If your interest-only mortgage is ending, or you want to borrow in retirement without the debt growing, a RIO may be the answer and I arrange them regularly. I compare RIO and standard later life mortgages across the lenders that offer them, and I will tell you honestly whether you can afford one for life.
HTG Mortgages
Retirement Interest-Only Mortgages | Not Equity Release
Last Updated: September 2026
Featured in The Telegraph • Daily Mail • The Times • Sky News
A retirement interest-only mortgage, usually called a RIO, is a standard mortgage for older borrowers where you pay the interest each month and the capital is repaid when you die, move into long term care or sell the home. It is not equity release. The interest does not roll up, the debt does not grow, and it is regulated like any other mortgage. I do not offer equity release, but I arrange a lot of RIO mortgages, and for the right person they solve a problem no other product does.
You pay interest monthly, so the balance stays the same rather than compounding as it does with a lifetime mortgage
Affordability is assessed on the interest payments only, from pension and other retirement income, with no repayment plan needed
Most lenders run the mortgage until a life event: death, a move into long term care or the sale of the home
As featured in…
Meet your Advisor
Harry Goodliffe
- FCA Authorised
- Director & Mortgage Advisor
“I‘m not about confusing jargon or passing you from person to person. From our first chat to the day you get the keys, you’ll deal directly with me. I‘ll keep you updated, answer any burning questions, and do everything I can to make the whole process as stress-free as possible.”
Let’s Talk About Your Mortgage
The RIO mortgage process
1
Step 1
First Chat
Tell me about your current mortgage or the property you want to buy, your pension and other income, and whether the application is in one name or two.
2
Step 2
Research
I check each lender’s minimum age, how they assess your income now and in later life, and for joint applications whether the payments still work on the surviving borrower’s income alone.
3
Step 3
Application
Once you have chosen a lender, I handle the application, the valuation and the paperwork with the lender and your solicitor.
4
Step 4
Completion
After the offer I stay on it through to completion, and I will work around whatever fits your circumstances, not just office hours.
About
Our approach.
Why choose HTG Mortgages?
Most of my RIO clients are people whose interest-only mortgage is ending with no repayment vehicle, or people in their sixties and seventies who want to borrow without the rolled up interest of a lifetime mortgage. In both cases the first job is showing the lender that the interest is affordable for life.
Interest only, for life.
You pay the interest every month and nothing else. The capital is repaid when the last borrower dies or moves permanently into care, or when the home is sold. Unlike a lifetime mortgage there are no compulsory rolled up charges eating into the equity.
Affordability on the interest, from retirement income.
Lenders check you can pay the interest from your pension and other income both now and in the future. There is no need to show how the capital will be repaid, because the sale of the home is the repayment. For joint applications they check the survivor could still pay if the other partner died.
Minimum ages and no fixed end date.
Most RIO lenders set a minimum age of 50 or 55, and there is no maximum age or fixed term, because the mortgage runs until a life event rather than to a date. That is the key difference from a standard mortgage into retirement.
Not equity release.
Equity release (a lifetime mortgage) usually has no monthly payments and the interest compounds against your home. A RIO has monthly payments and a fixed balance. I do not offer equity release, so if that is the product you need I will say so plainly and point you to a specialist.
How a RIO mortgage works
RIO mortgages exist because the FCA changed its rules in March 2018 to allow interest-only lending to older borrowers where the loan is repaid on a life event rather than at a set date. That means a RIO is a standard regulated mortgage, assessed under the same rules as any other, but with two differences: affordability is assessed on the interest payments only, and there is no fixed end date. You need to show the lender that your income in retirement covers the monthly interest with room to spare. Pensions in payment, State Pension, annuities, investment income and in some cases rental income all count, and lenders will want evidence such as pension statements and a State Pension forecast. For a joint application, the lender also tests whether the surviving borrower could carry on paying if the other died, taking into account any spouse’s pension that would continue. Most lenders set a minimum age of 50 or 55, though a few have none. Because the balance never reduces unless you choose to overpay, the equity left for your estate is the property value less the fixed loan, which makes it far easier to plan around than a compounding lifetime mortgage. My guide to interest-only versus repayment mortgages covers the wider comparison, and my interest-only mortgages page covers the products for younger borrowers.
RIO, a standard mortgage into retirement, or equity release
There are three broad routes for borrowing later in life and they suit different people. A standard mortgage into retirement is a normal repayment or interest-only mortgage with a term that runs past your retirement date; most mainstream lenders will run a term to age 70, 75 or 80, some building societies go beyond that or set no limit, and they assess your pension income for the part of the term after you retire. In my experience most lenders will run a RIO until a change in life circumstances, so death or a move into long term care, rather than to a set age, which is why it suits people who want certainty that they will not have to sell or refinance at 75. Equity release, or a lifetime mortgage, is different again: usually no monthly payments, interest rolling up and compounding, and a separate qualification and regulatory regime. I do not offer it. If your circumstances point that way, I will tell you and you can speak to a specialist adviser with the right permissions. Which of the three fits you depends on your income, your age, your plans for the property and what you want to leave behind, and working that out properly is what an advice appointment is for. If you are looking at borrowing against a property you let rather than live in, my releasing equity from a buy to let guide is the relevant one.
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Written by Harry Goodliffe
Director & Mortgage Adviser, HTG Mortgages · FCA Authorised (1017945)
CeMAP Qualified · Featured in National Press · South England Prestige Awards 2026/27 winner