The Times, Nov 30, 2019: Living Life As A Mortgage Prisoner Â
Graham and Karen Miles dread the end of the month. They have to find £3,900 to pay the interest on their £850,000 mortgage so they can stay in the family’s four-bedroom art deco house in Brentwood, Essex.
Graham, 64, and Karen, 59, who run a recruitment company, switched their mortgage to Northern Rock in September 2007, just before the lender collapsed. They wanted to take out some of the gain from the rise in their house’s price, so increased their interest-only loan to 100% of the property’s value on a three-year fixed rate of 6.7%. This kind of deal was common at the time, but is unlike anything that would be sold today.
