UK and banks will provide mortgage payment facility

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, has announced that UK banks and building societies will offer greater mortgage repayment facilities to those in difficulty as a result of the recent hike to 5% in interest rates.

At the end of a meeting in Downing Street – the seat of the executive’s power – between the bank’s executives and the owner, Hunt said “significant agreements” had been reached.

The Bank of England’s announcement that it will raise interest rates by half a point to 5% in an attempt to control high annual inflation, located at 8.7%, has alarmed many citizens of this country. of not being able to make your mortgage payments.

Among the agreements reached between the UK and the banks were on mortgages Lenders will be able to make a temporary change to the terms of their mortgages and then, within six months, return to the terms of the initial contract.

This measure would allow, as Hunt explained, for example, to reduce the monthly payments for a mortgage loan for a while, paying only the amount corresponding to the interest on the home loan.

Speaking to the media, the minister said that “there are two groups of people particularly concerned: those who face a real risk of losing their homes because they are behind in their mortgage payments, and those who have to change their mortgages because fixed interest rates are coming to an end and they are concerned about the impact of High mortgage rates affect family finances.

He pointed out that the government agreed in the meeting with banks and mortgage loan companies on “three very important things”, the first of which is that “a person can talk to banks and mortgage lenders without this having any effect on his credit history”.

He pointed out, as a second point, that “if someone were to feel distressed about the impact this would have on the family’s finances, and they changed the terms of the mortgage to interest only or extended the terms of the mortgage and wanted to return to the original mortgage agreement, within six months they would be able to do so.” with that.”

“finally, For those people who are at risk of losing their homes in this extreme situation, banks and mortgage lenders can offer alternatives.“The last thing they want is to take over a house,” said the politician, who remembers.

In this extreme case, they agreed to give a period of at least 12 months “before the ban is enforced”.

Hunt also stressed that tackling high inflation is Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s “number one priority”, and that the government is “fully committed to supporting the Bank of England to do whatever is necessary”.

With information from EFE.