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Every day 120 people are losing their homes, as repossession cases rocketed by 70% between March and June. And every day Gill Hankey, 61, who runs the Bankruptcy Advisory Service, sees them coming through her doors.
"The lenders are going hell for leather to get repossessions through. The government's told them they have to go softer with a new set of court protocols from November 17. It means that right now they're rushing everything through as soon as they can.
"Yesterday I saw a woman from Tyneside with a Northern Rock mortgage. She'd taken one of those 125% deals, and is now nearly £90,000 in negative equity. The property is valued at only £120,000. The fixed rate has ended and she can't afford the new payments, so they are about to start repossession proceedings.
"All lenders are moving much more rapidly to repossess now that house prices are falling so fast. They think that if they hold on, they're going to be left with a property that's dropped even further in price."
"But it's the credit card companies which are worst; they shout loudest. They start hounding you after you've missed one or two payments. They ring morning, noon and night, and all weekend.
"I have one client who is 84. He only gave up work last year, as a post boy for a firm of lawyers in London. He has no assets and just the state pension. He had three cards with debts of £6,000 but can't afford the minimum any longer. They've started ringing him five or six times a day.
"People think you've got to pay off the card first. So they miss their mortgage instead. But whereas the lenders used to let arrears go four or five months before starting proceedings, now they start after someone has missed just two payments.
"It's changed a lot in recent months, the repossession cases. They are often professional people. I know a lot of legal practices teetering on going under; they rely upon conveyancing, but nobody's doing any. A solicitor I work with laid off 15 lawyers last week. The firm across the road is laying off 19. It's the same for surveyors, too.
"A lot of middle class people, even a few months ago, would never have thought they could be facing bankruptcy. They thought they had a regular income and a secure future. And to be honest, they were using credit to fund a lifestyle beyond what they really could afford.
"Do I think people were indulgent or extravagant? Fifty times a day. But, at the end of the day, they were allowed to borrow the money, and very often without the lender carrying out any credit checks.
"Again, it was the credit card companies which were worst. They give you a £1,000 maximum, then start raising it. I remember getting my M&S charge card as it was back then. They gave me a £250 limit. Now they let me have a £15,000 limit. I always pay it off in full, but other people, well ...
"Two women came in within a few hours of each other. The first was distraught, and said she felt like jumping off Humber bridge. The second was spending a lot more than her monthly income; we explained that, in such circumstances, she wouldn't be expected to make any contribution to her creditors.
"She said she really hoped not, as it was already a problem to find the cost of her regular Botox injections, hairdos and manicures. We see all forms of human nature. We used to work with mortgage companies to find ways to allow people to stay in homes, such as extending the loan, taking a payment holiday, or switching to interest only. Now it's gone completely daft. All we hear is, 'If you bring your arrears up to date, we'll talk to you.' How are people supposed to do that?
"Sometimes people are their own worst enemies. When a bank issues proceedings, a date for a court hearing is then set. A lot of people are so terrified they don't turn up in court. The judge then has no choice but to grant the possession order.
"But what I feel most strongly about is the way the banks are now behaving. When they run into problems, they go to the government and get bailed out within 24 hours. But when you run into problems, it's a completely different story."
• Gill Hankey runs the Bankruptcy Advisory Service. Call 01423 799141/2 or go to bankruptcyadvisoryservice.co.uk. This year she was awarded an MBE after 14 years of work on behalf of bankrupts and others in financial difficulty
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