Mortgage rescue plan gets rolled out

The government has recently decided to roll a mortgage rescue scheme designed to try and help struggling homeowners to avoid repossession out across England.

The scheme will involve housing associations, which work on a non-profit basis, buying up the homes of struggling homeowners and then allowing the former homeowners to stay on in the property on a rented basis. It is thought that up to six thousand households could benefit from the scheme, and could avoid having their homes repossessed as a result of the scheme.

The scheme is said to have cost around £600 million, and similar initiatives already are or soon will be in place in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. This is just one of a number of schemes that has been launched by the government over recent months to try and help homeowners to avoid being repossessed and to help consumers through the economic downturn that has gripped the nation.

The scheme was created by the National Housing Federation last year, and had already been put into place with around eighty local authorities across the country. However, earlier this month the rollout of the scheme was extended to include the remainder of the country. It is thought that around seven hundred households have benefited from a similar scheme that has been put into place in Scotland, and this was launched in 2003.

The Housing Minister, Margaret Beckett, stated recently: “We know that some families are worried about their mortgage payments right now, and we are determined to do everything possible to ensure repossession is always a last resort,”

She added: “Maybe one of them has lost their job, or maybe they’ve lost their overtime and that’s the thing that jeopardises their pay and their mortgage and that’s why we’re working with the lenders on that scheme.”

Tags: Mortgages, remainder, United Kingdom, consumers, rescue, mortgage rescue plan, scotland, repossession