Philip Dunne calls on the Government to encourage UK mortgage lenders to look to best practice abroad to maintain affordability of mortgage payments, for example by offering mortgagees extensions to their mortgage as an option to keep monthly mortgage payments affordable.
Philip Dunne (Ludlow) (Con)
With interest rates rising around the world, many others countries are considering more imaginative ways of enabling those with mortgages to continue to pay. Will my hon. Friend look at the schemes operating in the United States that allow lenders to extend the duration of a mortgage to allow payments to remain on an even keel and, therefore, to remain more affordable for hard-pressed households?
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Andrew Griffith)
Yes, I will do that. My right hon. Friend is right to point to the fact that mortgage rates have been rising throughout the world. This Government will always be on the side of trying to protect people with mortgages. Lenders are responsible and are willing to extend. The advice is that people should always speak to their lender if they have difficulties. I will certainly look at the case he mentions.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
I was encouraged by the Economic Secretary’s answer to the question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Philip Dunne) about mortgages. I know that the Chancellor believes that the restoration of economic stability is essential for mortgages to come under control in the future, but will he confirm that he will bring in imaginative plans to protect people who took out mortgages in good faith and now find them unaffordable?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Jeremy Hunt)
I can absolutely give my right hon. Friend that confirmation. Indeed, I intend to meet a group of lenders later this month to discuss that very issue.