THIS TRANSCRIPT IS ISSUED ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IT IS TAKEN FROM A LIVE PROGRAMME AS IT WAS BROADCAST. THE NATURE OF LIVE BROADCASTING MEANS THAT NEITHER THE BBC NOR THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE PROGRAMME CAN GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION HERE. MONEY BOX LIVE Presenter: PAUL LEWIS TRANSMISSION: 20th FEBRUARY 2006 3.00-3.30pm RADIO 4 LEWIS: Hello. Figures out today show that the average asking price for a home in the UK has topped £200,000 for the first time. The web-based estate agent Right Move says the rise is due to strong demand and weak supply. Ah, the iron laws of economics! The actual selling price is somewhat lower, of course - the official figures from the Land Registry put the average price at just over £186,000 – and the two top mortgage lenders say it’s lower still: a shade over £170,000 according to Halifax; a shade under £159,000 for Nationwide. Anyway, it’s big and growing. The most worrying figure to me though is that the average deposit is almost £24,000, which is £1,000 more than most people earn in a year. No wonder the age of the first time buyer is creeping up to 30 something. So what can first time buyers do to get that first home? Are interest only mortgages a good idea? Can parents help? Or does it just mean save, save, save? If you already have a home and a mortgage, what are the best deals to reduce the cost? Can you still save £1,000 a year or more just by switching lenders? We reported a week ago on Money Box that rates of 10 years -fixed rates of 10 years, I should say - are now very cheap, but are they a good idea? And whatever you do, watch out for fees of up to £500 just to become a customer; and then if you find a better deal in a year or two, another fee of maybe £300 to stop being one. To help us answer your questions, you can call 08700 100 444. With me today to answer your calls about mortgages are two brokers: Ray Boulger, the Encyclopaedia Britannica of the mortgage market, who is Senior Technical Manager at John Charcol; and Mark Chilton, Chief Executive of Purely Mortgages. And the first question is from Christine in Skipton. Christine, your question? CHRISTINE: Oh hello. We have a 16 year mortgage, which will be running out at the beginning of April. It’s for £64,000. We have a consent to lease with that mortgage and let the house out. It’s a tracker at the moment. Should we go for that again or is the mortgage rate going to go up or down? Would we be better with a fixed rate? LEWIS: Ah, are interest rates going to go up or down? Ray Boulger? BOULGER: I think all the signs are that the trend in rates is going to be down, Christine. More difficult to say how quickly and how far, but almost certainly the trend will be down and on that basis a tracker is likely to be cheaper over the medium term. In the short-term actually there’s not very much difference between a tracker and a fix, but clearly with rates falling a tracker will win. If you’ve got a buy to let mortgage with the Halifax, you probably will have to remortgage because the Halifax don’t normally do buy to lets although they will give consent to lease as they have done for you. So with a mortgage of £64,000, you need to look for a deal ideally where you get a free valuation, free legals because the costs of setting up become very important with a mortgage of that size. LEWIS: Okay, Mark Chilton? CHILTON: Yes, I think I’d echo Ray’s views on interest rate movements, particularly if you’re looking at the next 2 years. I think if you’re looking out beyond that period of time, then fixed rates for 5 and 10 years are actually showing less of a premium than they have done at any time that I can certainly remember. So I think that is important. I think picking up on Ray’s point, Christine, the important issue is whether you intend to let the property or whether this is something that you’ve had in your back pocket with the Halifax because you’re going to pay a significant premium to get a buy to let mortgage over that you pay as an owner occupier. CHRISTINE: Well it’s a house that we don’t actually need to live in because we live in tied accommodation, but we obviously need a house for when we no longer own that particular job, so that we let it at the moment. And in the long-term, well definitely in the short-term - sort of for the next few years - we won’t need to live in that house. LEWIS: Do you need more than just permission to let then, Ray? Do you need a proper buy to let mortgage on a property like that? BOULGER: Well it’s interesting actually, Christine, now you’ve said you’re in tied accommodation because there are a few lenders who if you have tied accommodation will actually let you have an ordinary residential mortgage rather than paying buy to let rates. So I would go back and talk to the Halifax and see what they’ll offer you, but you probably will have to remortgage to get another good deal because they tend not to offer particularly good deals to existing customers, although they are getting better. CHRISTINE: And do you know of any particular companies that we could move to? BOULGER: Well interestingly one of the other companies in the HBOS group, Birmingham