FCA Mortgage Charter Uptake Data

FCA Publications

Published March 10th, 2026

Detected March 14th, 2026

Summary

The FCA has published data on the uptake of the Government's Mortgage Charter for March 2026. The data, collected from 49 signatory firms representing 90% of the mortgage market, details the number of customers who have utilized options such as locking in new deals early or temporarily reducing payments. This publication provides insights into borrower support measures.

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What changed

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its latest data on the uptake of the Government's Mortgage Charter, covering November and December 2025. The data indicates that approximately 232,000 mortgages locked into new deals early, and around 214,000 mortgages temporarily reduced monthly payments via FCA rules. Since July 2023, over 311,000 mortgages have seen reduced payments through interest-only switches or term extensions, with a notable trend towards interest-only periods over term extensions. Only 317 properties were repossessed within 12 months of the first missed payment, attributed to customer-driven reasons.

This notice is primarily for informational purposes, providing an update on the voluntary commitments made by mortgage lenders under the Charter. While the FCA has introduced rules to facilitate some of these measures (like interest-only payments or term extensions without full affordability checks for up to 6 months), the Charter itself contains commitments beyond standard regulatory requirements. Regulated entities that are signatories to the Charter should continue to adhere to its commitments and report data as requested by the FCA. No immediate compliance actions are mandated by this data release, but it serves as a benchmark for industry support to borrowers facing financial difficulty.

Source document (simplified)

Mortgage Charter uptake data - March 2026

Data First published:

10/03/2026

Last updated: 10/03/2026
The latest data from firms who have signed up to the Government’s Mortgage Charter.

Not to force a borrower to leave their home without their consent, unless in exceptional circumstances, in less than a year from their first missed payment.
To allow customers to lock in a new deal up to 6 months ahead of the end of a fixed rate deal, and to request a better like-for-like deal up until the new one starts, if one is available.
Without assessing affordability, to permit customers who are up to date with their payments to switch to interest-only payments for 6 months, or to extend their mortgage term with the option to revert to their original term within 6 months.

FCA rules to support Charter commitments

Switching to interest-only payments or reducing a term were possible under our rules, but only after an affordability assessment. We quickly introduced additional rules enabling firms to allow a customer to make reduced capital payments (including to zero and paying interest only) for up to 6 months, or reverse a term extension within 6 months of it taking effect, without undertaking an affordability assessment.

Key findings

In the latest 2-month period (November to December 2025) around 232,000 mortgages locked into a new deal up to 6 months ahead of maturity. In addition, the number of mortgages that, after locking into a new deal up to 6 months before maturity, subsequently locked into an alternative deal, was around 48,000 in November to December 2025.
Around 214,000 mortgages have temporarily reduced monthly payments via the FCA rules.
Between July 2023 and December 2025, the monthly payments on around 311,000 mortgages were reduced as people switched to temporarily paying interest-only or extended their mortgage term. This is around 3.5% of regulated mortgage contracts. The data shows that only 1,584 term extensions were reversed, which could indicate that borrowers seeking a temporary reduction in their payments are more likely to opt for an interest-only period.
In the 2 months from November to December 2025, around 13,000 mortgages saw a reduction in monthly payments due to a temporary switch to interest-only or a term extension.
317 properties were repossessed within 12 months of missing the first payment. Firms report these were for customer-driven reasons, for example voluntary possessions or abandoned/vacant properties.

What’s included in this data

We asked signatory firms for information on the uptake of these options. Given the pace at which the Charter was implemented, we requested firms provide this information to the best of their ability, which is a different standard to routine regulatory data collections.

We request monthly data from all Charter signatories.
We ask for information about the support provided during each month (for example the ‘flow’ data rather than ‘stock’ data).
As we ask firms to provide this information to the best of their ability, there may be inconsistencies in how firms respond, and it is not subject to the same quality assurance as regulatory returns. For example, some may give account-level data while others provide customer data.
Some firms may be unable to differentiate between Charter-specific support and business-as-usual variations which they would have offered anyway. Especially for the locking-in of rate switches, which has been standard industry practice for some time.
It is difficult to estimate the total number of mortgages that have taken up one or more Charter options. There is likely to be some overlap between customers who have locked in a new deal and those who have extended their term or switched to interest-only payments.

Latest data

Chart tips: hover over the data series to view the data values and filter the data categories by clicking on the legend.

Approximate figures (number of mortgages). The charts below show data under the Mortgage Charter (or business as usual, if unable to differentiate).

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Wider support

Charter options form only part of the support which lenders provide borrowers seeking to manage their monthly payments.

All borrowers can contact their lender and discuss their options, as widely publicised through industry’s Reach Out campaign. This support could for example include contract variations or appropriate forbearance measures.

Next steps

We will publish this data quarterly while we continue to ask firms to report on Charter uptake.

We will closely monitor the mortgage market, including through market and consumer level data and firm engagement. We will use data on uptake of the Government’s Mortgage Charter to understand how it has been used, and to inform our policy and supervisory approach.

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