First-time buyers 'should have mortgage exam'
The chairman of a debt charity has suggested that mortgages should only be given to first-time buyers who pass an exam.
In a speech, Malcolm Hurlston of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service proclaimed that home loans "should not be sold not with pretty ribbons and tax breaks but with health warnings".
He said: "They should be sold like driving licences, after study and an exam."
Mr Hurlston pointed to a federal programme in the US for those on low incomes, which included pre-buying counselling to help house hunters understand the level of personal debt they are taking on.
This may come as more bad news to those looking to purchase their first home after stamp duty relief benefits were branded as misleading by a Times investigation last month.
Suggestions that first-time buyers may require an exam to qualify for a mortgage might attract more people to consider looking for property to rent in the London borough of Sutton or elsewhere in the UK.
By Chris Price
Published 29th April, 2010
© 2010 Estates IT Limited
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More people may be attracted to considering looking for property to rent in the London borough of Sutton or elsewhere in the UK after a consumer credit expert suggested that first-time buyers should be required to pass an exam.