Commitment from high street banks - including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Santander UK, Royal Bank of Scotland and Nationwide - is expected to benefit almost 265,000 people in the UK and abroad, including Forces families.
Where a lender does not already permit, members of Armed Forces who rent out their homes during deployment will be allowed to keep their existing mortgage and not change to a buy-to-let mortgage. This will avoid any potential increased rate of interest or charges.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
“Looking after your home and your money can be more of a challenge when deployed on operations or serving abroad. This is a welcome first step from the major banks and financial institutions to help our servicemen and women get a better mortgage deal. I look forward to further pledges from across the financial services sector to support the Armed Forces Covenant after today’s roundtable.”
Anthony Browne BBA CEO said:
“Members of our Armed Forces work all over the world to look after us, so it’s only right that we look after them. The extra support proposed by the banks and the Ministry of Defence will make sure service personnel and their families are not disadvantaged for working aboard and make their mortgages and credit history fairer.”
Barclays has had the proposed mortgage policy in place for a number of years as part of its offering for serving military personnel and is expected to commit to additional measures put forward in the Armed Forces Covenant Roundtable.
Ashok Vaswani, CEO, Personal and Corporate Banking, Barclays said:
“It should be a priority for banks to make sure that men and women who serve our country are not disadvantaged in any way as a consequence of their military service. We recognise the personal sacrifice made by our Armed Forces, so it’s right that our mortgage policy ensures they are not are penalised. Having had this in place for several years we are delighted to see other lenders now joining us.
“Barclays has already helped over 3,700 veterans through our AFTER employment transition programme and we are determined to do even more to meet the needs of military personnel and veterans by making our banking services more flexible, accessible and convenient. That is why I wholeheartedly welcome the Government’s efforts and discussion around what more the banking industry can do as a whole to better serve our Armed Forces.”
Sara Baade, Chief Executive of the Army Families Federation said:
“What this recognises is that military families often have limited choice in where they are sent to live. They go overseas because the country needs them to. It will mean a lot to those that have bought their own homes to know that the challenges of service life are beginning to be understood by our banks.
“This is an issue AFF has campaigned on and we look forward to informing future financial measures that will counter the very real disadvantage families experience as a result of their service."
