Northern Rock Joins RBS NatWest on Repossession Pledge

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) NatWest pledged on Monday that it would increase the grace period for homeowners in trouble keeping up repayments on the mortgage loans to six months before they begin repossession proceedings.

Now, fully nationalized bank Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley have also agreed to adopt the same policy, and will know give homeowners in arrears a six months waiting policy.

Previously the waiting period was just three months. However Northern Rock said that generally it took 15 months to repossess a home.

Northern Rock had come under fire recently with its aggressive approach to repossessing homes, admitting that it would be responsible for 10 percent of repossessions this year.

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (BML) it’s estimated that repossessions will shoot up to 75,000 next year, this is close to the figure of the peak of the last recession in 1991.

Source: BBC