Figures released recently have revealed that over 1,800 properties were repossessed in Northern Ireland in the last year, with more than 80,000 homes and around 19,000 business failing to meet their mortgage repayments over the financial year. With such a large number of defaults came a record breaking level of outstanding mortgage payments totalling £157 million by the end of March 2010.

Almost £100 million of the outstanding amount was owed by businesses alone and over the same period, 3,658 repossession order notices were issued according to the NI Court Service. Repossession didn’t occur in all the cases, but almost half of the property owners involved, 1,804, had to hand over their keys and were evicted.

Bankers get massive bonuses, this is something we’ve all become painfully aware of in the last few years and these bonuses go on and on no matter what the economic situation. Those who aren’t too keen on the whole bonus structure will be happy to hear about the new 50% tax on bonuses and now the Bank of England has told its banks to cut bonuses and reduce dividends and put the money saved to one side to safeguard against the current risk in the Eurozone.

The Bank of England estimate that for every £10 million saved, around £50bn of lending could be sustained which would help new mortgage lending and prevent house repossession from taking the property of homeowners. Do you think the lenders will cut back on bonuses? It’s unlikely if they are to continue providing jobs in the City as employees will simply go where the money is.

If you were around a few weeks ago you may have read about ‘the good pirate’, a repo man who specialises in repossessing ships from impounds. If you missed it, you can have a read here. Anyway, it’s not just ships that have repossession worries, jets and aeroplanes can suffer at the hands of the repossession order as well. Just imagine all those private jets that are a missed payment away from being snatched, leaving the bemused celeb to get the bus!

Anyway, if you’re bored you can read a little more about plane repossession here…

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has revealed figures showing that a total of 10,500 home owners saw their house being repossessed in the first quarter of 2010, 11% fewer than the previous three months. As interest rates remained low, there was also a drop in the number of people who fell into mortgage arrears, 40,500 people got into arrears, 2% fewer than the previous quarter.

Around 362,000 mortgage holders in the UK are behind on their repayments but as high as that sounds, the figures are in line with ones published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). As for new lending, despite looser criterias and lower deposit requirements, only 2% of new advances went to those holding less than 10% as a deposit.