Harsh medicine

Published on 26/10/2012 00:00

A FINANCIAL Services Authority (FSA) report reveals that three in four borrowers have no mortgage repayment strategy and interest-only deals are turning into a £100 billion “time bomb”.

This is a legacy of Gordon Brown’s credit binge, when his belief that he had conquered boom and bust led to millions of vulnerable people being given home loans.

It is not enough for him to claim from his self-imposed purdah in South Fife’s industrial graveyard that because Bill Clinton was equally louche it is
really all America’s fault.

The new FSA mortgage rules turn the clock back to the highly-regulated 1960s, when I bought my ubiquitous Marchmont starter-flat as a just-married 26-year-old.

But what can be done for those juggling multiple debts on credit cards and outrageous payday loans that have no way of repaying the mortgage on their devalued homes?

(Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews