I FIND it very interesting that the Government is helping firsttime home buyers by offering them the chance to pay a low deposit on a house and have a 95 per cent mortgage, if they can keep up with the monthly payments.

Someone I know went to her bank a couple of years ago, as she was interested in selling her home.

If she sold her house, which was then valued at £125,000, she would have been able to put down £100,000 as a deposit. The bank told her that she was accepted for a new mortgage and only offered her £40,000, meaning that she had a budget of £140,000 to buy a new home.

No wonder she took her house off the market. She would not have been able to purchase the property next door with the extra money offered.

Christopher Wardell, Darlington.