Abbey to participate in new Lending Panel

Abbey welcomes the new Lending Panel and the opportunity to participate in exploring initiatives to help borrowers.

We are also pleased that all industry participants in the Panel have confirmed they will not initiate repossession action for at least three months after a borrower goes into arrears. This is a practice that Abbey and Santander's other UK subsidiary, Alliance & Leicester, already has in place.

Abbey has refinancing options available for customers experiencing mortgage payment difficulties and a number of policies aimed at avoiding repossession action.

Abbey has a lower level of mortgage arrears than the Council of Mortgage Lenders' average due to a responsible approach to lending and the quality of its mortgage book. In the cases that do go into arrears, we have always seen repossession as a last resort.