On 9 January 2019, the FCA published a letter that it had sent to Nicky Morgan MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee, providing an update on its work on improving switching options for mortgage customers who are currently unable to do so (so called mortgage prisoners).
On 5 March 2019, the Treasury Committee published further correspondence on topic between itself and John Glen MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury. In his letter to the Treasury Committee Mr Glen:
- welcomes the FCA’s announcement that it intends to change its mortgage lending rules to move to a relative affordability assessment for customers seeking to move to a cheaper mortgage without borrowing more; and
- states that the “comprehensive nature” of the FCA’s intervention and the lack of evidence of a broader market failure in mortgage credit provision means that the Government will not be pursuing any broader public policy response on this issue at this time.