A father has claimed he was turned down from extending his mortgage because he is “too old”.
Peter Day, 61, applied for an extra five years on his home loan in 2014 to pay for his daughter’s wedding, but was left gobsmacked when the Co-operative Bank did not honour his application.
The former banker complained to the Banking Ombudsman about being the victim of ageism and his complaint was upheld, with the bank ordered to pay almost £2,000 in compensation.
Mr Day said: “The bank had every opportunity to assess my affordability. They had not taken into account that I was a good existing customer.
“It was clearly age discrimination as paying the money back and my current financial position were clearly no problem”.
The ruling, which could set a precedent for others in similar situations, said: “The Co-op hasn't shown me that it did act fairly or within the terms of the Equality Act ... My overall conclusion [is] that the Co-op didn't treat Mr Day fairly.”
The ombudsman ordered the bank to pay £500 in compensation, plus the £1,389 it cost for Mr Day to switch mortgage companies.
In a statement, the bank said it had since updated its policy and had extended its maximum age limit for mortgage repayment from 68 to 75.
A spokesman added: “We apologise to Mr Day that we were unable to resolve his original complaint to his satisfaction."
