In December Jeremy Hunt hosted a mortgage summit, attended by lenders and the Financial Conduct Authority, to discuss rate woes. At the time, the numbers were at least moving in the right direction. During Liz Truss’s 49-day premiership, the FCA expected interest rates to rise to 5.5 per cent, an increase which was forecast to put 570,000 people into mortgage payment difficulty. Once Rishi Sunak and Hunt undid Truss’s mini-Budget, things looked calmer: a 4.5 per cent peak was expected, and 356,000 people were due to be in difficulty. Hunt was still struck by the figure. Horribly high, he thought.
The Chancellor used the meeting to lay the foundation for regulatory changes that could be used in the future to help struggling mortgage-holders. Now, as interest rates are expected to hit 6 per cent, which would be the highest since 2001, the Treasury is working with lenders to consider repayment holidays, mortgage extensions and moving more people to interest-only payments.
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