“pre-reverse” home loans. The founders, Scott Phillips and Jacqui Schofield, have already raised almost $14 million from several high net-worth investors, including former Fortescue Metals Group executive Stephen Pearce and HappyCo founder Jindou Lee. It was during his involvement in his previous business Smooth Retirement, that Phillips discovered a large number of older Australians to whom he could act as a lender instead of a middleman.
“I am excited and proud to bring this product to market,” Phillips said. “Millions of Australians enter retirement with the equity in their home being their most valuable asset and not enough in savings or super to support another 40 years of living costs, while many also commence retirement still paying off their home loan. While the recent surge in Australian house prices has pushed household wealth to record highs, many older Australians are struggling to make ends meet’’
His partner Schofield noted that when looking at the prime mortgage space, many neo banks and online lenders are doing “amazing things” for first home buyers and others. “And we looked at it and thought, ‘why is nobody creating a specialist service for over-55s with the same sort of online and quality services?’ So, it was wide open and a real gap in the market,” she said. According to Schofield, $600 billion is owed by about 2.16 million households led by over-50s on their mortgages. “That is astonishing,” she commented.
