If you've had difficulty switching to a more affordable mortgage deal, even though you’re up to date with your payments, we may be able to help you. We can advise on mortgages that have been specifically designed to support mortgage prisoners.

Mortgage prisoners are homeowners who are up to date with their current mortgage payments, but are unable to switch to a better deal because they don’t meet the strict affordability rules that were introduced after the 2008 financial crash. This is despite the mortgage payments often working out less if they were able to switch, meaning they are left trapped with their existing mortgage, paying more money than they need to.

Mortgage prisoners tend to be customers who are held in closed mortgage books with inactive lenders (i.e. those not currently offering new mortgages) or have mortgages owned by unregulated firms.
In October 2019, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced new Modified Affordability Assessment rules so lenders, could give mortgage prisoners a better chance at switching to a cheaper deal.