Charity welcomes government mortgage assistance

26/02/2009

The blitz of initiatives announced by the government recently with the aim of helping struggling homeowners are beginning to work, it has been suggested.

According to charity Shelter, moves including the so-called "pre-action protocol" are limiting repossessions numbers.

Recent figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed that the number of people who lost their homes in 2008 after falling behind on repayments was around 40,000.

This was up on 2007's total of 27,000 - but down on the group's own forecast of 45,000.

Issued in December, the "pre-action protocol" obliges mortgage lenders to notify the borrower about what they owe, consider any repayment or loan restructuring request and give reasons for turning down offers of payment within a strict timeline, before they move to repossess a home.

Shelter said: "There is some anecdotal evidence that the pre-action protocol is starting to work, and that lenders are not repossessing at the earliest opportunity.

"The various lender and government initiatives are a welcome first step but we believe that real attention needs to be paid to the needs of sub-prime borrowers if we are to avoid the repossessions crisis spiralling out of control."

Tags; Housing Debt and Bills, Young Family Finances,

• Share
• 
• 
• Store
• 
• Follow
•