A petition asking parliament to debate why rental payment history is not included in mortgage affordability calculations by lenders has reached over 145,000 signatures.

Started by 27-year-old Plymouth father-of-two and self-employed roofer Jamie Pogson at the beginning of this month, it gathered tens of thousands of signatures within 48 hours and a week later had hit 100,000, the threshold past which parliament must consider debating Jamie’s request.

His petition asks that paying rent on time should be “recognised as evidence that mortgage re-payments can be met”.

But the government, in its response to the petition, has said “a record of meeting rental payments is not sufficient in itself to demonstrate the affordability of a mortgage over the lifetime of the loan. This is because the affordability assessment must take account of a much wider range of factors”.

Jamie started the petition after posting a Facebook update in which he vented his frustration at paying £70,000 in rent on time over the past ten years, but has struggled to get a mortgage.

This prompted such a lively debate among his friends that Jamie decided to start an official petition on the subject.

He says he is frustrated by this financial challenge, one that millions of 20-somethings face on a daily basis in the UK.

Jamie wants to buy a three-bedroom flat for £180,000 in Plympton, his home village, but has been told by mortgage advisors that his low credit score, marred by a few bad decisions when he was younger, means he can’t get a mortgage at an interest rate that he can afford.

Jamie says he is frustrated because the credit rating system only considers the “bad things and not the positive ones, such as my rent payment record”.

"It's such a struggle to pay rent, which is throwing money away, when I could be paying a mortgage - which would give me the opportunity to hand down my house to my kids, securing their future,” he told his local paper.

You can now add rental payments to your credit file as you prepare for future final decisions. See how it works here.

CreditLadder can help you improve your credit score

If you want to improve your credit position by reporting your rent payments, CreditLadder is the only way to improve your credit score and position across all four of the main Credit Reference Agencies in the UK, namely Experian, Equifax, TransUnion and Crediva. Building up a high credit score has a lot of benefits, including helping you access finance at better rates - this can also help save you money.

CreditLadder also runs a free mortgage application service in partnership with Tembo which will tell you how much you could borrow.

Remember the information provided in this article is for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice.