Number of homeowners defaulting doubles in six months Printable Version
By: Lorna Bourke, Money Columnist
The number of homebuyers defaulting on their mortgage repayments has leapt from 36,000 a month throughout 2006 to 77,000 a month over the past six months.
Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders for the end of 2006 showed around 59,000 mortgages were three to six months in arrears.
Sean Gardner, chief executive of website MoneyExpert.com which carried out the research said: ‘Missing a mortgage payment is a real signal of distress and anyone in such dire straits needs to address the issue as soon as possible. We are a long way from the dark days of the late 1980s and early 1990s when more than a million lost their homes but many are feeling the strain.’
Back in 1990-91 property prices collapsed as mortgage rate leapt to an all-time high of 15.4% and hundreds of thousands of young homebuyers found themselves with ‘negative equity’ - a mortgage that was greater than the value of their home. Many walked away and handed the keys back to the lender when they found they could not meet the mortgage repayments.
Gardner sensibly advises that anyone who has missed a mortgage payment should be talking to their lender and letting them know what is going on. They should also look to cut spending and reduce debt across the board, sorting out their finances and getting all loans and credit cards under control. It’s worth looking at consolidating expensive credit card debt and personal loans in a remortgage.
By: Lorna Bourke, Money Columnist
The number of homebuyers defaulting on their mortgage repayments has leapt from 36,000 a month throughout 2006 to 77,000 a month over the past six months.
Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders for the end of 2006 showed around 59,000 mortgages were three to six months in arrears.
Sean Gardner, chief executive of website MoneyExpert.com which carried out the research said: ‘Missing a mortgage payment is a real signal of distress and anyone in such dire straits needs to address the issue as soon as possible. We are a long way from the dark days of the late 1980s and early 1990s when more than a million lost their homes but many are feeling the strain.’
Back in 1990-91 property prices collapsed as mortgage rate leapt to an all-time high of 15.4% and hundreds of thousands of young homebuyers found themselves with ‘negative equity’ - a mortgage that was greater than the value of their home. Many walked away and handed the keys back to the lender when they found they could not meet the mortgage repayments.
Gardner sensibly advises that anyone who has missed a mortgage payment should be talking to their lender and letting them know what is going on. They should also look to cut spending and reduce debt across the board, sorting out their finances and getting all loans and credit cards under control. It’s worth looking at consolidating expensive credit card debt and personal loans in a remortgage.
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