Around 1.4million borrowers have received support through the government’s Mortgage Charter, new FCA figures show.
Many of those borrowers were able to lock into a new rate early under the provisions of the Charter, while others were able to bring down monthly costs for a time.
From the Charter’s launch in 2023 to July this year, monthly payments on around 188,000 mortgages were reduced either by borrowers temporarily switching to interest-only or extending their mortgage term.
This represents around 2.1% of regulated mortgage contracts.
Of those who extended their mortgage term, 401 went on to reverse this.
The FCA says this suggests borrowers looking for a temporary cut in payments are more likely to opt for a period on interest-only.
The latest figures show that 133 properties were repossessed within 12 months of missing the first payment.
Under the Charter, lenders agreed to provide a number of options to help struggling borrowers to reduce payments for a respite period.
The FCA says that some of these forbearance measures would also have been offered under lenders’ normal business policy.
It is therefore not possible to completely isolate actions undertaken through the Charter.
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