Midshires Solution, adopts that policy, and it tends to be the medium sized building societies by and large that tend to be quite good at that. CHRISTINE: Ah right. And is there any place I could look on the Internet that would give me a list? BOULGER: I notice that you live in Skipton. You could do worse than give Skipton a call. CHRISTINE: Oh right. (Laughter) LEWIS: Skipton Building Society. Okay, a nice local solution there, Christine. Thanks very much for your call. Interesting matters raised there. Let’s move onto Paul now who’s calling us from Coventry. Paul, your question? PAUL: Hi Paul, yes. I live above two properties which I own. Beneath me is a newsagent’s, a hairdresser’s beauty salon, and I work where I live as well. Now I have rental income from these, but my mortgage – it’s very difficult to find anybody who will give me a reduced mortgage or a normal mortgage because they say we don’t do any mortgages on property that includes rental. LEWIS: Right, so it’s not that your property isn’t residential. It’s the fact that it’s over shops, if you like, is it? PAUL: Yeah. I own the shops as well. LEWIS: You own them as well? PAUL: Yes, so I have rental from both shops. LEWIS: Right. But you want a mortgage just for where you live, do you? PAUL: Yes, yeah. Oh yes, I just want to know if I can reduce the mortgage that I’m paying. LEWIS: Okay, Mark? CHILTON: Okay, Paul, so what you’re actually looking to do is to remortgage to reduce the rate at the moment, as I understand it? PAUL: But I can’t find anywhere that does … They call it, I believe, “semi-commercial” or whatever the word is today. CHILTON: Well I guess the issue is whether or not you’re actually seeking to finance just on the residential property that you have above the shops. Now if that is the case, then there are a number of lenders who will lend on that basis. PAUL: No, you see because the whole thing is tied to me, it’s like as if I own both properties and you can’t separate them. CHILTON: Have you separated the title on the individual properties? PAUL: No because I’ve been and tried to do this and it is such a big thing to do because the houses are down as two separate numbers but the flat goes across both. LEWIS: So this would be the title deed at the Land Registry you’re talking about? PAUL: Yes. CHILTON: Yes, absolutely, because where you have separate title then you’d be down to actually raising your finance purely on the flat above, if that were the case, and then there are a number of lenders who will lend on flats above shops. But to do that, you would have to separate the title out first. And although from the sound of it there are complications, that is a relatively straightforward transaction for a lawyer to achieve for you nowadays, to separate out into separate titles. PAUL: Okay, right. LEWIS: There’d be fees, presumably, to get that sorted … CHILTON: Obviously. LEWIS: … but that can be done. I mean it’s just like selling the flat above two shops. You’d want to separate it if you were going to do that. CHILTON: Exactly. And I think for the future, for your own flexibility, it may be an attractive thing to do anyway. PAUL: Right. LEWIS: Ray? BOULGER: I’d agree with that, splitting the title. I mean you presumably own the freehold of the property? PAUL: Yes. The bit that I find strange is that the mortgage I’m paying at the moment is £400 a month, which I got reduced from my lender from nearly £600 a month, but my rental income is nearly three times that amount but I can’t get anyone else to take me lower. BOULGER: No. Well I think one of the problems here, Paul, may be mortgage regulation. When the Financial Services Authority started regulating mortgages, they regulate residential mortgages but not commercial mortgages, and some lenders who used to do semi-commercial mortgages no longer do them because of that complication. But I think Mark’s suggestion of splitting the title is definitely going to be the way you will get a decent rate on your flat. LEWIS: Okay, so a bit of work to do, Paul, but it sounds as if there’s some solution, some light at the end of the tunnel anyway. Thanks very much for your call. Let’s move onto Philip now who’s calling us from London. Philip, your question? PHILIP: Oh hello, Paul. I’ve got a tricky one, I think, for your experts. LEWIS: We’ll try them out, Philip, and see. PHILIP: I’m a first time buyer, but I’ve just turned 50 years old and I’m not sure if that’s going to make me too late for a mortgage. And I want to do right to buy and my high street bank, NatWest, has told me that they won’t go above £100,000 mortgage on a right to buy property. LEWIS: Right, this is right to buy. This is a council or housing association property. PHILIP: Yeah. LEWIS: Is it a flat or a house? PHILIP: It’s a flat. LEWIS: A flat. And obviously you live there at the moment. PHILIP: Yeah. LEWIS: And you’re going to get a good discount on it, are you? PHILIP: Well it’s about … LEWIS: Reasonable. PHILIP: Yeah, reasonable. It’s not good. It’s £120,000 mortgage about. LEWIS: Okay, Ray? BOULGER: Philip, what age do you anticipate retiring at? PHILIP: Well 65, I suppose, with pensions as they are. BOULGER: Okay. And do you anticipate being able to pay the mortgage