United Kingdom's watchdog is now starting to investigate suspicious mortgage rejections of various home buyers.
According to ibtimes.com [International Business Times], the investigation are caused by difficulties brought by housing shortages and increasing housing prices. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said "We are seeking stakeholders' views on competition in the mortgage sector. These views, together with evidence from the FCA's wider programme of work on mortgages, will help inform any future FCA work on this key sector of the economy, including any future competition market study."
The program started last Wednesday but FCA decided to launch the full- fledged investigation in 2016.
UK's economy has been struggling and home prices in the country is seven times higher than the people's income. The report also said that "in 2013 alone, 28,900 homes were repossessed across the UK."
In a report by telegraph.co.uk, there is a possibility that banks offer higher mortgage plans to pregnant women, older borrowers, and borrowers who were stuck in cheapest deals after watchdogs have announced their planned investigation.
Older borrowers have said that many of them were denied of loans "that would stretch into retirement" despite of their ability to pay the capital and interest. A survey also showed that one in 10 women aged 25- 45 had experienced "mortgage discrimination" from banks as lenders thought that they might struggle in paying their mortgages due to child care costs and being not able to work because of attending to their child.
The FCA has introduced new rules last year about lending which was called Mortgage Market Review (MMR). The program was "designed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis, when a series of defaults by less affluent borrowers brought the entire money system close to collapse."
Banks have to perform thorough "affordability" checks for them to screen people who can really afford a mortgage plan. However, banks and lenders have ignored other exceptions and rules in granting mortgage plans which resulted to mortgage applications by reliable borrowers were also being rejected.
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