Understanding The Pension Loans Scheme

The Pension Loans Scheme is a federal government initiative to help Australian retirees to supplement their income. Many Australian retirees have the bulk of their assets tied up in residential property. They are often said to be “asset rich but cash poor”.

The Pension Loans Scheme enables retirees in Australia to ‘liquidate’ their assets by getting a voluntary, non-taxable, fortnightly government loan using their residential homes as security. These loan payments can supplement other retirement income they may have, such as the age pension and superannuation entitlements. The Pension Loans Scheme is essentially a government reverse mortgage scheme.