back within 15 years? PHILIP: Well no, probably not. I mean I think probably what I’m looking at is to sell when I retire. BOULGER: Okay, well in that case what you need to do is to get an interest only mortgage and then if you can afford to make extra payments above the interest, which presumably you could afford to do something, make what extra payments you can, which will reduce the debt, but will still leave some debt outstanding when you retire and then obviously you can pay the rest back from the sale of the property. PHILIP: Yeah. BOULGER: Now there are plenty of lenders who will lend to somebody in your situation. I mean at 50 you’re still a spring chicken … LEWIS: First time buyers are getting older, aren’t they? CHILTON: Absolutely! BOULGER: And so the fact that your own bank won’t help you doesn’t mean you can’t get a mortgage. I would suggest you go and see a broker and there will be, providing you have enough income, plenty of lenders who could accommodate you, particularly you know if you’re getting a reasonable discount. PHILIP: Yeah. Oh okay. LEWIS: Mark? CHILTON: I mean again I’d echo Ray’s comments there, Philip. Indeed a number of lenders now are not restricting people to repay their mortgages by retirement age. Are you employed or self- employed? PHILIP: No, I’m employed. I’m earning you know mid- thirties. CHILTON: Okay, so the size of the mortgage will fall nowadays inside most people’s range of affordability. I think Ray’s right; you should go off to a good broker because this isn’t actually as big of a problem as you perceive it to be. One point I would make that I think you should consider is because of the need possibly that it would be unaffordable or too expensive in monthly payments for you to repay the mortgage over a term through to your retirement, you might have a look at an offset mortgage because that will enable you to make … you can make it work your own way to become a hybrid to enable you to pay down debt earlier than you might otherwise be able to do. PHILIP: Yes. LEWIS: Okay, well we’ll talk about offset mortgages in a minute. Can I just raise one point though on right to buy? Are there still problems with buying a flat and then discovering that the council’s decided it’s going to re-roof the whole property and charge you tens of thousands of pounds? And indeed do right to buy properties go up in value as other properties do, Ray? BOULGER: There certainly can be problems like that, Paul, and without a doubt, Philip, you ought to make sure that your solicitor makes as good a check as they can that there isn’t going to be a big service charge or big charge for something like re-roofing the property soon after you buy it because people have been caught out by that, and if it happens there’s not a lot you can do about it. Providing the property’s in good condition and not likely to have a serious maintenance expense, then there’s no reason why it shouldn’t go up in value just like any property. LEWIS: Okay. Thanks very much for your call, Philip. Some interesting issues there. Let’s move on to Judy now from Marlow. Judy, your question? JUDY: Yes, hello there. Very interesting to hear your last caller and I think the previous caller with replies from your panel – “good broker” were the words that they used. LEWIS: This is why we brought you on next, I think Judy. JUDY: Where do you find one? LEWIS: Well apart from in this studio, this is a very good question and I think … my own view, I must say, is it’s been made more rather than less complicated after the recent changes. But Mark, independent financial advice on mortgages? CHILTON: Well we need to be careful about the use of the word ‘independent’. I think it isn’t as difficult as you might think, I hope, Judy. I hope our industry isn’t as problematic as your comments might suggest. First of all I’d say that there are both a number of large national firms, who you can often pick up the names of by looking in the Sunday papers and in the financial press because they’re regularly referred to and they’re not just the people in this room as well, and also there are a lot of good independent, regulated mortgage brokers around the country still. The things that you need to be looking for are … The word ‘independents’ means that it’s more to do with the fee charging mechanism that a broker uses today than whether or not he covers the entire market. JUDY: That’s absolutely my point because I have gone to where most people would go – Yellow Pages and you know the net, etcetera – and you look up you know ‘independent brokers’ and actually what one finds is that they might have, yes, you know 15 or 20 different companies on their books, but they’re still – I feel – promoting their products; they’re not looking absolutely for me. I’m quite happy to pay you know a reasonable sum for independent advice because I think that would be incredibly valuable, but I do think it’s very hard to start to find out where those people are. LEWIS: Is the phrase that you’d be looking for ‘whole of market’ as it’s called – covering the whole of the market – rather than ‘independent’, which means you’ve got to be willing to charge a fee or earn commission? BOULGER: Well let’s just go through the