A recent survey conducted by Pink Home Loans has shown that only 33 percent of intermediaries have had more customers asking for their help in the second half of 2008 compared to the first half.

The online survey revealed that 50 percent of the questioned intermediaries said they had not had any more customers asking for help in the second half of the year and 18 percent said they’d had around the same number.

Neil Hoare, Associate Director of Marketing and IT at Pink Home Loans said: “I’m quite surprised at the results as I would have expected a much bigger increase in the number of homeowners asking for advice in the second half of the year as the purse strings continue to be pulled.  It suggests that many customers have not been fazed by the rate shock widely publicized and that they are cutting back elsewhere.  Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders suggest that there could be as many as 45,000 homes repossessed by the end of this year, and with 18,900 cases in the first half of the year, I’m glad that customers now know how important it is to keep the payments of their mortgage above all else.

Hoare continues; “Under TCF we cannot abandon customers just because they have already made their buying decision, our duty carries on once the mortgage is in place.  As an industry we need to work together more closely to ensure that these people know who they can turn to and that there are steps to be taken and negotiations to be made that can minimise the threat of repossession."