Porting / MMR transitional rules situation?

borborygmous

A year or more ago, after the Mortgage Market Review changed the rules for affordability, there were reports that lenders were not making use of the "transitional" rules to allow porting, e.g. in the case of downsizing ("transitional" seems an odd name, since it seems these rules are permanently in place, apply to mortgage changes, rather than to the MMR rule changes, and apply also to new customers and mortgages rather than only to customers or mortgages that predate the rule changes).

The FCA criticized the lenders for not making use of those rules.

How has this situation changed in the time since then? Which lenders, if any, have started taking advantage of the transitional rules?

Also, how can I find out what the MMR affordability rules are? Specifically, I'm wondering how I might be evaluated on affordability if I took out a fixed rate, then at some point decided to downsize via porting, ending up in a cheaper property, presumably at the same debt level (because ERCs) and therefore at a higher LTV (say, going from around 40% to around 75% LTV).

kingstreet

The transitional rules ended with the start of the EMCD on 21 March.

Any new mortgage must now involve an affordability assessment, whether you are remaining with the lender and borrowing less, or not.

Use your lender's online affordability calculator to see what your borrowing power would be now.

borborygmous

kingstreet wrote: »

The transitional rules ended with the start of the EMCD on 21 March.

Interesting. The non-specialist press seem to have been pretty silent on this topic so far.

Any new mortgage must now involve an affordability assessment, whether you are remaining with the lender and borrowing less, or not.

So are new affordability assessments prescribed to be a function only of the new proposed lending (and not the old loan also)?

Use your lender's online affordability calculator to see what your borrowing power would be now.

In this question I am more interested in how any why affordability might be judged were my conditions to change as I described (under current affordability rules). My borrowing power now is not of much interest to me - and as you imply, the extent it is, that will be resolved by applying for a remortgage.