After being unable to maintain the repayments on her GBP360,000 Northern Rock mortgage Christina Georgiou and her three children have been given just a month to vacate the property they once called home.
There are anticipated to be many thousands of people just like Ms Georgiou who have fallen behind on their mortgage repayments but the irony of Northern rock, effectively a government backed financial institution, throwing people out of their home is sure to stir up controversy.
A particularly relevant fact of this situation is that the Northern Rock lent the money not really knowing if the repayments were affordable. This is much like many other banks and building societies which will strike a sombre note for many observers who may now be expecting this scenario repeated across the country.
The Nationwide Building Society has just announced cuts to its range of fixed rate and tracker mortgage products.
Applicable from 9 July the Nationwide Building Society 2 year tracker mortgages will have an interest rate of just 5.78 percent, with a fee of GBP1,499 payable. The 2 year fixed rate mortgages will have their rates confirmed shortly, since they were unavailable at the time of writing.
A spokesman from the Nationwide Building Society declared these cuts as indicating how committed they are to supporting the housing market, and their customers. The Nationwide is open for business he said.
Good news for those looking to buy property comes in the shape of some Nationwide Building Society mortgage rates being reduced.
Home loan borrowers will enjoy reduced rates on both tracker mortgages and those on the variable base rate, helping get a foot on the housing ladder. A Nationwide Building Society spokesman explained that this is a passing on of the full base rate cut provided by the Bank of England. As a society they always aim to do the best for their members.
The reduced rates are not being carried through to Nationwide Building Society fixed rate mortgages though, since they are operating in slightly different conditions. For these types of mortgage the rate is actually going up, though the benefit of having the rate fixed for a period of time is certainly worth paying a little extra for.