moneysupermarket.com: Northern Rock interim results

Commenting on an upcoming crisis at Northern Rock, Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, said: "The key feature of Northern Rock's £585 million loss in the first half of the year is the significant increase in the percentage of borrowers who are in arrears. This worrying trend will surely only increase over the coming year.

"Northern Rock finds itself in a position where it will be lumbered with its higher risk borrowers who cannot remortgage elsewhere. So as its lower risk borrowers move on, Northern Rock will find its book contains an increasing percentage of the most vulnerable borrowers who are struggling to make their repayments.

"This is a stark reminder that there is an ever widening gap between borrowers who are wanted and those who are not. Northern Rock is increasingly trapped with those in the second category - and due to the Government's commitment to the bank, it is taxpayers who will have to bail them out."