Mortgage providers agree to delay repossessions

26 November 2008

Mortgage providers have agreed to wait three months before they start repossession proceedings against homeowners who fall into arrears on their mortgages.

Chancellor Alistair Darling announced the news on Monday, a few days after newly released statistics had shown that mortgage lenders had taken possession of 11,300 homes in the third quarter of 2008, a rise of more than 10% on the previous quarter’s figure of 10,100.

On Friday, The Council of Mortgage Lenders had revealed that the number of people struggling to make their mortgage payments had also risen – 1.44% of mortgages (about 168,000 households) were three months or more in arrears at the end of September.

Just three months earlier, at the end of June, only 1.33% of mortgages were in arrears by at least three months.

“Looking ahead,” said CML director-general Michael Coogan, as Reuters reports, “conditions in the wider economy suggest a worsening picture for mortgage arrears, however carefully lenders handle their treatment of borrowers in difficulty.”

The Council of Mortgage Lenders is, however, not changing its forecast that 45,000 homes will be repossessed by the end of 2008.

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Tags: mortgage, mortgage advice, mortgage providers, repossession, council of mortgage lenders

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