Emma RadmoreUK Finance is supportive of FCA’s plans for additional guidance to firms on mortgages and COVID-19. It says the industry has always said it is better fora customer who can afford payments to continue to make them, and notes recent figures indicate that most customers who had requested a mortgage payment deferral are now making payments again.
It continues to believe that aligning a return to normal forbearance and CRA reporting to the end of the furlough scheme is the right thing to do.
It does not see that there should be differentiated treatment of customers in relation to second charge mortgages, and asks for additional guidance on repossessions.
It welcomes some of the flexibilities the draft guidance offers, and asks for its confirmation as soon as possible, as firms will have to implement it and the Breathing Space Regulations simultaneously. It asks FCA to consider whether there are any discrete pieces of future work that could be deprioritised to allow firms the capacity they need to put these measures in place.