The Government’s Mortgage Rescue Scheme, announced in January, has now been implemented in a bid to help homeowners who are at risk of losing their home.
The scheme has faced delays and criticism from lenders since it was launched last month, who are seeking clarification and more guarantees from the Government.
But according to a solicitor who helps people get out of debt, the Mortgage Rescue Scheme could be a helping hand for the 75,000 people who are predicted to lose their home in 2009.
Andrew Leakey, Partner at North West law firm Stephensons Solicitors LLP, said: “Figures released last week by the Council of Mortgage Lenders reveal that repossessions are at a 12-year high, with 40,000 people losing their home last year.
“The credit crunch, coupled with the worsening economic conditions are leaving many homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments. The Mortgage Rescue Scheme will come as welcome relief to those who are most at risk.”
The Mortgage Rescue Scheme has been designed to prevent people losing their homes if they suffer a sharp drop in income. It would allow households with loans up to £400,000 to defer the interest part of their mortgage payments for up to two years if they lost their income, perhaps through redundancy.
Eight of the country’s largest lenders have signed up to the scheme.
Critics have said the scheme will only seek to defer repossessions until 2011 and is a short term fix for a long term problem, that will force home owners to merely ‘put off’ paying their debts, leaving them with more unmanageable payments later on.
Andrew says: “This is a positive move by the Government to give assistance to those families who cannot afford to pay their mortgages. Repossession should always be a last resort and with the CML predicting 75,000 home losses this year, we will have to wait and see whether this scheme helps those most at risk.”
Andrew Leakey has been helping people get out of debt for eleven years and has launched a website, www.debtandrepossession.co.uk to specifically advise those facing mounting debt problems.
Andrew and his team have helped hundreds of people get out of debt, and stay in their homes, in many instances writing the debt off if there are discrepancies in their loan agreements.
Andrew added: “The irony for some people laden with debt is that some of it could be written off if they have their loan agreements looked at very carefully. We check hundreds of agreements each year free of charge for our clients, and a large percentage have discrepancies in them which ultimately means, in a lot of cases, the debt can actually be wiped out.”
If a loan is legally binding, Stephensons can negotiate with creditors on a clients behalf, seeking remedies such as reduced payments, voluntary arrangements and, when appropriate, bankruptcy. There are also various funding options open to people, including legal aid and conditional fee arrangements, also known as no-win, no-fee.”
Visit www.debtandrepossession.co.uk or call Stephensons’ free debt helpline on 0800 694 0189.
