The Mortgage Lender

The Mortgage Lender specialises in lending money to people the high street banks won't touch: people with bad credit ratings or CCJs, people without proof of income and so on. Rates are competitive – from 5.9% APR variable - but arrangement fees can be hefty.

The Mortgage Lender is a niche lender: its business is in lending money to the people that the high street banks don't like dealing with. That's good news if you've got a bad credit rating, have fallen behind with your mortgage payments or have CCJs against you, and at first glance there doesn't seem to be a catch: interest rates start at a reasonably competitive 5.9% APR variable.

Read the small print, though, and you'll discover that there is a catch after all: The Mortgage Lender charges a hefty arrangement fee of £1,600 or 3% of the loan advance, whichever is greater, and that's significantly more than the high street banks. Then again, The Mortgage Lender offers money to people who might not otherwise qualify for a mortgage.

• The Mortgage Lender Website