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Mortgage concerns up 35%

Tuesday, 18 March 2008 12:00 AM

Citizens Advice is reporting a 35 per cent rise in homeowners seeking help with mortgage arrears in the first two months of 2008.

The advice charity found pressures from rising utility bills and council tax charges were putting households' finances under pressure.

Teresa Perchard, director of policy for Citizens Advice, said: "It is a worrying trend that our bureaux are reporting a very sharp increase in the number of mortgage arrears problems they are dealing with.

"These latest figures paint a worrying picture, suggesting a significant number of households are struggling to meet their most basic living costs.

She added big increases in household bills were putting additional pressure on people's finances when they are already "stretched to the limit".

A survey of three-quarters of Citizens Advice Bureaux in England and Wales show 215,000 new debt problems were dealt with in January and February.

The largest source of debt problems stemmed from credit cards and store cards. However, credit card debt enquires were down nine per cent, despite the post-Christmas financial hangover, but overdraft problems were up seven per cent.

Over the last financial year, Citizens Advice helped 1.7 million people with debt problems.

Ms Perchard said: "If people have debt problems they should get help straight away.

"We cannot stress enough the importance of telling your creditors as soon as you have difficulties in paying - they should treat you sympathetically."

David Stubbs, senior economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), said: "Today's figures from the CAB show the increasing difficulties many homeowners are having in repaying their mortgages.

"Increases in the price of energy and food, as well as looming rises in mortgage payments will contribute to an estimated 43,000 repossessions in 2008. However, this figure represents around 0.36 per cent of outstanding mortgages compared with the 0.77 per cent that were repossessed in 1991".

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