This guidance applies in the exceptional circumstances arising out of the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) and its impact on the financial situation of mortgage customers.
Read Draft Guidance – Mortgages and Coronavirus: Additional Guidance for Firms (PDF)
Today we have announced proposals to ensure that firms provide support to mortgage borrowers who have benefitted from payment deferrals under the current guidance and who continue to face financial difficulties, as well as those whose financial situation may be newly affected by coronavirus after the current guidance ends.
We originally published Mortgages and Coronavirus guidance on 20 March 2020 and it was updated on 4 June and 16 June 2020. The current guidance will continue to provide support for those impacted by coronavirus until at least 31 October 2020 – with consumers able to take a first or second three-month payment deferral. The FCA expects the current guidance to expire on 31 October, but will keep this under review depending on how the wider situation develops.
How to respond
We want to act quickly to continue to protect consumers in these difficult times. We consider that the delay involved in publishing a formal consultation accompanied by a cost benefit analysis would be prejudicial to consumers’ interests. We are therefore not doing so. This is not a statutory consultation. There is no statutory requirement to prepare a cost benefit analysis for guidance.
We would welcome comments from stakeholders on this draft guidance by 5pm on Tuesday 1 September 2020.
Please send your comments to: [email protected].