In 2002, newly divorced Graham Topping bought a one bedroom house in Southend on a 25-year repayment mortgage. He had gone through a series of life events including a new son, house moves and divorce, but still hoped to be able to retire at the age of 60 from his comfortable £60,000 a year salary.
However, child maintenance costs, bills, credit card bills and having to leave his job left him with £30,000 of debt, and meant he could no longer afford the £400 monthly payments. In order to keep his home he switched to an interest only mortgage just before the 2008 financial crash. His lender, Northern Rock, went bust and his mortgage was transferred to another provider.
In 2025 Mr Topping is still living in the same one bedroom property and his mortgage now costs £987 a month – half his earnings from the 60 hours a week he works as an ambulance driver. He bought the house for £108,000 but still owes £110,000. Now aged 62, his mortgage interest rate is 9.7%. He now realises he won’t be able to retire at 67 because the state pension will be insufficient to cover his costs.
When his mortgage payment terms come to an end in three years’ time, Mr Topping may be able to release some of the equity in his home which is currently valued at around £275,000. However, with such a small sum it seems unlikely he will be able to buy mortgage-free.
Mr Topping is one of 200,000 mortgage prisoners in the UK, who are unable to move to a new mortgage deal because of lending criteria, whether because of their age, income or credit rating.
In October 2024, Tulip Siddiq MP was asked about the challenges mortgage prisoners face and whether regulators and the industry would ensure that the issue was properly considered. She said: “There are significant measures in place to protect vulnerable mortgage borrowers across the mortgage market, including mortgage prisoners. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules require lenders to engage individually with their customers who are struggling or who are worried about their payments in order to provide tailored support. Closed book lenders must also comply with the FCA’s Consumer Duty, which ensures firms prioritise fair treatment and good outcomes for their customers.”
Consumer champion, Martin Lewis, has previously said that responsibility for the treatment of mortgage prisoners lay with the Government. He said that the government had allowed the loans to be sold to “professional debt buyers who do not offer mortgages and left these people in these types of mortgages, which have been too expensive, crippled their finances and destroyed their wellbeing.” Mr Lewis also generously funded the LSE report, which suggested a number of solutions, including greater access to advice and government loans and guarantees along the lines of the Help to Buy scheme.
It seems naïve to think that the government might actually do anything about the vulture funds still draining these poor people’s finances, but the Mortgage Prisoners Inquiry Bill is currently being read in the House of Lords.