Responsible lending leads Co-operative Bank to halve repossessions

Permalink: Responsible lending leads Co-operative Bank to halve repossessions
by Kay Murchie

The Co-operative Bank has announced it has slashed its repossessions by 50% in the last 16 months.

According to the ethical financial institution, in the last 16 months just 8 customers have suffered repossession compared with 16 repossessions in the 16-month period to 2008 - this equates to just 0.015% of its mortgage book.

Commenting on the figures, Terry Jordan, head of Co-operative Bank mortgages, said: “Our repossession figures as a proportion of our mortgage book are extremely low, when compared with the industry average.”

“We are committed to helping people stay in their homes and we always view repossessions as a last resort, our responsible approach to lending has also resulted in a strong mortgage book as we believe in only lending to people what they are able to afford“, added Mr Jordan.

In related news, last week the Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed that the number of homes repossessed in the UK increased to 12,800 in the first quarter of 2009.

This represents a rise of 23% from the previous quarter and 50% up compared with the same period last year.