Is the mortgage market turbulence getting you down? Have you got a mortgage-related question you need answering? Email in, and we will get one of our experts to reply. Nick Mendes, mortgage technical manager at John Charcol, has given his advice to a reader below. If you have a question for our experts, email us at money@theipaper.com .

Question: I’m buying my first home and have noticed that lenders such as HSBC are now willing to lend up to 5.5 times my income . Even though I qualify to borrow this much, is it genuinely advisable – or am I taking on too much risk?

Answer: Every first-time buyer I speak to tells me the same thing: saving for a deposit is tough, but the real frustration comes when they find out how much (or how little) they’re allowed to borrow. When a big ban

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