Mortgage prisoners are those who want to remortgage but who find themselves trapped in their current deal.
Beverley Building Society is looking to help trapped mortgage prisoners, its head of lending Graham Carter has said.
Mortgage prisoners are those who want to remortgage but who find themselves trapped in their current deal.
Carter said: “There’s an awful lot of lenders not offering help because they don’t meet the MMR rules.
"Some lenders think why shouldn’t we look at this if they can afford it? We are looking at going into this area and promoting it.
“I think you’ll see that growing. It’s a niche market, which will pick up. Some are stuck and can’t borrow more money, but their circumstances have changed and can be helped.
“It comes down to can they prove their affordability? I think lenders should look at these (borrowers who can afford a mortgage) and see them as good customers.”
Steve Matthews, head of mortgages at Bath Building Society, said that Bath doesn’t do transitional lending but is looking at it.
Matthews added: “If someone has paid their mortgage for the last five years, they are good borrowers.
“There are also people renting for the last five years, paying £1,000 in rent and we’re saying you can’t afford a £600 mortgage. I think there’s some markets that need looking at.”
Steve Bond, key account manager at Principality, said that retirement interest-only mortgages may prove to be the solution to mortgage prisoners but emphasised the future is still uncertain.
Daniel Berrisford, business development manager at Leek United Society, said that Leek United doesn’t have any trapped borrowers.
He said: “We’ve looked at the stress test for customers coming to us and we have introduced a low stress rate.”
