THE FINANCIAL REGULATOR says it’s time that tracker customers were informed of the implications of switching their mortgage.

Matthew Elderfield’s office today published the findings of a study into “switching practices relating to tracker mortgages.”

The findings have also been sent to all mortgage lenders, along with new measures the regulator says should be implemented immediately.

The study found:

[I]n some cases communication on the financial implications and consequences of switching were not fully transparent to the customer and that it was not always clear that if a customer moved from a tracker rate mortgage to an alternative interest rate (fixed, variable or other rate), for any reason, that their agreed tracker rate or an alternative tracker rate might not be available again in the future.

It did not find any evidence that customers were being offered incentives to switch from their tracker rate.

The regulator has requested that banks include new information regarding tracker mortgage switching in all customer communications.