Mortgage payment assistance measures 'beginning to help'

Date:Tuesday 19th May 2009
Author: Max Freedman

Measures introduced by the government to help consumers who are struggling to cover their mortgage repayments are beginning to have a positive impact.

This is the claim made by Al Eliot, co-owner of the Homeowners Advice Centre, who said that such measures are reducing the number of repossessions taking place.

He said: "We have definitely seen an increase in enquiries from homeowners struggling with repayments.

"However, it seems that the recent government initiatives are beginning to ease the stress and are opening doors to options that just weren't there this time last year."

Mr Eliot's comments follow the release of figures produced by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which suggested that 12,800 repossessions took place by first-charge mortgage lenders in the first quarter of this year.

This was an increase on the 10,400 which occurred during the final three months of last year but it caused the CML to say that its forecast for a total of 75,000 repossessions this year may have been overly pessimistic.