Self-certification mortgages 'should not require declarations of income'

Date:Thursday 20th November 2008
Author: Max Freedman

Applicants for self-certification mortgages should not have to make declarations about their income, it has been claimed.

Writing for Mortgage Strategy, Michael Thommes, managing director of the General Finance Centre in Poole, said there was a "conflict of conscience" when such requirements are made, acknowledging that applicants can be motivated to lie or else be rejected.

He instead suggested that customers should simply be presented with the terms of the mortgage and accept them.

Mr Thommes also added that mortgage brokers should not be blamed for lies on self-certification mortgage applications.

"They are not rogues, taking advantage of and forcing innocent parties into dodgy contracts; as it seems they are presently being portrayed as," he wrote.

In related news, the Financial Services Authority has banned a mortgage broker who attempted to defraud insurance firms.

Peter King, head of the New Forest Mortgage Company in Bournemouth, falsified life insurance policies to try to gain £250,000 in commission payments.