Speaking at the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries annual dinner yesterday Bunton, who is also Loundon & Country's chairman, accused lenders of failing to take the interests of consumers into account by applying MMR affordability checks on existing borrowers looking to remortgage – causing a tide of mortgage prisoners to be stuck on higher rates than they should be paying.
Bunton said: “Whilst MMR has landed safely there is still significant work to be done if the market is to meet regulatory expectations of not creating more mortgage prisoners than is absolutely necessary.
“Over zealous interpretations of rules or self-interest trumping consumers' interests must be challenged wherever they are found and later in the year we expect the Financial Conduct Authority to delve into competition in the mortgage market to shine a more focused light on some of this.
“We will of course continue to work with the CML, IMLA and the BSA on those issues.”
Bunton’s comments echoed the Financial Conduct Authority’s Lynda Blackwell last month, who reiterated that lenders should be adopting transitional arrangements set out in the MMR to waive affordability checks for consumers looking to remortgage who don't want to take on any more borrowing.
