When a person buys their first home and takes out their first home owner loan or mortgage, it is usually for a term of 25 years and the date of final repayment of the loan may seem like an awful long way away.

But nearly two thirds of those individuals with a loan secured on their home are aiming to have it completely paid off by the time they reach the age of 50, according to new research published by the Co- Operative Bank.

The survey has found that around 62 per cent of people with a home owner loan or mortgage intend to be debt free by age 50 and use the money they are saving on loan repayments for other purposes, such as additional funding for retirement planning, taking more holidays, or taking early retirement or reducing their working hours.

The recent economic conditions and banking crisis in the UK has actually helped many people with loans to realise their dreams of being able to repay their loans earlier than originally anticipated.

Almost a full year of extremely low interest rates has meant cheap loan repayments for many borrowers and this has allowed many people to make regular overpayments on their home owner loan in order to reduce the outstanding balance and pay it off early.

James Hilton of the Co Operative said “The research clearly shows that many mortgage holders are looking to take advantage of the low interest rate environment by making overpayments. Since the launch of our capital repayments pilot scheme we have had significant interest from customers and as a result we are continuing to monitor the scheme in detail, with a view to rolling out the scheme to more customers if successful.”