Is lying to get a mortgage ok? Readers share their views

With the return of self-cert mortgages we asked readers if they would lie to get a mortgage. Here’s what you said.

Self-cert mortgages – which allow a borrower to certify themselves that they can afford a loan, rather than have to prove it – are making a comeback.

These loans were very popular before the credit crunch, with many borrowers lying about their incomes so that they could borrow more than they could afford in order to keep up with rising house prices.  

Consequently, they were banned by the regulator in 2014 when tough new mortgage rules came into force under the Mortgage Market Review.

But earlier this week we reported that a new business called self-cert.co.uk had found a loophole enabling it to start offering self-cert mortgages to UK customers again by basing its business in the Czech Republic.

The regulator has condemned the tactics and warned UK borrowers that they won’t have protection under the Financial Ombudsman Service if things go wrong.

But that hasn’t taken away the demand. Self-cert.co.uk had 4,000 enquiries in the first week of trading and has had to close its doors to new business as it’s already lent all its available capital.

With the return of these so called 'liar loans' we wanted to find out if you would ever lie to get a mortgage. The results are shocking. Nearly half (47%) of loveMONEY readers said they would lie in order to secure a deal.

Haven’t had your say yet? Head over to Self-cert mortgage providers: return of the UK liar loan to vote on what you would do.

Why lie?

Since the Mortgage Market Review came into force in April 2014 it has become much more difficult to secure a mortgage as lenders have had to become stricter about borrowing criteria and affordability checks in order to protect people from taking on too much debt.

But lying to secure a mortgage or remortgage is fraud and you face getting a criminal record if caught out.

Getting caught can occur through normal credit checks and through the Mortgage Verification Scheme run by HMRC the Building Societies Association and the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which shares information on employment status and your income.

Compare mortgages with loveMONEY

More ways to have your say:

Should we scrap the £50 note to curb crime and tax evasion?

Put your peer-to-peer questions to Wellesley & Co's Graham Wellesley

Google's £130 million tax bill: who is to blame for the tiny tax deal?