The cruel side of mortgage repossessions

My long held dislike for banks and other irresponsible lending institutions was well publicised on my old blog. The work we did on recording the BBC1 programme ‘Britain’s Streets of…’ did nothing to re-assure me that I should change my opinion.

Consequently I am saddened, but not surprised to hear that the number of properties repossessed by mortgage lenders in the UK rose by 48% in the first half of 2008, to a staggering 18,900. My sympathies only lie with those in the spiral of debt. The woes of HSBC, RBS & NatWest would almost be funny if I thought they wouldn’t affect customers and no doubt future job losses. The institutions as always will blame irresponsible borrowers and conveniently ignore the fact that responsible lending is the safety valve to that. Last night I watched a news bulletin and a woman featured who receives a low income and was now being repossessed because she can no longer repay her £300,000 mortgage! Of course I can understand her plight, yet I can’t understand her anger being directed at Gordon Brown. Surely what I consider to be the rule of thumb means that she should be on at least £100,000 to qualify for such a large mortgage? Three times the total income? The corollary of rubber-stamping overstretched loans has been that vendors quite naturally put their prices up to maximise their gain. Housing becomes less and less affordable especially for first time buyers. Vicious circle!

While I’m on the soapbox, television companies and in particular the BBC should act a whole load more responsibly too. Every morning they air a programme, ‘Homes Under the Hammer’, fronted by two inane presenters. The ethos of the show is how much of a killing can greedy people make by buying what were affordable properties and after doing them up quickly, selling them at an inflated price. The grinning presenters then gush ‘wow that’s fantastic, a £25,000 profit in just 9 months’. Er….guess who’s paying that profit?

I suspect it’s not exactly what this year’s 18,900 repossessed folks will be watching as they wait for the bailiff!


nick