What to do if your bank makes you a 'mortgage prisoner'

Lenders to be probed over existing borrowers who have been told they cannot afford to pay less

House prices
(Image credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Questions were raised last week over whether banks and building societies are abusing new mortgage regulations. The Financial Conduct Authority announced it has launched an investigation into “lenders’ unfair rejection of mortgage applications from certain borrowers,” says Nicole Blackmore in the Daily Telegraph.

There have been repeated cases of people who are comfortably paying their mortgage being rejected by their lender when they try to move onto a cheaper deal. The reasons for the rejection are spurious and have led some to believe lenders are rejecting people purely so they can keep them on more expensive, and therefore more profitable, mortgage deals.

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