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The media are often accused of being the harbingers of doom, exaggerating bad news and seeking out the negative in anything good. Naturally I'd like to defend us vociferously, but I have to say last week was a case in point. The government announced that homeowners who suffer a severe drop in earnings will be allowed to defer their mortgage interest payments for up to two years.
This is one of the only positive bits of financial news to emerge this year, with the government ditching rhetoric and pushing ahead with something concrete that could really make a difference to those who face losing their homes. Yet much of the media knocked the move, accusing Gordon Brown of adding to homeowners' debt burden, pushing more people into negative equity and even, it was suggested, giving these apparently morally as well as financially damaged individuals the opportunity for some sort of crazed shopping spree.
The little known of the initiative suggests it will be a far cry from a big cash handout and far less attractive than the headlines make out. Neither the Council of Mortgage Lenders nor any of its members were clear about how the scheme would work but there were 'off-the-record' suggestions, for example, that borrowers might not be able to apply for the interest relief until they had missed six months' mortgage payments and that they could still be asked to pay off some of their interest each month.
The devil, as ever, is in the detail and we will keep you posted on that over the coming weeks. But let's not knock down what could prove the lifeline that keeps thousands of families in their homes.
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