ah ha!
When I worked in a conveyancing practice five years ago, there were far, far too many people getting "self certifying" mortgages. These are only supposed to be used for self-employed people, and as the name suggests, you sign a declaration that this is, indeed, what you earn, so that the lender can calculate (think of a number and treble it) a suitable amount for you to borrow. I was convinced at the time that the criteria used by the lenders was far too slack, and there were many, many clients that were not self employed and were using self cert mortgages to lie about their earnings, in order to borrow enough to afford a house. They were always encouraged to do this by unscrupulous mortgage brokers, who in turn were collecting the commission from the lenders, and laughing all the way to the bank. The clients would then immediately remortgage the house upon purchase, in order to clear other debt, and would telephone in to complain if the whole thing went through too slowly to keep the bailiffs out..
I can't see how it can have suddenly stopped in the intervening years.
(Beer Elf Thought this was like a campfire, anyhow, on, Fri 23 Jan 2009, 13:44, Reply)