Metro: Northern Rock repossessions soar

"... the overall rise during 2008 is due to Northern Rock being left with riskier customers as the bank drove higher-quality borrowers elsewhere to pay off its huge Bank of England loans. The plans to shrink the business saw its overall residential mortgage book fall 27% to £66.7 billion, but arrears jumped sharply. A total of 17,264 of its borrowers are three months or more in arrears - nearly five times as many as a year earlier. The bank's infamous Together mortgage - which lent up to 125% of the value of a home before being pulled in February 2008 - now accounts for 29% of its mortgage book, up from 24% a year ago." A prize to the first person who chants the mantra "Crowded island, pent up demand, long term investment, immigration pressures, soft landing, buy on the dips".