Ten percent of the UK population reckoned to be living on a financial knife edge

For at least the next twelve months, more than six million UK families will be living in a state of fear and financial uncertainty. According to recent research, homeowners, many of them already ridiculously exposed due to paying well above the true market price in an effort to get on the property ladder now face the real risk that unemployment or illness will cause them to fall behind on their mortgage payments and they will face eviction. And it won’t take much for them to find themselves in such a position
Statistics now show that more than sixty percent of the working population are living on a day to day basis with this fear, and are increasingly fretful, largely due to increasing silence from both the banks and the government on policy regarding repossessions. Many of the public feel that the government has paid too much attention on bailing out the banks and insurance companies, and not on providing some form of “safety net” for home owners.

While the feeling is that the credit crisis has bottomed out and the only way from here is up, for much financial security is still a long way away. In the meantime, with more than 40% of mortgage payments dependant on joint incomes, there are many families juggling their incomes on a very fine balance.

And their fears are not without foundation, with the Council of Mortgage Lenders currently estimating that more than 75,000 UK homes will bill repossessed in 2009, adding more than 300,000 people to the list of homeless.

Understandably this fear can cause tremendous repercussions within the family, and many consumer societies are simply requesting some form of official statement clearly laying out the criteria under which a family will be evicted from their home and what steps can be taken to prevent this from happening.

This scenario is too real for too many people, with information from the
Financial Services Authority (FSA) showing that the number of mortgages in arrears rose by 31 per cent in 2008 and that two and half million mortgages holders will see their property fall into negative equity in 2009.

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Tags: Budget, Debt, Economics, Economy, Money Management, Mortgage, Mortgages, Recession