What the papers said about mortgage prisoners and market fallout

The Guardian reported this weekend on the ongoing battle for mortgage prisoners to gain access to lower rates. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) estimates that around 150,000 borrowers are unable to move from their current mortgage, despite having kept up with their monthly repayments, with new lenders reluctant to take them on if they don’t meet the stricter affordability requirements put into place in recent years. This issue has now formed the basis of an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) inquiry, which follows a recent FCA report looking into how the rules can be changed to make it possible to switch lender. Elsewhere there was news that Tesco Bank has announced its withdrawal from the mortgage market, blaming ‘challenging market conditions’. Lenders are obliged to keep the terms and conditions of a mortgage as they are, so experts in the Financial Times reassured borrowers that, in the short term at least, they shouldn’t feel any impact. Those coming to the end of their current deal should however be reviewing their mortgage options as soon as they can, and comparing what is available on the market to the offerings from their current lender.