Rock boss’s upbeat vision of the future

Aug 6 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

Help on offer if you’re in trouble

IT’S been a rollercoaster of a year for Northern Rock and its latest figures show a loss of more than £500m.

However, you must not forget that £9bn has already been paid back to the Government and the bank is continuing to do business. It’s not all doom and gloom. The bank is still in business and, now Government-owned, is the safest in Europe.

However, the majority of folk in the North East may have a different opinion. Massive job losses, worthless shares and, most importantly, thousands of home- owners coming off their fixed-rate mortgages, only to find that their new mortgage payments could increase by as much as 40%, are creating severe headaches.

So what can help?

If you are nearing the end of your mortgage deal, seek the help of an independent financial adviser who can guide you to other mortgage deals.

Don’t bury your head in the sand if you are having problems with mortgage payments, but talk to your local branch. They can come up with a repayment programme or give you a repayment holiday. If you have a repayment mortgage and are really experiencing difficulty, see if the mortgage can be transferred to an interest-only deal. This could save you hundreds of pounds in the short term.

Another way of reducing your monthly payments is to extend your mortgage.

There has been so much doom and gloom about property prices falling and negative equity but your house is a long-term asset and the majority of people have made substantial gains over the years. The market is correcting itself.

By Alok Dhanda, principal of Newcastle-based independent financial adviser Dhanda Financial

‘Too ready’ for courts

SPECIALIST mortgage lenders are too ready to take court action against cash-strapped borrowers struggling with repayments, the City watchdog warned yesterday.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said specialist lenders were failing to use repossession as a last resort and focusing too strongly on recovering arrears.

Its findings came as data from more than 300 lenders regulated by the FSA revealed a 40% surge in repossessions.

New repossessions rose to 9,152, up from fewer than 7,000 in the first quarter of 2007, as borrowers failed to repay their home loans, according to the research.

The FSA also found that the number of mortgages three months or more in arrears rose by 15% to 302,000 in the three-month period.

The FSA’s Lesley Titcomb said: "More people are struggling to meet their mortgage payments and it is vital that firms treat them fairly."