Bridging finance and downsizing

Sir, – Your piece “Stopgap mortgages remain a bridge too far for Irish banks despite new ICS product” (Business, October 12th) about the so-called bridging loan launched recently by ICS Mortgages, owned by financial services company Dilosk, fails to highlight that this product is of no value to the empty nesters wishing to downsize precisely because it is not a short-term loan facility but a mortgage product bound by Central Bank of Ireland regulations which dictate that the borrowed sum is limited to four times the household income which for most in this category will be a pension.

This fact is absent from the advertising blurb on the ICS Mortgages website, which simply highlights the maximum sum allowed and the limit of 70 per cent loan to value.

I know this because I applied to use this product , sent all my financial details including a valuation of my home and was seeking to borrow approximately 50 per cent of the equity to purchase a smaller home.

I clearly demonstrated my ability to pay the interest from personal funds but was still only offered the maximum paltry sum of four times my pension income.