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Treasury meeting on repossession

15 May, 2008

The meeting with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, and Housing Minister respectively is to discuss what extra support can be provided to home owners facing financial difficulty. The meeting will include representatives from key debt advice agencies and consumer groups.

Joanna Elson commented: “At National Debtline we have seen a 35% increase in enquiries from callers with mortgage arrears, comparing the month of January from 2006 - 2008.

“This increase suggests that homeowners are feeling the effects of the credit crunch and of the three interest rate rises during last year. We have already produced a leaflet with the Council of Mortgage Lenders to offer some early advice for the estimated 1.4 million homeowners who are due to come off their fixed rate mortgage during this year. It is imperative during these difficult times that the government, the banking industry and the advice sector work in partnership together to minimise the number of homeowners getting into serious difficulty and keep people in their own homes wherever possible.”

She continued: “We are extremely pleased to be involved in today’s meeting where we will put forward various recommendations. These include, a review of the current qualifying conditions for state supported mortgage payments, the feasibility of creating a national mortgage rescue scheme, the implementation of the early protocol on repossession action as drafted by the Civil Justice Council and an examination of the possession action taken by sub prime lenders who are not presently regulated by the Financial Services Authority.”