definitions. There’s basically three types of mortgage broker under the current regulations. To be independent you have to do two things: a) you have to offer a fee option to the client and b) you have to recommend mortgages from the whole market. The next category is a whole of market broker, who obviously has to recommend from the whole market, but doesn’t have to offer a fee option. And then … LEWIS: And they’re just paid by the commission they earn from the mortgage company? BOULGER: Well they can still charge a fee … LEWIS: And they can charge a fee as well. BOULGER: It can be a set fee, for example. LEWIS: Right. BOULGER: And then the third category is a broker who operates from a panel. Now I think the Financial Services Authority has made this unnecessarily complicated for consumers because whole of market probably to you means what I think it means to most consumers, which is that the broker recommends from all the lenders in the market. The FSA, unfortunately, defines it as a representative sample, so some brokers who actually don’t recommend for a particularly large number claim they’re whole of market. What I would always recommend you do is if you have a broker who says they have a panel, ask how many lenders are on the panel (which you appear to have done) and ask who they are, but basically go for a broker who does offer advice from the whole of the market. And even if they say they’re a whole of market broker, just check whether that really means whole of market. LEWIS: Okay. And the question of fees, of course. Some brokers – I think you’re both in this situation – you do charge a fee to your customers. You also earn commission, presumably, on most of the deals you do. And others earn commission and don’t charge fees. It is a complicated situation, isn’t it? BOULGER: It is. The reason for the Financial Services Authority restricting brokers to calling themselves independent if they offer a fee option is to try and avoid commission bias. Now that’s not to say that firms who are not independent are biased by commission, but there is a risk of that in some cases. And so if you go to an independent mortgage broker, then one option would be that you pay a set fee – probably a percentage – but there will be other options and in practice a lot of firms charge less than their maximum fee. LEWIS: It is a difficult question. Mark? CHILTON: Yes, I mean I think just to amplify that slightly, Judy, this point about whole of market and, as Ray was saying, the FSA allows people to be whole of market with a ‘representative’ panel – that panel can be as small as 15 lenders. And just so that you’re completely clear, although it’s not very overt lenders compete avidly to be on those panels. Now they’re not allowed under the FSA regulations to pay hidden commissions to be there, but there are forms of marketing allowances which are allowed to get them up there. LEWIS: Yes, so it is complicated. And I think what you said earlier, Mark, is very important; that if you read about big, national brokers in the press, on the radio, they are probably people who have got a large clientele and a big business and are normally people who look at whole of the market in what you and I might understand that rather than the FSA rules. CHILTON: I think that’s absolutely fair. LEWIS: But it is tricky, Judy, and it’s a very interesting question. Thank you for asking it. Let’s move onto Robin now who’s calling us from Newmarket. ROBIN: Yes, hello. LEWIS: Your question, Robin? ROBIN: I’m looking to remortgage my house, which is … the mortgage is coming up to its term at the moment. And I’ve been recommended an interest only mortgage and to pay the capital allowance or the capital part into a building society and then every 2 years or so take it out of the building society and pay the capital part of the house. And I wondered whether that was sensible. I was told it was going to be a quicker way of paying the mortgage and potentially cheaper. LEWIS: Right, Ray Boulger, about 1 in 8 interest only mortgages have no means of paying off the capital, so this is quite an interesting idea – the sort of do it yourself repayment. BOULGER: Indeed. It sounds a little odd to me to actually take money out of the building society every 2 years because either the scheme works, in which case you keep the money in the building society, or it doesn’t work, in which case you don’t do it even for 2 years. Now if you were to get one of the cheapest mortgages, Robin, you could get a mortgage that costs you less than bank base rate – i.e. under 4 ½%. ROBIN: Yes, that’s been suggested. BOULGER: Right. And you could put your money into a building society – preferably into an ISA – whereby you’ll pay no tax and the best ISA’s do pay something in excess of bank base rate. So you can make a small turn by doing that and providing you keep changing the mortgage over every 2 or 3 years when you come to the end of a deal and providing you watch your ISA account (because the society or the bank who’s giving you the best terms now may not give you the best terms in a year or two’s time), so as long as you monitor both – yes, that certainly could work. ROBIN: Yes, this is exactly what’s being suggested – to every 2 