More than 18,000 mortgage holders are still awaiting clarification over the level of protection to be afforded them under proposed legislation as a row over the detail of the bill rumbles on.

The level of protection that will be provided to mortgage holders whose loans have been transferred to unregulated “vulture funds” has been called into question amid fears that the incorrect body may be regulated.

Consumers whose mortgages or other loans have been transferred to unregulated entities will receive the same protection as was the case prior to their loan being sold — even if the transfer took place prior to the introduction of new legislation.