Families trapped in a high interest prison

borrowers must prove beyond doubt they can afford the repayments, both now and when rates start to rise.

Lester, 48, explains: “I’m literally stuck, paying way over the odds. It is crazy as I now don’t qualify to take out the loan I have been paying for more than 10 years.

“And if I could switch to another deal it would make it cheaper for me each month. I know the whole world was hit by the credit crunch, but while firms got bailed out by the taxpayer, their customers were left with no way out.

“I knew when I took out this type of loan I would have to tackle it and get it paid off over the term – but at the time my business was doing really well and I was in a position to make overpayments.

“Then the credit crunch came and my business in the financial world just fell apart. I am working but not earning the same amount. If it wasn’t for our family helping us out we would have been on the street by now with the constant struggle to keep up repayments. My biggest gripe is that firms lent recklessly, when they were meant to be the experts. Their customers were hung out to dry.

“If I can’t get out of this situation, I could end up never owing our home and despite paying what I reckon is around £130,000 in extra interest, we could end up homeless when the mortgage term ends. With a cheaper deal we could live without the constant stress and worry, rather than ‘just’ surviving.”

Now Lester is hoping to mount a legal challenge that could help him and tens of thousands of other people in the same position to get the legal right to be able to move to a better interest rate. He has teamed up with law firm Meaby & Co who are trying to help him to crowdfund the money to hire a

If I can’t get out of this we could be homeless when our deal ends

barrister specialising in banking. The aim is to try to establish whether it’s possible to unwind the mortgage and get Lester – and many others – into a more stable financial position. Chris Waters, lawyer at Meaby & Co, says: “We haven’t yet identified the course of action that may be possible with this case. We need to instruct council to see if there is anything that can be challenged.

“We are trying to help Lester raise the funds to see if there is a viable claim against any party relating to this mortgage in order to put our client back into the financial position that he should have been in.”

Find out more about Lester’s legal challenge and his crowdfunding aim at crowdjustice.com/case/mortgageprisoners.