Tens of thousands of Northern Rock borrowers face being trapped in mortgages charging punitive rates of interest following the bank’s nationalisation. Sunday Times
About 175,000 borrowers are thought to have taken Northern Rock’s controversial 100%-plus loans over the past few years. They are now likely to find it extremely difficult to re-mortgage after most lenders pulled out of the market last week.
If they stay with Northern Rock, however, they face a huge 'payment shock' with repayments likely to go up by as much as £2,000 a year on a typical loan of about £150,000.
The nationalised bank already has one of the highest rates of repossessions of any lender, and the plight of the 100%-plus borrowers could make matters much worse.