More than 3.85 million people believe the government will help them out with their mortgages if they lose their job. Around one in 12 people surveyed said they think the government will pay their mortgage if they are unemployed while another three million did not know whether it was the homeowner or the government who would keep up payments if they could not work.
In reality the government does not help with mortgage payments for people who are out of work. State aid was cut in 1995 under the last Conservative government and has not been restored by the current government.
And yet millions of people still believe the government will help them with women more likely than men to assume the state will help them. Around 2.29 million women and 1.55m men consider their mortgage repayments to be the responsibility of the government if they are unemployed.
Most recent unemployment figures show 1.59 million were out of work in the three months to March 30 – the highest level for four years – taking the jobless rate to 5.2 per cent.
Ian Noble, head of strategic partnerships at Lincoln Financial Group, commented: “Millions of people are living with a false sense of security believing that the government will bail them out if they cannot earn.
“That is not the case unfortunately. The government is not going to pay for your mortgage if you lose your job, and assuming that it will places people in real danger as it suggests they have no other mortgage protection plan in place.
“At Lincoln we are strongly advising people to ensure that they have plans in place to protect their mortgage repayments. Orders for mortgage repossessions made in the first quarter of 2006 in England and Wales rose 57 per cent on the year with 21,997 court orders made during the three months to March 2006. With house prices at such high levels, and interest rates potentially set to rise people must make it their responsibility to ensure their families and homes are protected.”
