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There has been a lot of news recently about how homeowners are struggling to pay their mortgages. Steve Wilcox from the County Court Advice Desk spoke to Toby Foster on Bigger at Breakfast.

About 85% of repossessions which get to court are people with sub-prime mortgages (people who couldn't really afford a mortgage in the first place).

What we're going to be seeing when the recession starts to bite is that the problem will become much more widespread, moving into the mainstream mortgage sector - people who have mortgages with high street banks will be facing problems if and when they lose their jobs.

One of the problems is that a lot of mortgage lenders are taking repossession action very quickly - when people miss just one or two payments. The 'pre-action protocol,' which is being introduced, is good news - it's an official guidance document about what mortgage lenders should do to try to resolve problems before taking court action.

The main piece of advice is to prioritise your mortgage repayments. Often when people have problems with their mortgages they have a lot of other debts. But you're not going to face repossession if you default on payments with an unsecured loan or credit card. It may be that the lender initially doesn't agree to reduce payments and this is where the advice services like the County Court Advice Desk come in - they can get involved and make sure that lenders eventually do accept reduced payments on other debts than mortgages. Give your mortgage repayments priority.

Barnsley Building Society rescued by Yorkshire

The Yorkshire Building Society is to takeover its smaller rival, the Barnsley Building Society. The Barnsley said it was protecting itself against the possible loss of up to 拢10m deposited with Icelandic banks.

The deal is the latest in the trend towards further consolidation among the UK's building societies.

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2008 and there will be no windfall for Barnsley savers, nor will there be a vote of members.

Full 大象传媒 News story via the link below.

Unemployment rates rise to 12%

Unemployment in the Yorkshire region has risen by more than 12% in July to October 2008. Cathy Killick travels to Balborough, Derbyshire to see one company who are employing staff...

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Whilst some estate agents are cutting back on branches and staff... The Yorkshire group 'Hunters' is bucking the trend by opening a new branch in Sheffield.

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