I've recently been looking into moving house. This would entail moving my mortgage to another property so I asked C&G whether this would be a problem. Unfortunately so! Despite having several mortgage over the years with them and making every repayment on time I am not eligible for a new mortgage to the value of my current mortgage!

This leaves me unable to move house, and C&G still lending me an amount they consider I cannot afford (despite making every repayment on time over several years).

It is a ridiculous situation but it does underline how ludicrous the current mortgage market is. Whilst the mortgage lenders may have been a bit too cavalier with their lending in the past, they have now become seemingly incapable of lending any money to anyone.

I'm lucky as I still have an existing mortgage but I wouldn't like to be a first time buyer looking for a new mortgage at the moment.

So what is the answer? Use the internet firstly, there are other lenders who may not spring instantly to mind who may have a more flexible approach to mortgage lending. There are also still some mortgage brokers left, although not as many as there used to be before the recent financial disasters.

A mortgage broker can look at a number of different mortgage options for you, dealing with many lenders and able to help with bad credit and credit problems too. They may charge a fee which can be added to your mortgage loan.

Mortgage comparison websites abound, allowing you to compare mortgages, view the latest mortgage rates on offer from the lenders and the best deals on any given day.

If you are in the lucky position of being eligible for a mortgage you then have to make a number of choices. Although interest rates are historically low, many mortgage lenders are not passing on the low rates to their customers. You need to check and compare the mortgage interest rate on offer when comparing different mortgage products.

Do you want a tracker mortgage, fixed or capped rate mortgage, flexible mortgage? A repayment mortgage or interest only? I was in the process of fixing my mortgage rate a few weeks before interest rates were slashed. Luckily I used the 28 day cooling off period to switch back to the standard variable rate. Had I not I would be paying around £160 per month more than I now am! This illustrates the need to make the right choice.

Interest rates look set to stay low for another year to 18 months, that is the "word on the street" from the banks and estate agents I talk to. If that is the case you don't have to worry about a sudden surge in rates so can focus on current low rate deals.

Many mortgage websites have mortgage calculators on them which can indicate how much you might pay dependent upon the amount you borrow and prevailing interest rate. Be sensible, make sure you can afford the repayments, you do not want to be facing repossession or get into credit trouble in the future.

If you are self employed the bad news is that there appear to be very few self cert mortgages, if any, still available. This may leave you with nowhere to turn if you don't have the necessary accounts and proof of income required by mortgage lenders.

Those who are employed might be shocked at how little they can now borrow based on their earnings. 3-3.5 times salary appears to be the norm now. Perhaps mortgage lenders think everyone is spending their wages on booze and fags instead of paying their bills. They certainly don't seem to appreciate that people are all different and their spending habits differ too.

Unfortunately the "one size fits all" model doesn't work with mortgages. More variables should be taken into account. Applying an arbitrary multiple to peoples earnings regardless of their spending is nonsense.