Couples with two average incomes who expected to get a higher mortgage this year are being turned down by banks and mortgage lenders. The home owners’ association Eigen House is furious and is asking home affairs minister Liesbeth Spies to take action, reports the Volkskrant.

The new ruling on mortgages, which came into force on January 1, was instigated by the family spending institute Nibud to give couples on low incomes more chance to get on the housing ladder.
A couple with two incomes of €20,000 a year would be allowed a maximum mortgage of €178,000, an increase of €30,000 on 2011.
Refusal
However, banks and mortgage lenders are refusing to lend the new maximum, says the Volkskrant. They are afraid they will be find by the financial services watchdog AFM for extending risky credit.
The AFM says the increased lending is irresponsible and that this is not the right time to saddle low income earners with higher debts.
ABN Amro, Rabobank and ING all confirmed to the paper that they would not implement the new guidelines as did Royal Bank of Scotland and Woonfonds, the mortgage arm of insurance group Achmea.