Borrowers ‘taking more mortgage holidays’

Posted 2008-06-3

Homeowners are increasingly hoping to take a mortgage holiday to relieve their financial pressures, it has emerged.

The Times reports that a number of major lenders have noted a rise in borrowers taking such a break, which enables them to skip payments for up to a year.

Sue Anderson, of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, told the newspaper that this is a clear sign people are struggling with their day-to-day expenses.

Bradford and Bingley added that an increasing number of borrowers have fallen into arrears and are restructuring their finances to cope with this.

According to the publication, debt charities have also noted this emerging trend, with Chris Tapp of Credit Action saying that they expect it to continue over the coming months.

This follows news from Citigroup that 250,000 homeowners are in negative equity, with the figure forecast to reach one million by the end of 2009.

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