Pepper Money has launched its 2024 Specialist Lending Study at an invitation-only event in London.

The lender said this year’s edition is its most extensive ever in terms of range of topics. YouGov surveyed over 4,000 nationally representative adults on a range of topics, including adverse credit, unsecured debt, employment types and income sources, buy-to-let, prospects for home ownership, second charge mortgages and attitudes towards sustainability

The launch event, which took place in London last week, included a panel discussion featuring economist Trevor Williams, Andrew Montlake from Coreco and Liz Syms from Connect Mortgages. As part of the discussion, the panel spoke about some of the misconceptions still prevalent amongst mortgage customers.

For example, according to the research, 28% of people with adverse credit think they would need to wait three years or longer before applying for a mortgage having received a CCJ, with 18% thinking they would need to wait longer than five years.

Paul Adams, sales director at Pepper Money, said: “I would like to thank everyone who attended our launch event for the Pepper Money Specialist Lending Study last night, especially our fantastic panel, who provided valuable insights into findings, which we will be releasing shortly. The research has shown that, despite the significant growth in the number of people with adverse credit, there continue to be many misconceptions amongst mortgage customers. The fact nearly a fifth of people think they would need to wait longer than five years to apply for a mortgage following a CCJ is concerning, given that they could access the mortgage market within months of a CCJ.

“This presents a great opportunity for brokers and the wider industry to raise customers awareness about the options available to meet their individual financial circumstances. If we continue to let these misconceptions prevail, we’re not only stifling potential growth in the mortgage market, but we’re also limiting the opportunity for customers to pursue their goals and live the lives they want.”