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Student loans 'should not hinder first-time buyers'
31 January, 2008
Student debt is "unlikely" to restrict those looking to get on the property ladder, one expert believes.
Paul Holmes, chief executive officer of Firstrung, said: "Although when you apply [for a mortgage] you'd have to put it down as a financial obligation on your application form, I don't know of any mortgage underwriters that pay triple attention to student debt."
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This was largely down to the relatively small amount of money students paid towards their loan each month, he said.
Holmes added that he was "suspicious" of claims that details of student debt would now be passed on to agencies such as Experian for it to be included on people's credit history.
Last week mortgage company mform.co.uk warned that this was set to happen and that any missed student loan payments may mean banks refuse mortgages to some first-time buyers.
The company added that students could have acquired debts of over £20,000 by the time they graduated.
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