Last updated 05:39, Friday, 17 October 2008

The number of people seeking help after falling behind with their mortgage has soared by more than 50 per cent during the past year.

Help! Nearly half of the people who contacted the CAB for help with debt had dependent children and 18 per cent were single parents. One in 10 had a long-term health problem and 13 per cent were disabled

Charity Citizens Advice said it had seen a 51 per cent surge in people contacting it because they were in arrears on their mortgage or a secured loan during the three months to the end of September, compared with the same period last year.

There was also a 10 per cent jump in people contacting it because they were unable to keep up with payments on their fuel bills.

Overall, during the past 12 months, staff in bureaux in England and Wales have seen a 35 per cent rise in people with mortgage and secured loan arrears problems, receiving 77,324 new enquiries since October last year.

But the charity said there had been a small reduction in the number of people contacting it because they were struggling with unsecured debts, such as credit, store and charge cards and unsecured loans.

These enquires have fallen four per cent year-on-year, although the area still accounts for the largest proportion of debt problems Citizens Advice deals with, at 35 per cent, compared with five per cent for mortgages and secured loans and four per cent for fuel debt.

Nearly half of the people who contacted the charity for help with debt had dependent children and 18 per cent were single parents. One in 10 people had a long-term health problem and 13 per cent were disabled.

Research carried out by Citizens Advice earlier this year found that the most common reason people gave for falling into mortgage arrears was losing their job or the failure of their business, at 20 per cent, while 17 per cent attributed their problems to ill health and 16 per cent blamed them on a relationship breaking down.

The group also found that people were an average of four months in arrears when their lender started repossession action.

David Harker, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: “While we are pleased to see the number of consumer credit problems going down, the increase in enquiries about basic essentials is worrying and these figures show how the current economic situation is hitting vulnerable and low-income households the hardest.

“To prevent this situation worsening, it is vital that mortgage lenders and fuel companies do everything in their power to help people in arrears to come to a workable solution over repayment arrangements, rather than piling on extra charges.”

He also urged people who were worried about debt to get advice as soon as possible.