years re-look at the market. LEWIS: There are charges in that though, aren’t there Mark? We do find now that you’re charged to take on a mortgage, you’re charged to give up a mortgage. CHILTON: Yes, I mean one of the big changes that I think we’ve seen over the last 12 months is the effective cost of remortgaging, which brokers like both of our firms have been encouraging people to do over the years, is actually increasing. It’s increasing as a combination of lenders generally charging higher exit fees and higher charges at the front end of remortgaging, although they are prepared to give help with some of the other costs. And, therefore, if you’re going to pursue this, you’ve got to look very carefully at what is potentially an open cost route and I think certainly my view is it’s very high maintenance because in addition to remortgaging every 2 years, you’ve got to keep an eye perpetually on that ISA rate because building societies, in particular, have got very volatile practices with the interest rates that they charge on very topical accounts like ISA ones. LEWIS: And the difference between the two – I think Ray, you said it was a small turn – I mean it’s only going to be ½% or something. You’ve got to be prepared to do the work to keep that. But it does give you the flexibility. I mean if your income is a bit irregular, if you’re self-employed, if you’re saving up for your tax – that can be a useful way of doing it. BOULGER: It can. It’s a sort of do it yourself offset scheme, in fact, and if you value having access to your savings in case you need them for any reason or perhaps to borrow them back from yourself when you want to buy a car or something like that, it could work in that respect. But if your mortgage is not very large, Robin, then I agree with Mark, the costs of swapping over every 2 years will probably outweigh the benefits. ROBIN: It’s about £300,000 I’m looking at. LEWIS: Okay. Well I think we think it’s probably a reasonable idea, Robin, but you have to work at it. We’ve talked about offset a couple of times and let’s just clarify this. We’ve had an e-mail about it from Tracey saying, ‘I want to borrow £15,000 and I’ve got savings of £8,000. I’ve been told I should consider a flexible offset mortgage’. Mark, for people who know nothing about what an offset mortgage is, just explain to us how they work. CHILTON: Right, well they come in various different colours, but they’re becoming much more popular now. The concept behind an offset is that you can apply any savings you have with the same institution to actually effectively reduce your overall capital costs of the mortgage. So if, for example, with this correspondent they have a £15,000 mortgage and £8,000 in savings, they’d effectively be paying interest if they applied those savings with the same institution on only £7,000 for the period that that was there. LEWIS: So Tracey would have to have an offset account with one bank – and there’s a few that do them – so the mortgage and the savings … the mortgage was like minus 15 and the savings were plus whatever it is – 8? CHILTON: Yes. And of course the advantage is that effectively you get a return on your savings equivalent to the mortgage rate. LEWIS: Yes and tax free as well. CHILTON: And tax free. So there is no leakage and the tax free is a very important point in that. These mortgages are becoming more and more prevalent and you used to pay a premium, a significant premium. It was a souped up mortgage for which you paid more, but that premium is reducing all the time at the moment and I think most of us have the view that they will become the natural standard product over the next few years. LEWIS: Yeah, so a useful way for the right people. And, as I said earlier, people who are self-employed, saving up for their tax – that all helps reduce the loan during that period. CHILTON: Absolutely. LEWIS: Anyway, thanks for your e-mail, Tracey. And we’re now going to move on to our next call, which is Barry in Essex. Barry, your question? BARRY: Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’ve got a rather complex question, which has got lots of problems in it, but I think my main … LEWIS: Just try and put it in a nutshell for us, Barry, because we’re coming towards the end of the programme. BARRY: Right. I’m unemployed. I took my mortgage out in 92 for £52,000. I managed to reduce it. It was an endowment mortgage. I changed it over to repayment. I’m on a standard variable rate with the Woolwich, which I’m not quite sure … It’s 6.75, 5.75, something like that. Who would take me on to reduce that amount because obviously I’m looking to reduce outgoings? LEWIS: And you say you’re unemployed, so presumably the Department for Work and Pensions is paying some of this interest, if not all of it, is it? BARRY: Well since I changed from endowment, they reduced it by £20 a week. LEWIS: They’re paying some of it. I know there are always problems with that. They’re paying some of it. Ray, Ray Boulger? BOULGER: Barry, do you anticipate being unemployed for some time or might you be able to find work? BARRY: I anticipate being out for quite a while, yeah. BOULGER: Okay, well it’s certainly going to be difficult to change lenders whilst you’re