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Mortgage prisoners talking directly with lenders to find solutions

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  • 15/10/2019
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Mortgage prisoners talking directly with lenders to find solutions
Campaign group UK Mortgage Prisoners has stepped up its efforts to change the law to block future mortgage book sales to unregulated lenders and to offer redress to those affected.

 

The group has begun talking directly to the mortgage industry, with Co-operative Bank and RBS reaching out to the campaigners in attempts to find solutions. And they are due to meet with UK Finance at the end of October with the intention of helping improve understanding between parties.

The group has already called on economic secretary to the Treasury John Glen MP to meet for talks about changing the law and picketed his office in Salisbury after repeated attempts at contact were ignored.

They say the buck stops with Glen and home secretary Sajid Javid who have authority to legislate to help existing mortgage prisoners and to ensure no more borrowers get trapped with inactive lenders.

In June, Glen told the Treasury Select Committee he expected the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to implement changes rapidly, but the results of its consultation are not expected until the end of the year.

 

‘Graveyard justice’

The increased pressure from the group has come ahead of the one-year anniversary of the BBC Panorama film ‘Trapped by My Mortgage,’ which aired on 27 October 2018.

Campaign organiser Rachel Neale told Mortgage Solutions: “We want them to look back at what happened to us and to stop that right [for a mortgage book] to be sold to any company, unless it is regulated and a bank. And to look at redress for the situation they’ve allowed people to be left in.” 

“We met Andrew Bailey [chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority] in May and were told the consultation on responsible lending would be a quick way of helping mortgage prisoners. They are now saying that the results will published towards the end of the year.

“I call it graveyard justice. They are just using it as an excuse,” Neale said.

However, the campaigners are calling on government to get their act together. 

“It’s a huge mess and people’s problems are getting worse. Every week I get six or seven emails from people in arrears or about family breakdown. A year on from Panorama, we’ve had the inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary group, the debate in parliament and the FCA consultation. Now we want the government to act.”

 

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