Government help for struggling homeowners

Homeowners with properties up to the value of £400,000 who are struggling with their mortgages could receive help from the government, according to a recent report. The aim of the scheme is to try and reduce the soaring number of repossessions by helping those that are in danger of falling behind with repayments on their mortgage loans.

The Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme was first announced by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, late last year. With industry officials predicting that repossession levels were set to rocket over the course of this year the government had been looking at a number of different ways to try and keep repossession levels down as much as possible.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Vince Cable recently stated: “Repossession is a tragedy for families because it involves, usually, not just the loss of a job but the loss of a home at the same time. It’s a double tragedy.” Another industry expert added: “The mortgage rescue scheme will save thousands of vulnerable families from the nightmare of having their homes repossessed and give them the long-term stability they need.”

The Council of Mortgage Lenders predicted last year that without action the number of repossessions this year could rise to 75,000, and some have even predicted that the number of repossessions could increase even higher than this.