Mortgage lenders must take care, says Citizens Advice Bureau

Date:Wednesday 24th November 2010
Author: Susanna Kavka

Citizens Advice Bureau has highlighted the importance of mortgage lenders taking care to check if a home finance deal is a financially sustainable option.

Chief executive of the organisation Gillian Guy noted that the bureau had to deal with 115,000 issues relating to secured loans such as mortgages last year.

In her view, many of the people who end up in difficulties could never really have afforded the products they signed up for.

Citizens Advice Bureau has joined together with Shelter to throw their weight behind Financial Services Authority (FSA) plans to stamp out reckless lending with affordability and income checks.

"These proposals are about the FSA ensuring that mortgage lenders and borrowers take proper care to consider whether a mortgage is affordable," said Ms Guy.

This week, the charitable institution also commented on the use of charging orders, suggesting they are being used to intimidate vulnerable debtors and forcing them to pay over more money than they can manage.