Is there possibly an end in sight to the
misery of
repossession ?
This may be partly due to the fact that new rules were introduced
in November 2008 which require lenders to exhaust all other
mortgage repayment options prior to repossessing a
defaulter's
home . The reform may have delayed a specific number of
actions.
In addition, the FSA stated that the number of new
arrears cases are also declining, down 14 per cent in the
second quarter, after a drop in the first quarter too. Thus whilst
the total number of people falling into arrears is increasing, it
is doing so more slowly.
The
Building Societies Association states that it is reasonable to
anticipate that greater than normal numbers of people are going to
lose their homes as long as unemployment continues to rise.
However, only 3 per cent of such arrears cases proceed to
repossession. Still this
recession is not producing the massive increase in
repossessions that we witnessed in the early Nineties.
The main reason is the remarkably low cost of borrowing, which has
rendered it easier to stay on top of a
mortgage, even on a decreasing income. A less aggressive
approach from
mortgage lenders, especially the biggest
mortgage providers, has enabled the situation.
The Government's laughable
mortgage assistance scheme has most definitely not helped the
situation; its beneficiaries can be counted on the fingers of one
hand.