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Mortgage help plan finally launched
A long-awaited taxpayer-backed scheme to help recession-hit families avoid having their homes repossessed is coming into force.
Hard-pressed homeowners will be able to reduce monthly mortgage payments for up to two years.
Lenders representing more than 80% of the market have agreed to offer support.
Details of the institutions signed up - not all of whom have taken up a Government guarantee to cover defaults on deferred payments - are due to be announced to MPs by housing minister Margaret Beckett.
One recent survey showed as many as 35% of people were worried to some degree about losing their homes and the Government has faced criticism for delays in implementing the scheme, first announced in December.
Unemployment surged over the two million mark last month and official figures due out are set to show another big rise, with experts predicting the total will pass three million next year.
Chancellor Alistair Darling, who is joining colleagues at a Cabinet meeting as he puts the finishing touches to Wednesday's Budget, told Labour MPs that support for jobs would feature prominently.
The Homeowners Mortgage Support (HMS) scheme is designed to offer "breathing space" to households who have seen their income cut because of losing a job or being forced to cut working hours as the recession bites.
Any reduction will have to be made up once the period is over.
It is unclear how many lenders offering help are doing so as part of the Government scheme - with a guarantee backed by the taxpayer - and how many are offering "comparable arrangements".
Mortgage help plan finally launched - Yahoo! News UK
A long-awaited taxpayer-backed scheme to help recession-hit families avoid having their homes repossessed is coming into force.
Hard-pressed homeowners will be able to reduce monthly mortgage payments for up to two years.
Lenders representing more than 80% of the market have agreed to offer support.
Details of the institutions signed up - not all of whom have taken up a Government guarantee to cover defaults on deferred payments - are due to be announced to MPs by housing minister Margaret Beckett.
One recent survey showed as many as 35% of people were worried to some degree about losing their homes and the Government has faced criticism for delays in implementing the scheme, first announced in December.
Unemployment surged over the two million mark last month and official figures due out are set to show another big rise, with experts predicting the total will pass three million next year.
Chancellor Alistair Darling, who is joining colleagues at a Cabinet meeting as he puts the finishing touches to Wednesday's Budget, told Labour MPs that support for jobs would feature prominently.
The Homeowners Mortgage Support (HMS) scheme is designed to offer "breathing space" to households who have seen their income cut because of losing a job or being forced to cut working hours as the recession bites.
Any reduction will have to be made up once the period is over.
It is unclear how many lenders offering help are doing so as part of the Government scheme - with a guarantee backed by the taxpayer - and how many are offering "comparable arrangements".
Mortgage help plan finally launched - Yahoo! News UK
