Money saving guru Martin Lewis says guidance on how mortgage providers can help struggling borrowers is a bit like an "empty sandwich". He is however hopeful new measures put lenders in a position to offer "quick-fire support" in the event of future interest rate shocks.
It comes as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) forecast an additional 356,000 mortgage borrowers could struggle to pay by the end of June 2024. This is however a reduction from previous forecasts, which thought the number could be around 570,000.
The estimate was revised downwards due to changes in market expectations of the Bank of England base rate. The previous analysis was based on market expectations in September 2022, which saw the bank rate peaking at around 5.5%, as opposed to a peak of around 4.5% in the February expectations, used to calculate the most recent estimate.
