Media and Public Affairs
Press release
BSA urges Chancellor to do more to help borrowers and savers
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Contact: Rachel Wylie Date: 22 Nov 2011 |
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Yesterday, with its new build indemnity scheme, the Government took a positive step to help get the UK building again, create much needed jobs and assist some first time buyers over the deposit barrier.
Today, the Building Societies Association calls on the Chancellor - as he puts the finishing touches to his Autumn Statement - not to forget the thousands of other aspiring home owners who won't benefit from these schemes; those who are already facing issues paying their mortgage, and savers, particularly those nearing retirement who need to maximise and protect their income. Specifically we hope to see included in the Autumn Statement:
- Confirmation that the stamp duty holiday for first time buyers purchasing properties up to £250,000 will be retained. Uncertainty or reinstatement of this tax will provide an additional disincentive to aspiring home owners and an unnecessary brake on an already troubled market.
- An announcement that the structure of stamp duty will be reviewed in the near future with the intention of removing the house price and market distortions generated by the current 'slab' approach.
- Help for those having difficulty paying their mortgage through a simple change to the current 'Support for Mortgage Interest' scheme. The BSA advocates that the rate of interest paid to borrowers in difficulty should be de-linked from the Bank of England's published Annual Mortgage Rate and instead reflect the actual rate of interest payable on the mortgage.
- Similarly it is illogical that this assistance is currently available only in relation to first charge mortgages when consumers could lose their homes as a result of other loans secured on their property.
Finally
- Savers are suffering the perfect storm with low base rates coupled with high inflation and volatile stock markets. An added challenge to savers, particularly those nearing retirement who are looking to safeguard their savings, is that ISAs allow transfers only in one direction – from cash to stocks and shares. The new Junior ISA allows transfers in both directions and we urge the Government to correct this anomaly for adult ISAs to give savers more flexibility.
Commenting, BSA Director-General, Adrian Coles, said. "Recent innovations to help a section of the population buy their own home are welcome, but let’s not forget about the thousands of other aspiring homeowners, those borrowers feeling the pinch and the millions of savers out there. Government obviously has limited budget available and considerable calls on it. However, some simple changes, plus certainty and consistency in some areas, would do much to improve consumer sentiment for the year ahead."
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Contact - Hilary McVitty - 020 7520 5926 / Rachel Wylie - 020 7520 5905
The BSA submission can be viewed here.
The Building Societies Association (BSA) represents mutual lenders and deposit takers in the UK including all 47 UK building societies. Mutual lenders and deposit takers have total assets of over £375 billion and, together with their subsidiaries, hold residential mortgages of over £235 billion, 19% of the total outstanding in the UK. They hold more than £250 billion of retail deposits, accounting for 22% of all such deposits in the UK. Mutual deposit takers account for 34% of cash ISA balances. They employ approximately 50,000 full and part-time staff and operate through approximately 2,000 branches.
Photographs of Adrian Coles are available from the BSA press office, or from the Association’s website at www.bsa.org.uk or Headlinemoney www.headlinemoney.co.uk
