‘My dad’s pension got us on the property ladder’

Cat Bradford-aungar and her husband, Matt, had been saving for years. But their wedding, car repairs and an unexpected vet bill cleared out most of their nest egg.

‘We’d resigned ourselves to not buying a place for a few years at least,’ says Cat, 28, a Forest School leader from Canterbury. ‘Matt has a good regular salary, but I was on two zero-hours contracts and one part-time contract at the time, so our monthly income varied, making saving a little unpredictable.’

The couple were preparing to tighten their belts for a few years so they could scrape together a deposit, but Cat’s dad, Mike, 61, was keen to help. ‘My wife, Carole, and I wanted them to get their own place,’ he explains. ‘We bought our own home a long time ago and wanted them to have the same security. Plus, Cat and Matt were paying more in rent than they would be paying on a mortgage.’

Mike has been a postman for most of his working life, and has a Royal Mail pension. When he turned 60, he was able to access a lump sum and had planned to put it into a savings account. He then read about the Lloyds Bank Lend a Hand mortgage, and saw he could put his pension money into a savings account linked to a mortgage for Cat and Matt, allowing them to buy a house, while earning interest on his savings. ‘It was better than just sticking it in the bank,’ says Mike. ‘There is hardly any risk to it; providing they meet their mortgage repayments, I’ll get my money back after three years plus interest.’

Mike and Carole put £15,500 into the Lend a Hand savings account, providing a 10% deposit for Cat and Matt’s mortgage. ‘My parents’ help has absolutely changed our lives,’ adds Cat. ‘It’s given us security.’