Responses to the consultation are due by 28 July, with a policy statement expected in the second half of the year.
Mojo Mortgages’ First-Time Buyer Sentiment Survey, which polled 1,000 UK first-time buyers, found that 25.5% have hidden or downplayed their spending from a partner, rising to 29.7% among 25-34 year olds, while 18.4% have hidden debt and 13.2% have misrepresented their salary or bonus.
Kayleigh Jackson, mortgages sales manager at Mojo, has said an active buy now, pay later habit or “minor, regular gambling transactions” on a bank statement can concern an underwriter as much as a missed payment, and that lenders look closely at spending patterns in the months before an application, not only at deposit size.
Independent data points the same way
That pattern is not confined to Mojo’s customer base. A 2024 Cifas survey found that 16% of UK adults admitted they, or someone they know, had misled a mortgage lender about their salary, with some respondents prepared to inflate earnings by as much as £10,000.
Cifas’ most recent Fraudscape report also recorded more than 444,000 fraud cases logged to the National Fraud Database in 2025, the highest annual total on record and a 6% rise in 2024.