Royal Bank of Scotland announce “breathing space” for homeowners

Andy Wimbush is nef‘s Communications Assistant and blogmaster.

The Royal Bank of Scotland announced this week that they would grant six months breathing space to homeowners who fall behind with their mortage payments. At nef, we welcome this decision, but feel that it goes nowhere near far enough.

The housing charities have been fairly positive about RBS’s move – although other banks have dismissed it as marketing spin. It is clearly an inadequate concession, but it also demonstrates that RBS are beginning to recognise their culpability in this mess.

In the last few months, we’ve seen banks – which are at fault – being bailed out to a previously unimaginable degree by the taxpayer, while thousands of hard-working home owners face the daily insecurity of potential eviction as the recession makes it harder to meet repayments. This is, of course, deeply unjust. It also destabilises and burdens society.

As nef recently argued in From the Ashes of the Crash, evictions must be stopped and replaced by long-term plans for restructuring householders’ mortgage debts.