Second mortgages to become much harder for home owners

People who want to raise a second mortgage on their property will find it much harder, after the Financial Conduct Authority announced it plans to regulate the loans from March 2016.

Second mortgages are currently treated as consumer credit and, for example, are not routinely included in data about mortgage arrears.

However, the FCA said that arrears rates for second charge mortgages were “significantly higher” than for first charge mortgages.

Under the new regime, borrowers would have their affordability checked, and would have to prove they could afford to repay both sets of mortgages.

The clampdown on second mortgage lending would mean that 10–17% of consumers currently granted such a loan would not be allowed one, while 22–30% would be able able to borrow less than before.

The FCA, which is currently consulting on is plans, says: “As a consequence of our proposals, using the subdued period between 2009 and 2011 as our basis, our modelling would indicate a reduction in lending volumes of around 20%.

“This would imply a reduction in the volume of lending in the second charge market of around £100m.”

x

Email the story to a friend!



One Comment

  1. Woodentop

    Took long enough. I see so many repossessions caused by second mortgages which should never have been deregulated by the Blair government. Bring back second mortgages for home improvements only, it worked before but allowing the money to be used for a booze up in Spain etc was asking for trouble.

    Report
X

You must be logged in to report this comment!

Comments are closed.

Thank you for signing up to our newsletter, we have sent you an email asking you to confirm your subscription. Additionally if you would like to create a free EYE account which allows you to comment on news stories and manage your email subscriptions please enter a password below.