CHRISTINE KINSELLA drew up a bucket list of dream holidays when she was diagnosed with a terminal lung disease.
But instead, a healthcare facility worker will spend her final years working to pay off her mortgage, which she says is stuck on the “stupidly” high interest rate.
Christine's mortgage problems began a decade ago when her lender, Northern Rock, went bust.
It led to her and thousands of others being trapped on the sky-high mortgage tariff.
She has repeatedly tried to proceed to a more competitive rate.
But the very best her new lender – Landmark Mortgages – says it can do is really a variable “loyalty rate” of four.54 per cent, down from 4.79 per cent.
The average two-year fixed interest rate this month is 2.51 percent, according to comparison site Moneyfacts.
She cannot change to another lender without borrowing more or extending the word of her mortgage, which she has never wanted and which now's not possible due to her illness.
She said: “When Northern Rock went bust I contacted numerous lenders but had no joy.
"They all wanted me to increase the home loan until I had been 70-plus and borrow more income.
Other than that, no one was interested as they couldn't make anything out of me.
“I tried regularly to move but was told, 'no'.
"I simply desired to reduce the interest rate and borrow enough to pay off the mortgage.”
Medical secretary Christine, 60, said her bid to escape our prime rate became more pressing a year ago when she found she'd idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the lung condition that killed TV presenter Keith Chegwin.
She said: “The life expectancy of this disease on diagnosis is three to five years.
“I haven't deteriorated too greatly within the last 12 months and I'm on a new medication, and so i hope that I have more than five years.
“But the idea of working full-time is simply not fair, as I know I will deteriorate and become not able to work eventually.
“I would like to reduce my hours however i need to feed this voracious mortgage.
"I just hope I live long enough to pay for them back.”
Christine is a result of remove the remaining debt of lb24,500 on her behalf house – a three-bed semi in Stoke on Trent – in four and a half years, at the chronilogical age of 65.
But she could clear it faster when the rate was lower.
She recently wrote to Landmark asking why her tariff am high and what could be done, but it said there wasn't any chance of a discount.
Her next move will be to visit the Financial Ombudsman.
Christine added: “My friend's son borrowed lb70,000 on his mortgage, that is things i originally borrowed, and it is only paying back lb230 per month, I have to pay lb565 because of this rate.
"When the interest rate went down, it might mean I only have to work for two more years rather than four.”
And that extra money would make an enormous difference to her lifetime.
She said: “Since my husband and I split up, I've been on my own.
"For several years I was mentioning the kids by myself and paid everything myself.
“They are all adults now.
"I have been by myself for some time so I've didn't have holidays.
“I've never had the opportunity to pay for them because I always had the mortgage and bills to pay by myself.
"When your days are numbered, you have your bucket list.
"However, I can not do the things Let me do.
“As a husband and wife we went to Nigeria and that i would like to visit again on vacation.
"I'd love to go to Santorini in Greece.
“If I had chosen another lender, they would have reduced their mortgage interest rate.”
Christine is one kind of 150,000 “mortgage prisoners” held in expensive deals they can't switch from.
A report through the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) a week ago warned that 30,000 customers, the majority of whom got their deal before the 2008 financial crisis, cannot reach a cheaper mortgage despite being up-to-date with payments.
This is due to new rules that insist on strict affordability checks on anyone applying for a home loan, even if they already have one and are just looking to get a less expensive fix.
If they fail the checks, they need to remain on a typical variable tariff which, ludicrously, will be much more expensive than the usual fixed deal.
The report also warned an additional 120,000 people cannot obtain a cheaper fix than the one they're currently on because they have a mortgage that has been sold to a firm that is not authorised to provide new mortgage deals.
But Christine's situation highlights a further problem.
Some debts, which seem significant sums for the individual homeowner, are too small for other lenders to take an interest in.
Mortgage expert David Hollingworth confirmed that many mortgage providers have a minimum amount borrowed, which is typically around lb25,000.
But he added that some would consider smaller loans switched on a like-for-like basis.