unemployed. There are some lenders who will take DSS interest into account. The difficulty is they want the DSS to confirm they’re going to keep paying the interest and they normally won’t do that. Your best bet without a doubt is to go back to the Woolwich and ask them what else they can offer you. Now if you do that, and assuming you don’t need to borrow any more money, they will normally give you access to any of their other deals and because you’re not borrowing any more money they won’t need to enquire about your personal status. So I would go and talk to Woolwich and take either a fixed rate or a tracker or a discount rate from them, whichever suits you best. BARRY: Okay. BOULGER: Bear in mind though that with a mortgage of £30,000 the fees are quite important and you will have to pay the arrangement fee and possibly a product transfer fee. LEWIS: Okay? Thanks very much for your call, Barry. Good luck with that. Let’s move on now to Cynthia, who’s calling us from Norfolk. Cynthia, your question? CYNTHIA: Good afternoon. I’ve just come back a couple of years ago from living abroad and I’m horrified at the prices, so I’m renting; and as the rent is not a very low rent, I wonder if a mortgage wouldn’t be a better idea and start to buy something again. I’ve never had a mortgage before because the house I owned was left to me by parents. I just wonder what you thought. LEWIS: Okay. And you say you’ve come back from abroad. Are you working now? What’s your position? CYNTHIA: No, I’m one of the retired. LEWIS: You’re retired? CYNTHIA: Mmn. LEWIS: Could I be very rude and ask sort of roughly what sort of age we’re talking about? CYNTHIA: Roughly is the right thing. (Laughs) LEWIS: Oh roughly that sort of age. CYNTHIA: Well I’m 70, but I feel sort of 40. How about that? LEWIS: I know the feeling well. CYNTHIA: The thing is when you tell them your age, they sort of say “Oh dear”, you know. LEWIS: Indeed. Yes, I’m sure they do. Mark? CHILTON: Cynthia, first of all a quick question – do you have any deposit to put down? CYNTHIA: Yes. CHILTON: You would. Okay. I don’t think we need to go into any more detail at this stage. CYNTHIA: You see what I didn’t want to do was sell the property I have abroad and own nothing and then find I don’t like anything that’s for sale within the price range. So I thought getting a mortgage if I can find something I like, then I could say right I’ll flog what’s abroad and put the two together and pay it off quicker and that would be that. LEWIS: Okay, Ray? BOULGER: Your age certainly needn’t bar you from getting a mortgage, Cynthia, although it will restrict the choice of lenders. CYNTHIA: Oh. BOULGER: The key thing that will influence how much you can borrow is what your pension income is. Providing you have enough pension income to support the size mortgage you want, then there are lenders who will lend to you frankly however old you are. CYNTHIA: Could you suggest some? BOULGER: Well Cheltenham and Gloucester’s one, Skipton Building Society is another, Newcastle Building Society. Increasingly lenders are prepared to do this, not least because of the new legislation that’s coming in in terms of companies not being able to force people to retire early. If you do find a property, then bearing in mind you may want to reduce the mortgage when you sell your overseas property, you need to make sure you get a mortgage that allows you to redeem all or part of it without an early repayment charge. LEWIS: So a flexible mortgage. Well thanks for your call, Cynthia. It sounds as if, as we’ve said many times, a good broker could help you with that. I’m going to move on to Jenny now. Now Jenny, as you’re aware, it’s very close to the end of the programme - so Jenny in North Yorkshire, could you just give us your question very quickly and we’ll try and get you an answer? JENNY: Yes, hello. My son’s at university. He’s in his second year. He’s living in rented accommodation. He comes into a trust fund of £35,000 this October. We’re wondering about the possibility of him using that as a deposit for a property rather than continue renting. LEWIS: Okay. Mark? CHILTON: Yes, very simply he can. The issue again here, as with the previous caller, is the income that is available. Now a number of lenders will take out, if he lets other rooms in the property, will take that into account. But more particularly, there are a number of specific schemes, including one from Scottish Widows, where parents can act as guarantors. Increasing number of lenders are enabling that to happen now. LEWIS: Okay. We have got to stop there, Jenny. I’m sorry, but I hope that was helpful and a good broker will help you with that. It’s certainly possible, which is good news. That is all we have time for. My thanks to Mark Chilton of Purely Mortgages and Ray Boulger of John Charcol. And thanks to you for all your calls, which started coming in with e-mails fairly thick and fast. Find out more about mortgages from the BBC Action Line – 0800 044 044, our website, bbc.co.uk/moneybox, where you can listen to the programme and in a couple of days read a transcript. I’m back on Saturday with Money Box and I’ll be here to take more of your calls on Money Box Live next Monday afternoon. 22