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Darling to save British housing market

This should do the trick. (HT A Slade)

HM TREASURY
PN 44/08 9 May 2008
Strengthening support for home owners in current market conditions

A new £10 million package of measures to support home owners who may be facing difficulties with their mortgage, is announced today by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling and Housing Minister Caroline Flint.

This package includes measures to ensure that financial advice and support is available for borrowers who may need it and includes an additional £9 million extra funding for face-to-face debt advice provided by third sector partners including Citizens Advice Bureau.

Today’s announcement will also ensure:

* expanded access to free legal representation at county courts throughout England for households at risk of repossession;

* strengthened National Housing Advice Service to provide a new comprehensive debt advice service; and

* more specialist training for Citizen Advice Bureau staff and local authorities on debt advice to help families get their finances back on track….

Phew. But in return for such largesse, Darling et al want payback:

As a result of that work the government wants to see best practice guidance that will ensure:

* people on fixed rate mortgages are given sufficient warning before their repayments change;

* banks and building societies will engage with customers early to see if they can help people who are experiencing short-term difficulties by rescheduling repayments;

* banks and building societies will provide advice to individuals on how they can access independent debt advice at the earliest possible stage; and

* repossession will only be used as a last resort.

This entry was posted by Paul Murphy on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 13:37 and is filed under Capital markets, People. Tagged with , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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Comments

  1. May 09   16:56 Posted by elvigilante [report]

    How about printing “THIS IS NOT A MORTGAGE PAYMENT CARD” on the back of each credit card?

  2. May 09   15:08 Posted by ss [report]

    “3. Today’s announcement includes:

    * Strengthening the capacity and expertise of the National Housing Advice Service to provide independent expert advice for people struggling to pay their mortgage or loan. Expert knowledge of both housing law and financial regulations mean that over 80 per cent of cases could be resolved without the need for a court hearing in the first place.
    * New arrangements with the Ministry of Justice, to ensure households at risk of repossession have access to free legal advice and representation at county courts throughout England. Such advice means that in 85 per cent of cases immediate repossession is avoided to allow other options to be explored. This is being extended to all county courts in England to ensure representation is available for all households who may need it. ”

    Is that 85% of 80% ? If so it would mean that, at a stroke, reposessions are a thing of the past.
    Canute and tides spring to mind

  3. May 09   14:12 Posted by D Heasman [report]

    What kind of a country is it where two ministers - one a senior Cabinet minister - are required to announce a project costing a lousy £10 million?
    On the plus side it stops them spending their time on something even more stupid.

  4. May 09   14:09 Posted by Monkey [report]

    Thankyou Darling. In other moves the government has announced that all members of the treasury will remember to say prayers for mortgage holders every night before they go to bed and there is a apparently there is even talk of a candle lit vigil to be held outside Westminster on the 18th for victims of repossession. If these combined measures don’t work the BBC is being lined up to do a charity phone show ala Comic Relief.

  5. May 09   14:04 Posted by G Cox [report]

    Just to bring a slight touch of balance, it is worth noting that the number of foreclosures announced today are a tiny percentage of the population adjusted number in the US by an order 5-10 (depending on definition, and the rate of increase still pales to that experienced in the US.

  6. May 09   13:48 Posted by VP [report]

    How about using Lottery money to meet people’s mortgage repayments?

  7. May 09   13:45 Posted by coffin dodger [report]

    £10m? - nice to see the guy in charge is being realistic about the problem…. (s******)

    FT Alphaville has automatically blocked suspected profanities in this comment.

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