Rule u-turn means student loan debt WILL count against you getting a mortgage

Chris and his professor chum try to work out all the implications...

SOURCE DAILY MAIL: Student loan debt IS now considered when applying for a mortgage, throwing graduates' home ownership plans into jeopardy. 

Despite recent advice suggesting otherwise, graduates will now have their student loan debts included in the affordability calculation for a mortgage. The Financial Conduct Authority’s Mortgage Market Review guidelines will force all mortgage lenders to consider student loans as a committed expenditure, greatly reducing the amount they are likely to offer. Alexander Burgess, British Money director and a former MBA student, said: 'There appears to be a common misconception among students that anyone who has taken out student finance will have their loan discounted, but this simply isn’t the case... Universities infer it’s not considered to be a debt, credit rating firms are swerving the subject on whether they’ll access student loans records and financial sites such as Money Saving Expert suggest “student loans do not go on credit files”.’ In the current academic year, university fees can be up to £9,000 per annum, not counting accommodation and cost of living, meaning debts of tens of thousands of pounds for students. Burgess added: ‘This is penalising a whole generation who are already saddled with unrealistic proportions of debt just because they have career aspirations that can only be fulfilled through higher education... Graduates have loans for an education that a few years ago was free, but are now less likely to secure a mortgage.”

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