Northern Rock has pledged to wait at least six months before repossessing the homes of people who have fallen behind with their mortgage.

The nationalised bank said it will formalise its policy of not taking repossession action for at least six months. It follows a similar move by Royal Bank of Scotland, which also includes NatWest, earlier this week.

Northern Rock has been accused of taking an "aggressive" attitude towards repossessions and being more than twice as likely to repossess homes as other lenders.

Most of its repossessions have been for properties secured with a "Together" mortgage, which allowed buyers to borrow up to 125 per cent of the property's value.

The bank says its existing debt management process involves working with each customer who is facing problems to try to agree an alternative debt management solution, with repossession a last resort.

It said in cases where it did take over people's homes, it had worked with customers for an average of 15 months from when they first got into arrears. NR added that fewer than 1 per cent of repossessions currently took place after less than six months from when the borrower first fell behind with their mortgage.

Gary Hoffman, chief executive of Northern Rock, said: "We continue to work with customers facing repayment difficulties to try and agree an acceptable debt management solution and avoid repossession.

"In the vast majority of cases, where repossession regrettably does take place, we have been working with the customer for well over six months. We will now formalise our policy and agree not to repossess a property for a period of at least six months from the point of arrears."

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