Sub-prime mortgages re-emerge in wake of Funding for Lending scheme The government's Funding for Lending programme and rising house prices have made lenders more confident. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images Sub-prime mortgages, widely blamed as the cause of the financial crisis, have begun to re-emerge with a new lender unveiling a range of loans for borrowers with poor credit histories. Magellan Homeloans will offer mortgages of up to £400,000 to people who have had county court judgments, individual voluntary arrangements (IVA) or even bankruptcy orders against their names. But borrowers will be charged interest rates starting at 8.55% compared to current "best buy" rates of as little as 1.5% on conventional loans. Magellan is the brainchild of Matt Gilmour, who previously ran sub-prime lender Unity Homeloans, a joint venture with South African bank Investec, which was one of the earliest casualties of the financial crisis. Unity also offered "self-certification" loans of up to £1m, but the company was dissolved in 2009. It is the first lender to return to what the mortgage industry calls "heavy adverse" lending, which was common before the credit crunch but disappeared completely by 2008. Since then many mainstream lenders have offered home loans only to borrowers with the cleanest credit records. However the past few months have seen an easing in lending conditions, boosted by the government's Funding for Lending programme and rising house prices, which have made lenders more confident about advancing loans. Land Registry figures show that house prices have accelerated in recent months, surging at an annualised rate of as much as 10% in some parts of London. The average time that houses sit on the market before finding a buyer has fallen to 8.2 weeks, the lowest for six years, according to data analysts Hometrack. The UK's biggest network of valuation surveyors, e.surv, said confidence is "pouring back into the housing market." Andrew Hagger, a financial commentator who runs the website MoneyComms voiced a note of caution: "Sub prime mortgages caused major issues for borrowers in the run up to the banking crisis and it's worrying that this form of lending is starting to raise its head again just as the mortgage market is gaining momentum. The interest charges are bad enough as they stand, but if we see rates rise in the next couple of years this looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Last year the Financial Services Authority introduced tougher rules to restrict interest-only and self-cert mortgages, and warned banks not to rely on rising house prices, which its then chairman, Lord Turner, said "was the absolute core of the US sub-prime disaster." While none of the big high street names has formally relaunched into sub-prime, some building societies have begun to treat applications more generously. John Valentine of FX Mortgages, a brokerage which specialises in borrowers with an "impaired credit" history, said: "Over the past few months Nationwide building society has been considering people who are discharged bankrupts. Every lender operates its own 'scorecard' which they move around depending on their appetite for lending. Funding for Lending has definitely helped. Nationwide confirmed that it will consider loans to discharged bankrupts, but said its lending criteria had not excluded them for several years. Magellan Homeloans said its loans were designed for borrowers "who have experienced a one-off life event which has resulted in an adverse credit record." Homebuyers and remortgagors who want to take up the offer will pay up to 8% above Libor for their loans, currently 8.55%, plus a fee equal to 1.5% of their loan. They will also have to reveal to the lender what went wrong with their finances, demonstrate that they have put things right, and will be barred from taking a loan if there is any evidence that they are depending on short-term credit, for example pay day loans. Gilmour, said: "There was irresponsible lending in the past, and more importantly, irresponsible borrowing. But the landscape has changed fundamentally since then and our mortgages are aimed at prime customers who have suffered a one-off event. We are not lending to people with habitual debt problems. A short-term financial wobble should not preclude borrowers from mortgage finance on a long-term basis. Andrew Montlake, director of mortgage brokers Coreco, said the launch was a "big step" for the market as borrowers with poor credit histories have effectively been locked out of mortgages in recent years, although some of the smaller building societies have been considering applications from people with one or two blips on their records. Montlake said the rate was high, but noted: "At least they are pricing for risk which was one of the things that lenders were criticised for not doing in the boom." He added: "There will be a market for it, but people have to think long and hard before taking out a variable rate mortgage with such a high rate. They need to make sure they are not going to get themselves into difficulties in a couple of years' time.