Repossessions may increase

The CCCS believes this may happen as lenders enforce suspended possession orders after previous leniency.

The UK's leading debt charity counsels a large number of clients with suspended repossession orders on their homes which lenders have chosen not to enforce despite clients failing to meet court stipulated payments.

This situation is likely to be aggravated in October when Support for Mortgage Interest payments for those who have lost their jobs are halved from 6.08% to 3.09%, to match the Bank of England's average mortgage rate.

Delroy Corinaldi, CCCS's director of external affairs, commented: "There is no doubt that lenders have shown leniency towards debtors during the recession by not enforcing suspended possession orders. However, this leniency may have been partly determined by the markets.

"In addition, some lenders are increasingly showing reluctance in allowing struggling debtors to switch to interest-only mortgages as a short term solution, giving people the necessary breathing space to find other more sustainable options."

CCCS offers specialist mortgage arrears and repossessions counselling for all those who contact the service with two months or more mortgage arrears. It dealt with over 7,300 calls in 2009.