Credit Crunch ‘has not harmed self-cert sector’

Posted 2008-01-4

The availability of self-cert mortgages has not been hit by the credit crunch, a leading broker says.

Andy Pratt, spokesman for Alexander Hall, said the self-cert mortgage market remains essentially unchanged, despite reports of tighter lending conditions.

This effect has mainly been seen in the subprime industry, Mr Pratt says, with nonconforming lenders hit the hardest by turbulence in the financial markets.

Mainstream lenders have remained largely unaffected, however, with the spokesman adding borrowers with good credit records should face little to no difficulty in getting a loan.

He said: “All those clients who would have got a self-cert mortgage before have been able to get them even with the credit crunch.”

Thirteen per cent of the 29million people employed in Britain are self-employed and therefore eligible for a self-cert mortgage, says the Economic and Social Research Council.

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