More repossession due this year

The Council for Mortgage Lenders, who are the governing body for the industry claims that they estimate 40,000 people’s homes will be repossessed this year, 9,000 have already gone, a slight drop in the first quarter of 2011. (article from This is Money here http://bit.ly/rlLqz9)

What amazes me and pisses me off is their persistent claim that this drop is because lenders are being more sympathetic to borrowers in difficulty. I see no evidence of that on the frontline.

And to make things worse a few weeks back the Financial Services Authority, who are usually the ones to prosecute the lenders for sharp practices, issued a new paper calling for lenders to be more cautious in granting forbearance (alternatives to repossession) and take a more long term view.

This is going to seriously hamper the work being done by advice agencies and lawyers across the country trying to keep people in their homes in the face of the lack of sympathy from the lenders. The FSA report becomes another thing they can hide behind when turning an offer down.

More repossession cases are going to have to be done through the courts because of this less-than helpful report from the FSA