Banks see rise in voluntary repossessions
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Banks are seeing an increase in the numbers of homeowners deciding voluntarily to hand back their properties because they cannot afford to keep up mortgage payments.
Voluntary repossessions involve the bank selling the property at auction but this will not show up in official figures as a repossession because there has been no court order.
The phenomenon is widespread in the US, where it has been nicknamed jingle mail because homeowners often post their keys to lenders if they cannot make the payments and no longer have any equity in their homes. It was also common in the UK recession of the early 1990s when homeowners were in negative equity.
Article continues at Financial Times Online
Voluntary repossessions involve the bank selling the property at auction but this will not show up in official figures as a repossession because there has been no court order.
The phenomenon is widespread in the US, where it has been nicknamed jingle mail because homeowners often post their keys to lenders if they cannot make the payments and no longer have any equity in their homes. It was also common in the UK recession of the early 1990s when homeowners were in negative equity.
Article continues at Financial Times Online
Labels: credit crunch, uk mortgage market, uk repossesions
