One £285m Mortgage Rescue scheme. One Family Helped

It was announced with much fanfare in September at the height of the banking crisis - the government's big idea to stop vulnerable people being thrown out of their homes. But yesterday it emerged that the mortgage protection scheme has so far helped just one family across the whole of the UK.

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Jack Straw Orders Inquiry Into Repossessions

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, has ordered an investigation into a legal loophole that allows lenders to repossess a home without a court order.
The inquiry was announced in response to a High Court ruling that supported a decision by GMAC-RFC, the General Motors mortgage lender, to sell the property of a borrower who was in arrears. It confirmed that mortgage lenders could sell a property without a court repossession order if a borrower fell two months into arrears.

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Northern Rock Criticised Over 'Aggressive Repossessions'

A debt charity today urged the Treasury to put pressure on Northern Rock to change its approach to property repossessions.
Credit Action has criticised the nationalised bank saying it is twice as likely as other lenders to repossess a home if borrowers fall behind with their mortgage repayments.
Credit Action said that of the 19,000 homes repossessed this year, Northern Rock represented more than a fifth of them.

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