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FCA issues warning about promissory notes – not quite the "golden ticket" to clear mortgage debts

ended 21. November 2025

Homeowners are being warned that documents promoted online which may seem like a "golden ticket" to eliminate their debts are actually worthless pledges that could worsen their financial troubles. 

Certain assertions are being circulated online suggesting borrowers can dodge paying their mortgage by dispatching a "promissory note" to their lender, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said.

Greg Sachrajda, head of department in retail banking market interventions at the FCA, said: "We have had a number of lenders reporting increasing numbers of borrowers trying to use these promissory notes to clear the mortgages."

  • How common are the use of promissory notes?
  • Could they land you in debt or will you have to pay a fine?
  • What is your reaction to FCA's warning?

Responses asap please.

1 responses from the Newspage community

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Patricia McGirrVerified
Founder at Repossession Rescue Network
Promissory notes are all hype and no bite. They appeal to the eternally hopeful and the terminally distressed, but a homemade IOU will never magic away a legally binding mortgage. Instead of freedom, borrowers risk arrears snowballing, credit scores collapsing and lenders fast-tracking enforcement. For anyone already on the brink, that single misstep can tip them from struggling into unravelling. The FCA is right to call time on this nonsense. These notes aren’t golden tickets, they’re traps dressed up as hacks. When your home is on the line, you need regulated advice, not fantasy finance sold on social feeds. Those perpetuating this myth are profiting from penury with no concern for the consequences for those that follow this claptrap.