6 Percent of Homes Pay Mortgage On Their Card

Shocking figures from housing charity Shelter has discovered that more than 6% of homeowners in the UK – an astounding 1 million households – opted to use their credit cards to pay off their mortgage payments and rent during 2009.

Believed to primarily consist of homeowners who belong to lower social groupings, Shelter revealed that many middle class families too are now having to spread the cost of their payments onto their credit cards, to help cope with current economic conditions.

In the last year alone there has been an 8% increase in the number of homeowners belonging to lower social groupings who have had to put their mortgage payments on their credit cards. However, middle class families are also suffering the same plight witnessing increases of 4%.

Speaking on this discovery, Shelter are urging all homeowners who are finding it hard to keep up with their mortgage or rental costs to seek expert advice soon before their debt levels put them at risk of losing their property investments completely. Should they default on their credit card repayments, their properties can be taken off them as payment.

However this risk is greater than previously thought…

Only last year, the Citizen’s Advice Bureau reported an increasing number of cases where lenders went to court in order to obtain a charging order which forced homeowners to sell their properties to recover the debt.

Although the cases were few and far between, and actual repossessions resulting from this action were rare; since 2000 there has been a 772% increase in the number of charging order applications being made by unsecured creditors.

More worryingly, in 2007 alone 74% of the 132,000 applications made resulted in charging orders being made.

Either way, something needs to change soon to prevent further repossessions from occurring. Only time will tell…

Original Article

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Jatinder Singh, Property Mentor Delegate

After years of watching others earn large capital gains from property, I knew reading about this niche wasn't enough to satisfy my curiosity, I needed to get MY slice of this strong investment vehicle too. That was x years ago and since then I have managed to: invest in 2 properties (one with a £60,000 saving); earn consistent £1,000+ monthly cash flows, and have got a couple more properties waiting in the pipeline. Read more