Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Credit crunch squeeze on homeless

May 23 2009
Shelter expresses concerns over Northern Rock‘s ‘aggressive‘ approach to repossessions The credit crunch looks increasingly likely to create a knock-on effect in the number of people without a permanent address. Shelter, Britain's biggest charity for the homeless, has noted a 68 per cent rise in Northern Rock's repossessions over a similar period last year and is concerned about the 'aggressive' approach that the recently nationalised mortgage lender is taking. Adam Sampson, Shelter's chief executive, said: "It seems a bit perverse that ministers, who a few months ago were lecturing lenders about their responsibility towards the homeowners in arrears, are now allowing companies that are state-owned to repossess people's homes so aggressively." Northern Rock was the first British Bank nationalised by the government after the credit crunch began last year. Since then, Bradford & Bingley, Britain's biggest mortgage provider to landlords, has been nationalised at the end of September and the government has bailed out three other British banks - Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS - to the value of ¬¨¬£37bn. Jaqualyn Gill, spokeswoman for Northern Rock, said: "We acknowledge our repossessions rate is ahead of the industry, but not by the multiples that have been reported in the press." But Mr Sampson is requesting that prime minister Gordon Brown ensures lenders fully or partly owned by the state" treat customers as fairly as possible."
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