Online gambling harms mortgage applications

ONLINE betting accounts are being used as reasons for refusing struggling homeowners the option of having a mortgage approved or restructured.

Other items being scrutinised by banks include tuition fees, Sky digital subscriptions and mobile-phone bills.

Chief executive of mortgage debt advisory firm Negotiate, Trevor Grant, said gambling transactions on bank statements are often used as a reason to decline a mortgage or restructure application, regardless of any other financial information submitted and its strength.