two-year repayment mortgage would give breathing space. Do you have savings that could reduce your next mortgage?

Taking off estate agent optimism and moving costs (legal fees, stamp duty, agent’s cut) leaves around £200,000 for whatever you want to do for your next home.

You say you had “no input” into your present mortgage. If it was decided by an adviser, then you might have a mis-selling case if your suitability for this form of loan was not properly explained.

But beware of claims management companies promising big compensation – the odds are stacked against you. If there was no advice, or you ignored it, you have no comeback.